Eva Diana Iguaran—evadiana.com
Photo Album – Issue 134
Photo by Markus Winkler
Midwifery and Childbirth News – Issue 134 Read more…. Midwifery and Childbirth News – Issue 134
Photo by Jude Beck
The anxious gaze of non birthing partners is a familiar sight. How can I help her not be in pain? I’m worried I’ll faint. What do I do if I think my partner is depressed? What happens if there are complications? I want to be there for my baby in a way my dad wasn’t for me. I don’t get paid leave—how much time off work do you think I need to take? These were common concerns I heard in my childbirth classes, particularly during the hour I met with non birthing partners alone.
Read more…. Family Stress and Perinatal Mental Health in Non Birthing Partners
Tricks of the Trade – Issue 134
Photo by Kimberly Farmer
Media Reviews Issue 134: Birthing Your Baby: the second stage of labor, 3rd ed, by Nadine Pilley Edwards, The Modern Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond, by Marie Louise, Labor & Delivery Training for Low Resource and Emergency Situations, by Charlene Campbell and Valerie Hall Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 134
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon
What are our politics? There is so much division in the US and the world right now. I believe we should get behind our politics—that is, the politics of midwifery and birth. Let’s put our energy into what really matters to us—birth. We want to make sure, as much as we are able, to help every motherbaby have the best birth possible. There are so many ways to do that: midwifery, being a doula, working abroad, and educating both parents and practitioners. Read more…. Honoring Birth Visionaries
Photo by Ahmed Hasan
Like most other countries, Bangladesh is facing the onslaught of Covid-19. In a near-lockdown situation, normal life has been interrupted, education institutions closed down, devotees reduced in mosques and temples, and gathering of any type in the community is discouraged. However, the frontline health care workers (FLW) are on their toes, providing services to the ailing people, both coronavirus-related and otherwise. Unlike most of us, they cannot stay at home. One group of these FLWs is the midwives. They are attending to duties in unprotected or partially-protected environments. The Midwife Led Care Centre (MLC) at the Charikata Union Health and Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC) in Sylhet, Bangladesh, is such a center where midwives are continuing their care and services despite unfavorable circumstances.
This rapid-response article (1) seeks to describe the quick and dramatic changes occurring in birth practices across the United States resulting from the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and the life-threatening disease it produces, Covid-19. Long before the Covid-19 epidemic hit the United States, the medicalization of pregnancy had led to a broad acceptance of birthing as hospital-based—where it is often treated like a dysfunctional mechanical process and its normal physiology is ignored. We explore the question of how Covid-19 is causing women and birth providers to look at birth differently, given that hospitals are now more than ever being perceived as sites of contagion. We show that Covid-19 offers a testing ground for ongoing debates about the efficacy of maternity care and the safety of hospital versus out-of-hospital (OOH) births. We conclude by suggesting specific policy changes to generate effective maternity care in the face of future pandemics and other disasters that are bound to increase in our era of the climate crisis.
Read more…. The Impacts of Covid-19 on Birth Practices in the United States
Photo by Brett Zeck
How has Covid-19, the disease from the novel coronavirus affected your country?
Have you done anything different with pregnant and birthing women during this time?
he world is witnessing a huge outbreak of deadly Covid-19, or novel coronavirus. Similarly, India is also struggling with fast-growing coronavirus. The first case of coronavirus in India was reported on January 30, 2020, in a student who was brought to Kerala from Wuhan University (China). Thereafter, it rose to three cases, confined to Kerala, and all were students who returned from Wuhan University. No significant increase in cases was seen in February.
Read more…. Initiatives for Pregnant and Birthing Women in India during Covid-19 Pandemic
In childbirth, the needs of the one giving birth and the baby—who is transitioning from unborn to born—are primary. The events of the birthing day will affect them for their whole lives. Without their presence, no birth will take place.
Photo by Annie Spratt
I have encountered many things in my humanitarian and midwifery career. I am prepared for just about anything because I have learned that I have to be. A lot of it is not easy. Much of it stays with me. Some of it goes down on paper, like this story. As a midwife supervisor in… Read more…. Dealing with Postpartum Psychosis in Sierra Leone
