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A midwife draws on her art history knowledge, visualizing and contemplating “the truest blue ever painted on canvas,” as she births her second child, Azure, at home.
When the lovely young couple who publish Home Child magazine in Russia joined us last year at our Copenhagen conference, I had no idea that this meeting would birth such amazing ideas and start to shake up the birth movement on an international level. Read more…. From Russia with Love
Photo provided by the author
Looking forward to her planned homebirth, a mother finds that her fourth birth experience brings all the joy, love and happiness she expected, as well as something she didn’t anticipate—her longest first stage of labor yet!
Read more…. Ordinary Miracle: The Homebirth of Ava Christine
In this thoroughly researched article, author Verna Oberg explores amniotomy’s role as a ritual for birth attendants and discusses its possible psychological effects on the baby.
Read more…. The Amniotomy Question: Examining the Pros and Cons of Rupturing Membranes
Photos provided by author
Take a trip through Borneo with author Linda Jenkins and discover the birthing rituals and customs of this delightful island nation. Read more…. Born in Borneo
More than 20 years of efforts by maternal child health care workers has paid off with the news that pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths worldwide have decreased substantially since the Safe Motherhood Initiative began more than 20 years ago. This information comes from an in-depth study led by researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle and published in The Lancet (1) earlier this year. Generous funding by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation allowed them to search out and include in their analysis data that had not been used in previous maternal mortality estimates, achieving more complete and accurate results.
Gigliola, a veteran midwife now in her 80s shares stories with author Lindy Joy Cummings about her long midwifery career in Papua New Guinea and other remote parts of the world.
Read more…. One Midwife’s Journey: Stories from Papua New Guinea and Beyond
Photos provided by author
Several months after a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, many residents are still living in tent cities such as the one pictured here.
A midwife working with laboring mothers in a still-devastated Haiti, is empowered and amazed by the tireless midwives she meets who are “single-handedly making such a big difference in women’s lives and the region at large.”
Read more…. We’ll Grow Back When the Rain Comes: An Update from Haiti
Veteran midwife Ireena Keeslar offers tips to midwives who want to build a midwifery practice that honors and respects their clients, while still making time and space for themselves and their own families.
Read more…. The Choices We Make: Building Trust between Midwife and Client
An obstetric nurse shares her maneuvers for helping to get a baby’s head out of the mother’s bladder compartment and into the pelvic compartment, then facilitating rotation from an occiput posterior position to an occiput anterior or occiput transverse position, saving the mother many hours of hard, ineffective labor and avoiding the need for a c-section.
Read more…. Turn, Baby, Turn: New Maneuvers for Turning a Malpositioned Baby
Photo—Cornelia Enning
How many times have you seen a man become overwhelmed by fear as his partner gives birth? Calm enough to begin with, the man who was diligently timing contractions and cracking the odd joke a few hours ago now sits rigid by his partner’s bedside, his eyes wide with panic… Read more…. Beyond Fear, Tension and Panic: Helping Men Enjoy the Birth Experience
Photos provided by the author
Faced with a necessary cesarean, a mother must give up her hopes of having a homebirth, but still manages to craft an inspiring birth plan that gives her daughter “the gentlest birth possible given the circumstances.”
