Birthsong Midwifery Workbook

by Daphne Singingtree, CPM, LM

[3rd edition, 2000, London: Eagle Tree Press, Eugene, OR, 264 pages, paperback. See pricing.]

[Review first published in Midwifery Today Issue 57, Spring 2001, © 2001, Midwifery Today, Inc. Review by Cher Mikkola.]

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I'll bet that Daphne Singingtree has been a teacher of midwifery just as long as she's been a midwife, which has been for the last 27 years. She's taken seriously a calling to share her knowledge, strengthen midwifery, and welcome more and more midwives to the fold. Her Midwifery Workbook, which first appeared in print in 1984, grows with her expanding knowledge, and this third edition is her best work yet.

Eleven chapters cover the basics of birth and midwifery—from a history lesson to study skills; embryology and fetal development to nutrition and herbs; the trimesters, labor and birth; postpartum and breastfeeding. Daphne has a real feel for stating what's important and leaving out the extraneous chatter and interesting but distracting asides. She is a natural at teaching in an organized way: every chapter begins with a list of objectives, subjects are clearly stated and can be easily located, the workbook is packed with excellent exercises, and myriad line drawings clarify things for us visual types. A nine-page glossary provides a quick reference or can be an effective study guide.

Name a basic midwifery-related subject and you're almost certain to see it addressed in this workbook. This teaching guide is a bargain and a blessing!

Reviewer Cher Mikkola is a contributing editor at Midwifery Today magazine, the editor of Midwifery Today E-News, and a freelance writer, editor and proofreader who specializes in the field of birth.

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