Midwifery Today Issue 68

A Vision of Birth

by Sarah J. Buckley December 1, 2003

A vision of Birth came to me in the months after I gave birth to Zoe, my second baby. As I meditated on the challenges that I had encountered during my labor, I began to see my experience—and Birth herself—as a huge multi-faceted crystal. I saw that the different aspects of Zoe’s birth, like facets of a crystal, would not add up to one clear picture but would reflect at many different angles.

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Marion’s Message: From Mexico

by Marion Toepke McLean December 1, 2003

“Honoring the Traditional Midwife” was the theme of a midwifery conference presented jointly by the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) of Mexico and Midwifery Today, in Oaxaca, Mexico, from September 24-28, 2003. [See Jan Tritten’s International Midwife editorial on page 46 for more on the conference.] This was a unique and vibrant opportunity to interact and network with practitioners and supporters from many different cultures and social classes. There were large numbers of traditional, indigenous midwives and healers, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, as well as participants from Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and other locations.

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Photo by Peter Beukema

The Art Of Leaving Alone

by Jenny Hall December 1, 2003

The concepts of instinct and intuition have been challenging my mind recently. Two eminent midwives at a conference I attended this year have said that they don’t believe in instinct; instead, they believe that there is a form of inner knowledge that has developed through experience, but is not innate.

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Being A Midwife

by Gloria Lemay December 1, 2003

Being a midwife starts with the ego. Our “ego selves” see the status, admiration and responsibility of the job as an attraction. What the ego cannot see is that the aspiring midwife has placed her foot on a road by taking up the work. This road will take her on a journey, which she will only finish when they chisel the word “midwife” on her gravestone. Read more…. Being A Midwife

The Ties that Bind – How Belief Creates Birth Realities

by Kim Wildner November 1, 2003

Women believe that birth is a dangerous medical event. The fact is that normal birth is safer than many things we do each day without a thought. Read more…. The Ties that Bind – How Belief Creates Birth Realities