Midwifery Today Posterior

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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By Dr. Johannes Sobotta [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

A Primer on Craniosynostosis

by Melanie Roder December 1, 2010

When her daughter is born with unusual features, the author is thrown into a world she never heard of: the world of craniosynostosis. Here, she shares her knowledge with readers and offers a primer on this unusual ailment.

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Illustration provided by the author

Belly Mapping: Put Positioning into Parents’ Hands

by Gail Tully December 1, 2010

Help new parents feel more comfortable with their growing baby and teach them about the importance of positioning at the same time with this helpful, instructional article about belly mapping.

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Lynsey Stone—dfwbirthphotographer.com

Journey to the Water

by Kristi Zittle December 1, 2010

A retired midwife recounts her experiences with waterbirth and shows how she came full-circle with this particular birthing method.

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The Second Was A Gift

by Lydia M. Josephson December 1, 2010

The author overcomes her fears during her second birth and doesn’t let the string of “what ifs” overcome her determination to birth naturally, at home and in the water.

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A Tale of Two Births: The Healing Power of VBAC

by Kimberly Kovach Trout December 1, 2010

A CNM professor discovers the usefulness of the Foley Bulb when her own daughter wishes to birth vaginally after a cesarean.

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Photo provided by the author

Like Cures Like. Homeopathy for Labor and Birth

by Diane Gregg September 1, 2010

In the first part of this two-part series on homeopathy, midwife Diane Gregg advises other birth practitioners on using homeopathic remedies during labor and birth, citing case studies from her own practice. Included in this article are handy, homeopathic remedy charts perfect for clipping out, laminating and sticking in your birth kit.

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Turn, Baby, Turn: New Maneuvers for Turning a Malpositioned Baby

by Linda Hawkins September 1, 2010

An obstetric nurse shares her maneuvers for helping to get a baby’s head out of the mother’s bladder compartment and into the pelvic compartment, then facilitating rotation from an occiput posterior position to an occiput anterior or occiput transverse position, saving the mother many hours of hard, ineffective labor and avoiding the need for a c-section.

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Disturbing “New” Trends in Tear Prevention Threaten Midwives’ Autonomy

by Tine Greve December 5, 2009

The author posits that the rise in third- and fourth-degree tears in Scandinavian countries stems more from the increased use of interventions such as induction and epidural than from the “hands-off” approach favored by midwives. Read more…. Disturbing “New” Trends in Tear Prevention Threaten Midwives’ Autonomy

Photos provided by the authors
Meredith Casella with postoperative fistula patients in Dubie, Democratic Republic of Congo (2007)

Letters from the Field: From the Congo to Chad

by Meredith Casella and Médecins Sans Frontières December 1, 2009

In compelling dispatches from the field, nurse-midwife Meredith Casella documents her experiences in Africa with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

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Image info: Illustration from Stillerman, E.: Prenatal Massage: A Textbook of Pregnancy, Labor, and Postpartum Bodywork, St. Louis, 2008, Mosby. Reprinted with permission.

C-section Scar Massage

by Elaine Stillerman December 1, 2009

This is the third of three articles by Elaine Stillerman in this issue. In this article, the author describes massage techniques for managing the development of the c-section scar and helping the surrounding tissues heal properly.

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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