Midwifery & Childbirth News: Issue 127
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Smooth Transitions: Making Hospital Transfers Better
Practical advice from hospital-based nurse-midwives on how to make hospital transfers go better.
Advocating for Birth Change
The most important event in many women’s lives is giving birth. It is so pivotal that most moms can remember it in great detail their entire life. I met a woman in Japan who was in her 80s and could recount every detail of her birth. Her father-in-law had been her support person.
Supporting Sexual Abuse Survivors in Childbirth
One in three women in the US has experience childhood sexual abuse. This article provides information key to supporting these women during all parts of the childbearing year.
Media Reviews: Issue 126
Media review
Labor: Short and Long; Physical and Mental
This great article illustrates, through discussion of actual cases, the many variations that labor may take and how diet, fear, and even religious beliefs may affect it.
Lovely Labor
Every woman is different and every labor is different. In this editorial, Jan shares some of the ways labor can be experienced by different women.
What Do Doulas Really Do?
Doula Penny Simkin discusses the positive impact that doulas have on birth outcomes. They provide a unique form of labor support that is different from that of other caregivers involved in the birth process–but complements the roles of others. Simkins describes why this is so.
Learning to Trust Birth through Continuity of Care
Continuity of care, with the same care provider, can dramatically improve a woman’s pregnancy and birth experience, her recovery, and her ability to successfully process her birth journey. Deep bonds of empathy, mutual respect, and emotional safety can develop between the birthing woman and her birth attendant. These qualities, though rarely measured, enable and empower a woman to delve into the depths of her strength, self-reliance, and independence. This care-giving-and-receiving relationship, founded on trust and honesty, is an ideal model. It is profoundly satisfying, as a care provider, to experience what it means to be “with woman.” When we emphasize the importance of being present with a client—connecting, listening, and relating—we promote quality relationships and focus on key concepts in the context of a positive birth experience.
