Midwifery Today Articles

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Photos by Ian Penwell

Future-Thinking Midwifery Education: Birthing the Midwives We Need

by Vicki Penwell August 21, 2021

The most exciting thing to me about the future of midwifery is the non-traditional nature of midwifery education in America and the potential it has to become a model for the world. Student midwives can train by apprenticeship at the same time they also earn college degrees in midwifery, without ever leaving their home community. This is a game-changer. Read more…. Future-Thinking Midwifery Education: Birthing the Midwives We Need

Photo by NASA

Weaving the Sacred into Clinical Practice in the Wake of a Global Pandemic

by Serena Russell August 14, 2021

Numerous studies have been done researching the impact of stress on birthing women and how it can affect labor and the newborn. Statistics continue to confirm the relationship of cortisol and adrenaline with an increase in postpartum hemorrhage, fetal distress in labor, and the need for post-birth resuscitative measures. This is not that kind of article. Read more…. Weaving the Sacred into Clinical Practice in the Wake of a Global Pandemic

Photo by Michael Anfang

Expecting the Unexpected

by Jill Roper August 7, 2021

I am beginning to feel a little like Forrest Gump when he said, “My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” I would change it to “Birth is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get!” Read more…. Expecting the Unexpected

Photo by Aditya Romansa

The Bottom Line

by Nancy Wainer August 1, 2021

I wish I could show you the VHS (a type of videotape) I have from back in the day when there were no cell phones with which to film births. It is of the birth of Gregory, an almost-10 lb first baby born to a couple in my area. The birth was lovely.

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Coming Full Circle: My Return to Midwifery

by Lois Wilson July 5, 2021

Every midwife knows what it feels like to return home after a long, challenging birth. The moment your home comes into view, the soft creak of the porch steps, the hushed house, the deep sigh as you finally sink into bed. I am experiencing that right now, as I return to my much beloved midwifery practice after 20 years away.

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“The Birth of St. John the Baptist” (c. 1655) by Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo
Photo credit: Jane Beal

“The Birth of St. John the Baptist”

by Jane Beal June 28, 2021

Not long before the outbreak of the coronavirus and Governor Newsom’s order to Californians to shelter in place, I visited the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. It is a small museum with an extraordinary collection, which includes a seventeenth-century oil painting by Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo, entitled “The Birth of St. John the Baptist” (ca. 1655). The canvas, strikingly large at more than four foot by six foot (146.7 x 188.3 cm), caught my attention as a midwife.

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Jean’s Memorial
Photo by Henry Kroll

Natural After-Death Care: Completing the Circle of Midwifery

by Rahima Baldwin Dancy June 20, 2021

Like a number of midwives I know, as I have gotten older I’ve gone from attending births to attending the dying in some way, such as working with hospice, attending the dying as a doula, or helping families reclaim natural after-death care and holding vigils. The similarities between this sacred work at both ends of life are obvious, and both have traditionally been the realm of the sage femme/wise woman/midwife. The first time I provided natural after-death care was both a revelation and a revolution for me—one that seemed to bring my midwifery work full circle.

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema

Wisdom of the Midwives: Tear Prevention

by Editorial June 14, 2021

Wisdom of the Midwives: Tear Prevention – Issue 138

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Tricks of the Trade – Issue 138

by Editorial June 14, 2021

Tricks of the Trade Issue 138

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Photo by Juliana Malta

Midwifery and Childbirth News – Issue 138

by Editorial June 14, 2021

Midwifery Today 138 Midwifery and Childbirth News Read more…. Midwifery and Childbirth News – Issue 138

Marion’s Message: Tear Prevention from a Retired Midwife

by Marion Toepke McLean June 12, 2021

I graduated from Frontier Nursing School of Midwifery (1) in 1974. At the time episiotomy was widely taught and practiced in obstetrics as the healthiest delivery practice for mom and baby. But we were a midwifery school. We learned to do episiotomies only if it seemed necessary.

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Photo by Tom Hermans

Media Reviews – Issue 138

by Dianne Garland June 11, 2021

Midwifery Today Media Reviews, Issue 138. Birthing Models on the Human Rights Frontier: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 138