Jan Tritten is the founder, editor, and mother of Midwifery Today magazine and conferences. Her love for and study of midwifery sprang from the beautiful homebirth of her second daughter—after a disappointing, medicalized first birth in the hospital. After giving birth at home, she kept studying birth books because, “she thought there was something more here.” She became a homebirth midwife in 1977 and continued helping moms who wanted a better birth experience. Jan started Midwifery Today in 1986 to spread the good word about midwifery care, using her experience to guide editorial and conferences. Her mission is to make loving midwifery care the norm for birthing women and their babies in the United States and around the world. Meet Jan at our conferences around the world!
Much of primal health depends on non interference in birth; that is, not performing procedures on women that can negatively affect their babies. The foundation of superior health depends on the one great and original physician-God-who designed the process to work so well. Read more…. We Can Improve Primal Health
Editor in Chief Jan Tritten her response and the responses of three other birth professionals about The Lancet’s series of papers on solutions to maternal mortality internationally. Read more…. Here We Go Again
Just as we each have a responsibility to birthing women to ensure the future of midwifery, as "mother midwives" we also have a responsibility to educate the next generation of midwives. Midwifery is fairly fragile in the US and we must acknowledge our responsibility to protect it. Read more…. Aspiring and Student Midwives Are Our Hope for the Future
Business is second nature to me; I really enjoy it. I have been making lemonade for 32 years now and have always known that if I wanted to be rich I could have franchised my successful lemonade stand, Family Homesteader. The calling of midwifery got in my way, though. Read more…. Business and Midwifery
As Marina Alzugaray explains in Reclaiming a Cuban Heritage, the Bahamian midwives really know how to make others feel welcome to their country. They were so open and ready for us to be there with them at the Midwifery Today Bahamas conference in September; they made us feel a part of them. Read more…. Bahamas / Success on Many Levels
I was in the midst of writing a book about my homebirth practice when God said to me, “No, do a magazine for midwives.” In 20 minutes He dictated to me the exact pattern and plan of Midwifery Today magazine. Read more…. 20 Years of Carrying Out a Calling
We are in a profession that can give the greatest joy humankind has known—birth. In Spanish, birth is termed a more poetic "dar a luz," bring to the light. We, as midwives, need to bring to the light the truth about what childbirth can be. Read more…. Bringing Good Birth to the Light
We are mammals. Most mammals birth fine. So what happened to us? We used to birth fine. Women in "primitive" cultures birth fine. What happened to modern women? Read more…. The Battle Is in the Mind
Midwifery Today turns 19 years old in February of 2005. For me, that is nearly 20 years of working to change birth with Midwifery Today, plus over 10 years of homebirth practice, changing birth one motherbaby at a time. Read more…. Happy Birthday, Birth Change
As midwives, we are called to serve many kinds of women and families. These may include those with whom we do not resonate for one reason or another. You could be asked to serve a member of an ethnic group that is traditionally hostile to yours, a woman with widely divergent beliefs… Read more…. A Circle of Midwives
My soul is flooded with grief. My frustration overwhelms me. I cry for countless mothers and babies—for the births that could be. I am overwhelmed because I have felt the strong light of a powerful birth. Read more…. Drugs in Labor
The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and the Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (FIGO) recently made a clandestine and potentially dangerous decision about midwifery practice. Read more…. ICM and Hemorrhage
