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Author Rose St. John describes the importance of breath practices during labor, and explains specific techniques for helping the birthing mother use her breath to maintain a relaxed state.
A midwife describes both her passion for and addiction to the calling of midwifery, along with her subsequent burnout, and makes the case for prioritizing self-care within the midwifery profession.
The author makes the case for a connection between natural, unmedicated birth and trouble-free breastfeeding, with a mother’s confidence in her innate abilities being the key to success in both areas.
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Meredith Casella with postoperative fistula patients in Dubie, Democratic Republic of Congo (2007)
In compelling dispatches from the field, nurse-midwife Meredith Casella documents her experiences in Africa with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
…the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution acknowledging maternal mortality and morbidity as a human rights issue. The adoption of this resolution prods governments to “change the way they view maternal death… Read more…. Birth Is a Human Rights Issue
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Risked out of a homebirth for her first child, the author describes her disappointing experience with a hospital birth.
Image info: Illustration from Stillerman, E.: Prenatal Massage: A Textbook of Pregnancy, Labor, and Postpartum Bodywork, St. Louis, 2008, Mosby. Reprinted with permission.
This is the third of three articles by Elaine Stillerman in this issue. In this article, the author describes massage techniques for managing the development of the c-section scar and helping the surrounding tissues heal properly.
A midwifery student describes the amazing experience of watching her preceptor turn a breech baby.
Photo by Shea Hardy Baker
This article describes the inspiring work of the Lane County, Oregon, program "Doulas Supporting Teens," which matches doulas up with teenage parents-to-be and provides education and support throughout the first year of parenting. Read more…. Doulas Supporting Teens
In this second of three articles in this issue, Stillerman describes methods for relieving pregnancy-related sciatica.
Photo provided by the author
The author discovers HypnoBirthing during her sixth pregnancy, and describes how this led to her “easiest birth yet.”
Jennifer had once told me, “I don’t do births in Africa,” leaving this to an excellent staff of Ugandan midwives. But on that lucky morning, she got a stuck baby born and saved a life. Read more…. A Difficult Breech Birth
