Monthly Archives: January 2006

Blame it on your uterus

By The Midwife | Published: January 31, 2006

I just finished 12 pages of module notes on the common discomforts of pregnancy and non-pharmacological ways to alleviate them, and I noticed a common theme: almost everything seems to be caused by the pressure/weight/size of the enlarging uterus. Varicose veins during the 2nd and 3rd trimester? The enlarging uterus increases the pressure on pelvic […]

Posted in Pregnancy | Leave a comment

A sad day for choice

By The Midwife | Published: January 31, 2006

It seems too perfectly poignant that Coretta Scott King should die the same day that Judge Samuel A. Alito is confirmed to the Supreme Court by a vote of 58-42. In Coretta Scott King’s death, we see the end of an era of moving towards increased freedom and civil liberties, and now, with Alito on […]

Posted in Choice, Feminism, Politics | Leave a comment

End to Formula’s reign?

By The Midwife | Published: January 29, 2006

This is shamelessly snatched from Birthing Bliss, but once again, it was too good to ignore. Massachusets has taken a bold step towards getting rid of the dispicable formula habit by actually banning hospitals from handing out free diaper bags full of advertisements for formula to new parents, and thereby sending the subtle message that […]

Posted in Breastfeeding | 2 Comments

FemSpec and Beyond

By The Midwife | Published: January 26, 2006

Our midwifery department arranged a special treat for us today: a demonstration of the brand new speculum that’s out on the market, FemSpec. Looks pretty strange, doesn’t it? Has anyone ever used one of these things? Supposedly it works much better than a regular speculum because it doesn’t allow the vaginal walls to collapse inward […]

Posted in Gynecology, New Products, Primary Care, Women's Health | Leave a comment

Lions and tigers and tenaculums, oh my!

By The Midwife | Published: January 24, 2006

The IUD, I’m beginning to learn, is a much maligned form of contraception. It got a terrible reputation in the US because of all of the furor surrounding the Dalkon Shield in the 1970s, however, the two modern versions of the IUD (ParaGaurd, aka The Copper-T, and Mirena, aka The Hormonal One) are actually safe, […]

Posted in Academia, Contraception, Education | 9 Comments

Dreaming in the Dark

By The Midwife | Published: January 18, 2006

Yesterday was Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Hormonal Contraception Day, EVAR. Yes, truly. Everything. We staggered out of class at the end of the day with pressure ulcers (read, bedsores) on our ischial tuberosities (read, butt bones), and heads that felt rather like over-full waterballoons ready to burst, or maybe gigantic blisters ready […]

Posted in Academia, Education | 1 Comment

New year wishes

By The Midwife | Published: January 12, 2006

If I could wish for anything for this site this year, it would be a brand new, shiny banner that actually features a belly, or something pretty and birth-related like that. I think I’ll make that a goal for this year: get thyself a new banner! Enough with the daisies already.

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

The Secret Garden

By The Midwife | Published: January 12, 2006

Today was devoted to the flora of the vagina: what’s normal, what’s not, what happens when yeast decides to take up residence, or when the lactobacilli flee in droves, or when all sorts of unfriendly sexually transmitted diseases invade. Our professor referred to the vagina as the secret garden, and that’s such a beautiful name […]

Posted in Academia, Education, Gynecology | Leave a comment

Menstrual Magic

By The Midwife | Published: January 9, 2006

The curse, the red tide, my period, my monthly, my friend, on the rag, on the spurt, and on and on. All the jokes, all the whining, all the bitching, all the unfair media portrayal, the cultural stigma, the fear, the shame…menstruation gets such a bad rep that, at the very least, I felt it […]

Posted in Academia, Contraception, Fertility and Conception, Menstruation, Primary Care | 2 Comments

Baby Catcher

By The Midwife | Published: January 8, 2006

Who are these men who love and date and marry midwives (and student midwives)? What an amazing breed! They don’t flinch or grimace when they hear words like “vagina”, “uterus” and “cervix” being bantered around the dinner table, they let you gush on and on about the beautiful birth you saw the night before, and […]

Posted in Books | 4 Comments