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Cancer of the Cervix and the Midwife

The current research-based recommendation for screening in the US is a Pap smear every three years, starting at age 21, then Pap and high-risk HPV DNA screening every five years, starting at age 30. Read more…. Cancer of the Cervix and the Midwife

Postpartum Mood Disorders

The term postpartum depression (PPD) can be misleading. It is perhaps an over-simplified and poor description of the array of experiences that postpartum women can have. The experience of PPD is much broader and can encompass much more than feelings of depression. Read more…. Postpartum Mood Disorders

The Mindful Cesarean

In many parts of the world, a quarter to half of all babies are born by cesarean. Too often women who birth by cesarean feel unprepared, frightened or left with a sense that they didn’t actually give birth. As a doula, educator and fellow parent, I help couples who might birth by cesarean ready themselves for the healthiest birth and recovery possible. Read more…. The Mindful Cesarean

Stop Cutting

Others have made this point before, but it bears repeating: Female genital mutilation takes place in the developed world on a large scale in the form of medically unnecessary episiotomies and caesarean sections, or what could be classified as FGM Types 5 and 6. Read more…. Stop Cutting

Albert McLaren, Midwife

We have lost an amazing Fijian midwife and nurse, Albert Edward McLaren. We would not have been able to do the Fiji conference without this maverick of a midwife. He passed away on September 26, 2016, of complications from diabetes. Read more…. Albert McLaren, Midwife

Microbiome and Health

So what exactly is the microbiome? We could define it as the combined grouping of microorganisms that can be found throughout the body, including bacteria, fungi and viruses. Read more…. Microbiome and Health

Questions about Prenatal Ultrasound and the Alarming Increase in Autism

…figures from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed what too many parents and educators already knew: The incidence of autism is high, making it an "urgent public health issue," according to [the] director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Read more…. Questions about Prenatal Ultrasound and the Alarming Increase in Autism

Connection and Empathy

It is now known that fear and anxiety enhance levels of adrenaline, which inhibits the release of oxytocin, making labor and birth longer and more difficult. Read more…. Connection and Empathy

The Microbiome and the Midwife

The microbiome is a virtual swarm of micro-organisms which live in, on and around the human body. The Human Microbiome Project, launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2008, was a five-year project which analyzed the genetic code of the microbes living in and on the human body, with the ultimate goal of finding how changes in the human microbiome are associated with health and disease. Despite the generation of massive amounts of data, this issue is currently not well understood. Read more…. The Microbiome and the Midwife

Equality for Midwives

In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights affirmed that the human right to private life includes the right to choose the circumstances of giving birth. In Ternovszky v. Hungary (2010), the human rights tribunal made clear that this right includes the choice between giving birth with a midwife or with a doctor, at home or in the hospital. Read more…. Equality for Midwives

What If, What For and What Now: Human Rights and Cultural Rights in Childbirth

What If, What For and What Now? Human Rights and Cultural Rights in Childbirth by Sister MorningStar. “One of the most tragic destructions of indigenous sacred female knowledge is the false superiority and medicalization of childbirth by professionals among native peoples. Read more…. What If, What For and What Now: Human Rights and Cultural Rights in Childbirth

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