Issue 103

Midwifery Today Issue 103Theme: Shoulder Dystocia

The theme of Midwifery Today Issue 103 is Shoulder Dystocia. It is always beneficial to hone our skills in whatever field of work we find ourselves. Fortunately, this issue of Midwifery Today iwill benefit many childbirth professionals by providing knowledge and insights into shoulder dystocia. Among the wonderful contributors to this issue is Ina May Gaskin, who retells the story of how she came to learn a simple skill that is now known as the “Gaskin maneuver.” Gail Tully, another shoulder dystocia expert, has provided not one, but two articles for this edition of Midwifery Today magazine—both of which will be valuable sources of reference for many of our readers.

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How Being a Homebirth Midwife Enabled Me to Learn about Shoulder Dystocia

Back in 1970, if you wanted to be a midwife, there were very few options for training. There were two nurse-midwifery education programs then, but since I didn’t live in New York City or Jackson, Mississippi, I had no way of knowing about them. I just knew that I wanted to be a midwife. I was lucky to have the opportunity to witness the most gorgeous birth anyone could possibly have, and that birth launched my quest to become a midwife.

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FlipFLOP: Four Steps to Remember

FlipFLOP is a memory tool listing four successful techniques to free a baby from shoulder dystocia, an emergency caused by one or both shoulders caught by the pelvis after the birth of baby’s head. Read more…. FlipFLOP: Four Steps to Remember

Hospital Birth in Mexico

Unfortunately, birth in Mexico’s hospitals isn’t very conducive to natural and empowering experiences for women. In this article, Joni Nichols provides a concise account of the situation for Midwifery Today readers.

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Memoir of a Sweet Granny

In this beautiful story of a beautiful lady, author Mukhopadhyay pays a tribute to the life of her grandmother, a nurturer of women.

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God Answers a Midwife’s Prayer

Midwifery Today’s Jan Tritten helped midwife Dacosta with a VBAC during her time in Puerto Rico. This is Dacosta’s account of this wonderfully successful birth that wasn’t lacking in miracles.

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Power, Leadership, & Collaboration

Proechel focuses on the maternal health crisis and what women can do to provide relief through leadership and collaboration.

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Who Am I?

The effects of donor conception are discussed from a very insightful perspective—that of a grown woman who late in life found out she was donor conceived.

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Midwives and Fear

Midwives and doulas may find that they relate to the ideas expressed in this story. Fear is a normal aspect of life, but it is important to know how to handle fear when you have responsibilities during a birth.

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Down the Rabbit Hole: The Case against Routine Ultrasound

After an ultrasound, author and then expectant mother, Elaine Alkhas, received unsettling news about the health of her baby. She offers a story worth considering regarding the anxieties such news brings, only to find out that the results were wrong (as is so often the case).

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LifeWraps: Low-tech First Aid for Obstetric Hemorrhage

An American midwife has adapted a piece of first aid equipment with a history spanning more than a century to save the lives of mothers facing the most serious of complications: obstetric hemorrhage. Read more…. LifeWraps: Low-tech First Aid for Obstetric Hemorrhage

The Ecology of Childbirth

Author and university student Alese Colehour gives an insightful look into the world of microorganisms and how details of a birth can greatly affect this environment in a newborn.

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Management of True Shoulder Dystocia at Attended Homebirth

At attended homebirth, shoulder dystocia poses less of a challenge and has better outcomes compared to hospital birth.

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 Read more…. Management of True Shoulder Dystocia at Attended Homebirth

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