Midwifery Today Issue 72

Cultural Lack of Birth Experience Empowers Media Representations, Not Women

by Colleen Bak December 1, 2004

If the message sent to the public continues to portray birth as a frightening medical procedure, how will women come to trust their bodies and resist interventions? If birth with drugs in hospitals continues to be normalized in the media, how will women understand the benefits of midwifery in out-of-hospital settings?

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Photo by Lisa Cope

The Birth of a Midwife (with a long latent phase)

by Marlene Waechter December 1, 2004

I never thought much about childbirth until I became pregnant in 1970. I naively expected to have a normal, natural birth. I never quite understood why I was expected to see a doctor and go to the hospital. I believed God designed our bodies to give birth, and I trusted in that design. I was not sick; I was pregnant.

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HIV Basics

by Nancy Miller December 1, 2004

Not much can be more horrible than a disease that turns our lovemaking and the milk that pours from our breasts to nourish our babies into means of transmitting a lethal virus. I invite you to become passionate about knowing about this disease so you can help women protect themselves and their babies from it.

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Just How Long Is “Normal” for Labour?

by Astrid Osbourne December 1, 2004

Helen defied traditional knowledge. Traditional care would consider Helen, having her first baby at 44 years of age, high risk. Traditionally, homebirth would be considered very risky and waterbirth as pain relief inadequate. Helen had no complications. Her 24-hour labour was neither exhausting nor debilitating.

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Photo by Jiyeon Park

The 30-Minute Third Stage

by Gloria Lemay December 1, 2004

My students and I don’t anticipate the placenta will be pushed out for 30 minutes after birth. The “mood” is maintained. We offer the mother a warm herbal tea. We don’t disturb the attachment that happens naturally or push sucking at the breast. I have used this method for years, with less than a 1% haemorrhage rate.

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Berta Juárez Fuentes

by Sarah Proechel December 1, 2004

This article is excerpted from the book, Voices of Maya Midwives: Oral Histories of Practicing Traditional Midwives from the Mam Region of Guatemala. Este artículo fue extraído del libro, “Voces de las comadronas mayas” Read more…. Berta Juárez Fuentes

Author with her daughter, Tiffany, and Umbi.
Photos provided by author.

The Power of Words

by Sandra Gonzalez-Parisi December 1, 2004

I delivered my son after a journey that had spanned 14 years and taken me down a road filled with disappointment and distrust….Words have such a strong and lasting impact. It’s so important to support a positive experience in pregnancy and labor. I will be eternally grateful that a midwife provided this for me.

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Does Mother Nature Really Make Mistakes?

by Katherine Jensen December 1, 2004

Early in my rural practice, I worked with a physician who insisted, “Mother Nature knows what she’s doing.” I watched one woman go four weeks past her very certain due date. Another went six weeks past the day we were certain she was due. I was a wreck. But my mentor was right. Mother Nature does know what she’s doing.

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The Tree and the Fruit: Routine versus Selective Strategies in Postmaturity

by Michel Odent December 1, 2004

If you have on your shelf the English version of the book, titled History of Childbirth: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth in Early Modern Europe, you will miss the analogy transmitted by the original title and the importance of the pages on the history of beliefs about the duration of pregnancy. Read more…. The Tree and the Fruit: Routine versus Selective Strategies in Postmaturity

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate: Rubella and the Adult Woman

by Beth Bergeron December 1, 2004

With increasing information about the potential hazards of immunizations, many wonder whether it is safer to be immunized or risk contracting a disease. This dilemma becomes real for the woman of childbearing age who discovers that she is non-immune to rubella.

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Photo by Federico Plevak

Holistic Evaluation of Healing After Cesarean Birth

by Nell Tharpe December 1, 2004

Avoiding repeat cesarean means becoming skilled in evaluating and caring for women who desire VBAC and educating about the risks, benefits and alternatives to both repeat cesarean and VBAC. Furthermore, midwives need to know how women heal after cesarean delivery and what they can do to foster the healing process.

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Photo—Caroline Brown

A Timely Birth

by Gail Hart December 1, 2004

The timing of birth has major consequences for a baby. Too early or too late can mean the difference between life and death. Or so we have come to believe; and it’s undoubtedly true at the extreme ends of preterm and postterm birth dates. Read more…. A Timely Birth