Issue 117

Midwifery Today Issue 117 Theme: 30th Anniversary, Celebrating Midwifery

We are pleased to be able to celebrate Midwifery Today’s 30-year anniversary with our readers for the Spring 2016 issue. To celebrate midwifery, we chose thirteen of our favorite articles from thirteen of our most loyal and devoted writers and reprinted them in this anniversary edition. You will be able to read from the best of the best, including Ina May Gaskin, Penny Simkin, Michel Odent, Robin Lim, Sister MorningStar, Gail Tully, Elizabeth Davis and others, as we continue to provide you with only the best and evidence-based information surrounding childbirth. This issue also features some great new articles, including one about institutional biases in birth research—a must read! As an additional way to celebrate our readers and writers, we are pleased to announce that this issue will have our first ever color cover. Here’s to 30 more years!

Cover photo by Natasha Hance (birthunscripted.com). Natasha is a mother of five who has a deep passion for birth photography. She photographs births in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas as NHance Photography and Birth Unscripted. She also teaches birth photography workshops with Birth Stories [101].

Pictured: Roman was born in a beautiful waterbirth at a birth center with midwives. His big sister’s birth became a popular YouTube video, “Birth of Sloane.” This video has been viewed almost 7 million times and has inspired many women to consider midwifery care and waterbirth.

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Monet Moutrie—monetnicole.com

First Hours after Birth: Family Integration and Mutual Regulation

by Penny Simkin March 1, 2016

We’ve also all heard expressions of exhaustion and relief from the mother and seen a temporary lack of interest in her baby. The exclamations might sound more like these: “It’s over! I can’t believe it’s over!” “Can I just lie here for a minute?” “I can’t hold the baby right now. You take it.” ”Please just leave me alone right now.” “I’m so glad it’s over.” “We’re never doing this again!” Sometimes it takes a while before the mother can turn her attention from the intensity of the birth to her baby. Read more…. First Hours after Birth: Family Integration and Mutual Regulation

The Fourth Stage: Sharing the Asian Way

by Robin Lim March 1, 2016

The fourth stage of labor, the time after the baby has been born (second stage) and after the placenta is safely delivered (third stage) has been defined medically as one to two hours postpartum. Culturally, I define it as the first 42 days following childbirth. I believe the fourth stage never really ends, as a postpartum woman is forever transformed by the significant rite of passage of childbirth. Read more…. The Fourth Stage: Sharing the Asian Way

Leilani Rogers—photosbylei.com

The Bond of Midwifery and Art

by Annette Wilson March 1, 2016

Midwifery Today’s graphic designer shares her thoughts on the importance of birth photography to the normalization of gentle birth around the world. Read more…. The Bond of Midwifery and Art

A Slower Transition for Waterbirth Babies

by Gail Hart March 1, 2016

Many people have noticed that some portion of waterborn babies seem a bit slow to come around. They aren’t stressed and they seem well-enough oxygenated, but still their transition to breathing air sometimes seems a little slower. They may be alert, have good tone and a strong heart rate (or maybe it is a bit slow as well) or sometimes they almost seem to be asleep, and they just don’t seem interested in breathing for a while.

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30 Years and Still Going Strong

by Jan Tritten March 1, 2016

Midwifery Today’s editor-in-chief celebrates MT’s 30-year anniversary by honoring 13 of the magazine’s most loyal contributors and gentle birth advocates. Read more…. 30 Years and Still Going Strong

Natasha Hance—birthunscripted.com

Delayed Cord Clamping Requires a New Table for Stressed Newborns

by Mary Esther Malloy March 1, 2016

A female doctor with a shaven head and beautiful eyes stood between Lily’s legs, studying the monitor. We all heard the slow thudding. In an even tone, a Mary Poppins-like midwife said, “Get peds.” A pediatrician and a gaggle of pediatric residents entered the room as if they’d been standing at the door waiting for an invitation. The doctor picked up the vacuum and quietly announced that the time had come to use extra force. “The baby is so close,” she told us as she readied her equipment.

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Monet Moutrie—monetnicole.com

Outside the Evidence: Births Missing from the Research

by Sarit Shatken-Stern March 1, 2016

A thought-provoking article about the biases found in birth research. Read more…. Outside the Evidence: Births Missing from the Research

Elis Freitas—elisfreitas.com

Midwifing Second Stage

by Sister MorningStar June 1, 2011

“Is the head out?! Oh, MorningStar, is the head out? It has to be out because I feel it out!”

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Opening the Pelvic Brim with Walcher’s Position

by Gail Tully March 1, 2011

This past year, two labors I attended benefited (meaning we avoided a cesarean each time) from a technique shared over a hundred years ago by Dr. Walcher. The first of these mothers labored for her third homebirth after four previous cesareans. She’d had a hard time getting her first baby into her pelvis (lying in bed) and was given a c-section at 3 cm and then she had three more cesareans in following years. Umm hmm. So, I was honored to help at her first homebirth, her fifth child. He also took a long time to engage. Beginning posterior, a variety of positions eventually got him through. Her second homebirth occurred after a long latent phase but before her midwife arrived.

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A Difficult Breech Birth

by Marion Toepke McLean December 1, 2009

Jennifer had once told me, “I don’t do births in Africa,” leaving this to an excellent staff of Ugandan midwives. But on that lucky morning, she got a stuck baby born and saved a life. Read more…. A Difficult Breech Birth

Global Midwifery and the Humanization of Birth

by Marsden Wagner September 1, 2007

Prior to 200 years ago, all birth care around the world was humanized as it was attended by midwives, kept the woman in the center, and in general, respected nature and culture.
Then came the technological age after World War II. If we can put a man on the moon, surely we can also have perfect birth. So without any scientific data to justify such a move, childbirth was moved to hospitals with doctors and machines and drugs. Midwives were marginalized, with no role for women or family, and birth became medicalized.

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The Enduring Qualities in Midwifery

by Elizabeth Davis June 1, 2007

As midwifery is poised to go mainstream, we must be very clear on our foundation: What is essential to our work, and what is momentary or temporary? In other words, what about midwifery has endured, and what must endure if we are to continue to provide what women want when they seek midwifery care? Read more…. The Enduring Qualities in Midwifery