Midwifery Today Articles

This question was the title of a book intended for the British public (Odent 2017). In the United Kingdom, everybody is familiar with the term midwife. Traditionally, midwives were considered vital and respectable persons. There is even a Royal College of Midwives.

 Read more…. Do We Need Midwives?

Birth is not solely the journey of the physical body, of a baby and a mother, but rather an entire constellation changing shape as a new soul emerges from water to land. The process of birth encompasses the whole universe and mystery of life—it means surrendering everything that one knows, accepting what reveals itself in the moment, and merging into the unbounded life beyond body and mind.

 Read more…. Rose and Saffira’s Birth

If you say “Just take an Uber!” or “Call Lyft,” to most people in this country, they not only know what you are talking about, but how to do it. Me? I haven’t a clue. I haven’t taken public transportation—not a taxi, not a bus, not the “T” (I live in Boston)—in 30 years.

 Read more…. A Midwife and Her Wheels

The Modern Maternity Service System (MMSS) provides classroom training and face-to-face training in many hospitals across China. We have made many wonderful changes toward delivering respectful woman-, baby-, and family-centered care that supports the normal physiology of childbirth.

 Read more…. Integrating Maternity Care in China

The “alternative” movement around birthing options is beginning to blossom in France—more rapidly in the last few years. Although birth centers were nonexistent before, a few mothers seeking natural births have managed to have them at home with sage femmes (literally, wise women) who support non-medicalized births. However, this option is being threatened as fewer sage femmes are willing to attend homebirths due to the obstacles found in their practice. Only recently have birth centers or birth homes become a new option for mothers. This is a good alternative for women who can’t find an active homebirth midwife in their area, or who don’t want to birth at home or in a highly medicalized environment—which is the case for the great majority of hospitals in France. In 2016, nine maisons de naissance received a green light to function on an “experimental title.” At the same time, the unavailability of homebirth midwives has propelled some couples to plan unassisted births.

 Read more…. Birth in France: The Maisons de Naissance Experimental Project and the Horizon of Homebirth

She pulled up in the dark driveway, headlights briefly illuminating the gray paneling on the side of the house. She carefully made her way across the toy-strewn yard and approached the front door, laden with her heavy birth bags. The door opened quietly enough and she slipped off her shoes as she entered.

 Read more…. A Simple Birth

“Whenever the midwife came, we all got quiet. We knew things were going to happen then; the baby was really coming. She’d go into the bedroom with our mama and come out with a baby,” my husband recalled.

 Read more…. The Spectrum of Traditions in Childbirth in Mexico