Author Archives: The Midwife

Experience and Personal Practice

Personal experience always changes the way you practice in some way.  Anyone who denies this is probably not being 100% honest with themselves.  It’s the nature of us being human, and it’s inevitable because humans (as opposed to future robots?) provide health care, and by and large it’s a very good thing.  This can be […]

Posted in Complications, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Labor Support, Midwifery, Vaginal Birth | 1 Comment

Question Kegels?

One of my pregnant patients was asking me the other day about what your vagina is like after giving birth.  I reassured her that the tissue of the vagina and the perineum usually comes together very easily after a delivery, even if she tore, and that the perineum usually heals beautifully after a birth (a […]

Posted in Gynecology, Miscellaneous, Postpartum, Research, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Cooking with Milk

So, my darling boy is nearly six months, which means that solid foods are just around the corner. In preparation for this, I’ve begun to research which foods we should start him out with, baby food in general. Our pediatrician, while incredibly open-minded and holistic in other areas, has actually proved to be a bit […]

Posted in Mothering | 2 Comments

Wax Study Revisited

Imagine the following scenario:  a meta-analysis comparing planned homebirths to planned hospital births is published, but it has so many statistical flaws in it that the journal which originally published it goes on to print several letters to the Editor critiquing the flawed research, in order to give the authors a second chance to explain […]

Posted in Choice, Complications, Homebirth, Hospitals, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Politics, Research | 1 Comment

How have midwives touched your life? Share your story for National Midwifery Week 2011!

Happy National Midwifery Week, everyone!  Here in NYC we kicked off National Midwifery Week with a very successful Miles for Midwives 5K run around Prospect Park.  But there’s a lot more going on nationally this week.  First of all, check out Team Midwife.  A $15 donation to Team Midwife will help the ACNM continue to […]

Posted in Midwifery, News | 2 Comments

Mea Culpa

My dear blog readers, I must apologize profusely for the abysmal state of my inbox!  I have been ignoring it for way too long.  However, for the first time in over a year, I have finally managed to slog through all of the spam and look through my messages (all 2443 of them, most of […]

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

Miles For Midwives just around the corner!

Heads up all New York City midwives, friends of midwives, doulas, midwifery clients, runners, walkers, parents, kids and babies!  Miles for Midwives is next weekend (Saturday, Oct. 1st) and this is always a wonderful (traditionally *gorgeous* autumn) day where participants can run/ walk/ stroll a loop of Prospect Park and then enjoy a Birth and […]

Posted in Midwifery, News, Women's Health | Leave a comment

Mother of Many

I *love* this video (“Mother of Many” by Emma Lazenby, which also won the BAFTA for Best Short Animation last year).  It so perfectly portrays what the average day can be like for a hospital midwife, from the overwhelming chaos of helping so many women at the same time to the joy at every birth […]

Posted in Birth Art, Good Enough to Share, Labor and Birth, Midwifery | Leave a comment

Back in the saddle again!

Friday was my first day back at work on L&D.  I was a little bit nervous about it.  Not that I have forgotten anything or lost my skills over maternity leave, but only that my life had slowed down to match my baby’s pace, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep […]

Posted in Complications, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Vaginal Birth | 2 Comments

Empowering Birth in the Trenches

Welcome to the Empowered Birth Week Blog Carnival This post is part of the Empowered Birth Week Blog Carnival hosted by Child of the Nature Isle and Betsy Dewey. For this special event the carnival participants have shared their perspective on Empowered Birth. Please read to the end to find a list of links to […]

Posted in Epidurals, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Labor Support, Vaginal Birth, VBAC | 7 Comments