Dianne Garland

Dianne Garland, FRCM, SRN, RM, ADM, PGCEA, MSc, developed a passion for midwifery in 1983. Her subsequent energy and enthusiasm for developing and expanding a new practice led her to teaching about waterbirth in 1989; a subject which has remained extremely close to her heart ever since. Dianne works clinically in a local hospital supporting low- and high-complex mothers and babies through childbirth.

After over 40 years in the NHS, she started her own company, MidwifeExpert, in 2005. In this role, she lectures and consults internationally, as well as offering other specialist services such as Expert Legal Witness and Care Quality Commission Inspections. She currently holds professional roles within respected public and private bodies including APEC (Action on PreEclampsia), NICE UK, Gentle Birth Guardian Education, Waterbirth International (USA), Wenzhou Oriental Maternity Unit (China), Wellness Mother and Baby Hyderabad (India), and advisory panel for MMF.

Dianne has published four books on waterbirth. In 2019, she was awarded RCM fellowship for her worldwide contribution to waterbirth research, teaching, and clinical work.

Media Reviews – Issue 145

Media Reviews – Issue 145 – Rebel Mama: Breaking Free from Motherhood Norms and Parenting from Within, A Journey into Being Knowing and Nurturing our Children as Spirit, 2nd ed, WOMB TO THRIVE The Missing Keys to Heal Yourself, Your Family and the Planet, Complementary Therapies for Postdates Pregnancy, and Birth Days: Inspiring Stories in Healing and Transformation in Childbirth Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 145

Media Reviews – Issue 143

Midwifery Today, Issue 143, Autumn 2022.Join Midwifery Today Online Membership Frontline Midwife: My Story of Survival and Keeping Others Safe, by Anna Kent. 2022. (London: Bloomsbury, $18.98, 361 pages, paperback.) I knew by the short review and first few pages that this book was going to be both challenging and rewarding to read. It is an intertwined story of professional and personal survival and one I would you read, but when I am in a “safe” space myself. Anna shares the ups and downs of working with MSF (Médicins sans Frontières—Doctors without Borders). Many of the readers who delve into this book, who would have heard of (or even may have worked with) MSF, may not be prepared for the content. Anna makes no excuses for sharing her amazing stories of birth, life, and death in challenging settings around the world. When I first read about this book, I remember her saying that her work with birthing families could not be further from that of the UK mothers, who chose a pool with whale music playing in the background. I found this difficult, as over my 40 years as a midwife I have seen birth trauma, both physical and psychological, within the National Health Service (NHS). I have experienced the highs and lows of births and, yes, sometimes death, but not on the scale which Anna shares with the reader. Her journey takes us from South Sudan (her first assignment) to Bangledesh (where she cares for Rohingya refugees from Myanmar). Her stories are vivid, realistic, and, in many cases unbelievable—for Western-trained and -based midwives. We learn about the wonderful dedicated staff with whom she works—doctors, nurses, and midwives from all around the world. It is the last group of health professionals and the urgent need for these midwives that brings… Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 143

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 Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 143

Media Reviews – Issue 141

Media Reviews – Issue 141 – The AIMS Guide to Giving Birth to Your Baby. Principal author: Deborah Neiger. 2021. (London: AIMS, £8, paperback.) Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 141

Media Reviews

Media Reviews – Issue 140
“Planet Ocean: Our Mysterious Connections to Water,” by Michel Odent
“Birthing a Movement: Midwives, Law, and the Politics of Reproductive Care,” by Renée Ann Cramer
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Media Reviews – Issue 139

Media Reviews – Issue 139
For Generations: A Midwife’s Tale of Hope and Help for Drug Addicted Pregnant Women and Their Families, by Mary Earhart

Birthing Outside the System: The Canary in the Coal Mine, by Hannah Dahlen, Bashi Kumar-Hazard, and Virginia Schmied Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 139

Media Reviews – Issue 138

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

Media Reviews – Issue 137

The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue. 2020. (Lebanon, Indiana: Little, Brown and Co., $28, 304 pages, hardcover.) A friend recommended that I read this book, and in return I recommend that you do the same. The book is set in Dublin in 1918 during the “flu” pandemic that swept through the country. True life,… Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 137

Media Reviews – Issue 136

Media Reviews – Issue 136 | The Future of Homo?, by Michel Odent, Birthing your baby—the second stage of labour, by Nadine Pillay Edwards Read more…. Media Reviews – Issue 136

Developing a Freelance Midwifery Consultancy Business

The author shares her experience with the transition from midwife to midwifery consultant in the UK.

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