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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
Photo by Jenean Newcomb
Ever since I met two traditional Oaxacan midwives at the 1993 Midwives of North America (MANA) conference in San Francisco, I wanted to visit Oaxaca, Mexico. Ten years later, it happened when Jan Tritten invited me to participate in the 2003 Midwifery Today/ MANA conference in Oaxaca. Read more…. The Birth of a Collaboration
Alsea Falls Oregon. Photo by Jennifer Rosenberg
Midwifery knowledge is knowledge of woman and nature. We must remember that all we know about birth comes from these primary sources. Increasingly, we rely on our opinions to tell us what is true about birth, or we quantify our experiences of assisting labor to find meaning in the face of its potential chaos.
Photo by Toa Heftiba
In my professional experience as a chiropractor, I have had the opportunity to work with many midwives. I have come to learn that midwives and chiropractors have many similarities in approaches to health care. Both groups share an acknowledgement of, and trust in, the body’s inner wisdom. Chiropractors call this wisdom “innate intelligence.” When allowed to perform without interference, innate intelligence coordinates the responses to the body’s needs at any given moment, thus maintaining the body’s optimal health.
Photo by Caroline Brown
I am a midwife. The name midwife is derived from the Old English med or mid meaning “with,” and wife meaning “woman.” As we know, midwife means “with woman.” Midwives empower women and provide knowledge, guidance and encouragement as well as the skills of their trade as needed. Midwives help women create sacred space within which to have their babies. Midwives are, as their name implies, “with woman.”
Photo by Nathan Dumlao
Midwifery knowledge is everything about woman. It is innate. It is what our bodies know without instruction when fear is absent. It is more than birth. It includes living, loving, sharing, crying, learning, helping and simply being silent while listening.
Photo by Chris Karidis
No matter what I feel is taking away from my energy as a midwife—whether it be my work circumstances or a lack of personal enthusiasm—after reading Midwifery Today magazine, my midwifery heart beats strong again and I yearn to attend to a birthing woman on the spot. Whatever had contributed to frustration before turns into a challenge, a potential source for additional satisfaction.
Photo by Mike Swigunski
Brazil is a huge country with different modalities of childbirth assistance in each region. We have 18,000 obstetricians, 6,000 obstetrical nurses and 60,000 traditional midwives. The midwives work in the rural areas of the northern part of Brazil and the obstetricians are concentrated in the urban areas.
Photos Provided by Author
Four years have passed since I sat in an enclosed courtyard in the Guatemalan town of Concepción Chiquirichapa and spoke with 20 midwives ranging in age from late 20s to early 80s. We were separated by language and culture but united in heart and spirit as midwives.
Read more…. From Dream to Reality: Birth Center for Mayan Midwives
Photo by Travis Grossen
On one of my trips to the magical world of the library I was drawn, as if by a magnet, to the newly acquired books table where my fingers fell upon The Heart’s Code. In this work, Paul Pearsall offers a revolutionary view of the human body based on the most advanced scientific studies coming out of the field of psychoneuroimmunology—the study of the interaction between mind, body and social systems and how this interaction influences social systems—and bio-energetics or energy medicine—the study of energy generated within living things.
Photo by Yousef Espanioly
I began my journey to and through midwifery in 1980. Little did I know as a Bradley® childbirth educator that homebirthing is what lay ahead. If I had known, I don’t know that I would have continued!
Photo by Vitor Monthay
For this issue’s theme, we have gathered together some valuable information to tuck into your birthkit. From Gloria Lemay’s cautions about a rising trend in more unnecessary testing to a disturbing press release about the effects of formula feeding, we hope you will add it to your ever evolving midwifery knowledge.
