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!
Midwifery Today is 18 years old this year. I like to reflect deeply at special milestones. To me, the beginning of the year is always a time of intense planning for the future and pondering where we have been. Read more…. Midwifery Today: Past and Future
Look at your hands. These hands are holy-ordained by God to receive babies. What is the substance of this divine trust? What is the responsibility? Midwife, partera is a high calling. Read more…. Hands-On Care
Marina Alzugaray and I went to the Bahamas on our way to the Trinidad International Confederation of Midwives conference to check into doing a Midwifery Today international conference there in September 2005. Read more…. A Trip to the Tropics
The question we must ask ourselves is this: Can a midwife survive a medicalized education and still come out an authentic midwife? Read more…. A Knowledge Base Fit for All Midwives
We began the Oaxaca, Mexico, conference with an exercise in global healing. Marina Alzugaray and Yeshi Sherover Neumann created the idea of splitting our group of about 275 people into "conquered" and “conquerors.” Read more…. Healing in Mexico
Is our profession a barrier to instinctive birth? Are we, whose calling it is to protect and care for motherbaby in the birth year, actually forming a barrier? If so, how do we change our profession to meet the real needs of women in pregnancy and birth? Read more…. Two Important Keys: Autonomy and Working Together
I find it fascinating that women are afraid of the wrong thing when it comes to birth. They are afraid of birth when it is what they are perfectly designed to do. The thing they should be afraid of is whom they put their trust in and where they birth. Read more…. Misplaced Fear
The colonizing countries dominated birth with destructive medicalization at a time when Western powers were decimating cultures. Medicalization rode on the wave of imperialism. This force is still going today and is an effective tool used against normal, instinctive birth. Read more…. Take Birth Back
Here at Midwifery Today, we have been working hard on our country contacts. The goal is to have a contact person or persons in every country of the world. Read more…. International Networking
There are little things we can do each day, just by being who we are. Wear a shirt or earrings—or carry a bag—with a birth saying or image on it that leads to dialog about midwifery or birth. Read more…. One Birth, One Woman at a Time
Since founding Midwifery Today magazine in 1986, I have had an interest in international midwifery. I have always had the feeling that the keys to helping and understanding the birth process would be found all over this marvelous globe with its many cultures. Read more…. Enlisting Change Around the World
My first trip to Mexico was to plan our long-dreamed-of conference in this enchanting land. We met wonderful people in Oaxaca with a real willingness to help make this conference a reality. We met traditional midwives Mercedes and Antonia. Mercedes has been a midwife for 50 years. Read more…. Mexico, An Engaging Country
