…just to illustrate the bind that the homebirth midwives find themselves in at the moment after the closing of St. Vincents hospital and the subsequent loss of their back-up hospital/ written practice agreements (see yesterday’s post): Last night I was working (at the HHC public hospital in Brooklyn where I spend a good deal of [...]
St. Vincents hospital was the most homebirth-midwife friendly hospital in Manhattan, and quite possibly in New York City, period. It was certainly the only hospital in Manhattan which accommodated homebirth and homebirth midwives. My own midwife delivered her patients there, and she would often comment to me about what a lovely set-up they had at [...]
Midirs Midwifery Digest, the premiere midwifery publication in England, has recently posted an interview with Ina May Gaskin, one of the fouding midwives of The Farm and an international midwifery leader and homebirth midwife. The podcast of the interview is available here, and the written version can be found here. It’s really fascinating, once you [...]
Also posted in Midwifery |
The AMA has recently issued a resolution supporting ACOG’s Statement on Homebirth which agrees that the safest place to have a baby is the hospital, of course, where obstetricians work and get paid. What’s really awful is that they’re using Ricki Lake’s movie, The Business of Being Born, as a tool to try to pass [...]
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recently issued a Statement on Homebirth which condemns homebirth and all those who are willing to attend homebirth (aka midwives), concluding that only “…the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that [...]
I’ve been sick as a dog for the past three days, for the second time this season (I was so sick right before Thanksgiving that I actually lost my voice and had to call in sick to work…something which I NEVER do). Luckily I’ve had the past 3 days off to recover, but I’m due [...]
Also posted in Labor and Birth, VBAC |
I just discovered the most amazing videos over on You Tube about a traditional midwife working in Mexico. I’m sure many of you have probably seen them already, but I was just blown away!! It’s amazing to watch the way she uses her hands to massage, assess, palpate…turn a breech baby. A midwife’s greatest tool [...]
The other day I discovered a postcard at my local yoga center urging women to participate in a birth survey, which instantly piqued my interest; apparently this survey has already been going on for some time, although I have only now heard about it. A little research has revealed that the Coalition for Improving Maternity [...]
There was a recent article in the NY Daily News on the homebirth practice of Joan Bryson, a Brooklyn midwife who has been delivering babies at home for over seven years now. Joan also served as president of the local NYC ANCM chapter last year. Last year, Bryson delivered nearly 50 babies throughout the city. [...]
Also posted in Midwifery, News |
Last Friday I was a very lucky duck: I was able to attend a screening of The Business of Being Born at the Tribeca Film Festival, hosted by Friends of the Birth Center, along with a post-show talkbalk with the Abby Epstein, the director of the movie, and Ricki Lake, the producer, followed by a [...]