Category Archives: Midwifery

A Walk to Beautiful

By The Midwife | Published: February 24, 2008

Forget the Oscars (well, not entirely: Go, Juno, go!); the movie I really want to see is A Walk To Beautiful. Having already won several awards at film festivals around the world, the film follows five courageous women as they travel to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopa to find a cure for the [...]

Also posted in Complications, Issues, Labor and Birth, Women's Health | 5 Comments

Angelina the Midwife

By The Midwife | Published: December 10, 2007

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 [...]

Also posted in Birth Education, Homebirth, Labor and Birth, Myth, Folklore and Ritual | 7 Comments

Grassroots Birth Survey

By The Midwife | Published: December 5, 2007

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 [...]

Also posted in Birth Centers, Choice, Homebirth, Hospitals, Politics, Pregnancy, Research | 1 Comment

Plastic blood

By The Midwife | Published: November 19, 2007

Who ever would have guessed that this would be possible: a blood product substitute made from plastic, and which may be available for use in the next few years.  Unbelievable.  What will we come up with next??

Also posted in Miscellaneous, News | 3 Comments

50th Birth

By The Midwife | Published: November 9, 2007

Today I caught my 50th baby! She was born at 4:18 pm to a young woman from Puerto Rico who was absolutely thrilled and excited about her first pregnancy. She was an induction for postdates (per hospital policy, all women are induced if they’re still pregnant at 41 weeks); she’d actually had an incidence of [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Hospitals, Inductions, Labor and Birth, Labor Support, Vaginal Birth | 2 Comments

Hospital Midwifery

By The Midwife | Published: November 6, 2007

Rachel commented, in response to my Worry-wart = New Midwife post: “I was interested to see in your description how “medical” the treatment of the L&D patients seems to be, despite having a midwife on hand. Any thoughts on that?” Of course I have thoughts on that! First of all, this is hospital midwifery and [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Hospitals, Labor and Birth | 4 Comments

Worry-wart = new midwife

By The Midwife | Published: October 31, 2007

So, you’re probably wondering how it’s going. I’m in the middle of my third week as a new midwife, and it’s going…okay…so far, I guess. I wish I could sound more confident and enthusiastic about it at the moment, but I’m having a hard time feeling very confident or enthusiastic these days. Which is not [...]

Also posted in Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Pregnancy, Vaginal Birth | 3 Comments

Birth in developing countries

By The Midwife | Published: October 21, 2007

The BBC has put together an amazing series of articles on birth and maternal mortality in developing countries. This year, at the half-way mark towards the Millenium Goals set for 2015, we’re not even close to reaching the desired 75% reduction in maternal mortality. These articles explore the reasons behind these failures: everything from lack [...]

Also posted in Complications, Demise, Issues, Labor and Birth, Politics, Pregnancy | 3 Comments

New job, new midwife

By The Midwife | Published: October 10, 2007

I am a working girl at last!  Finally, after weeks of overcoming bureaucratic hurdle after hurdle, I am finally working!  Today was my first day at my new job as a new midwife at a busy Brooklyn hospital.  I can’t even begin to describe to you how exciting it was to get an employee ID [...]

Also posted in Clinicals, Pregnancy | 5 Comments

Brooklyn homebirth practice growing

By The Midwife | Published: October 7, 2007

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 Homebirth, News | Leave a comment