Category Archives: Research

Misleading home birth headline

By The Midwife | Published: September 19, 2013

Yet another scary press release regarding home birth has come out today in advance of research which is set to be published in the upcoming issue of AJOG.  We’ve already seen in the Wax report how relying on birth certificate data can mar research, as the intended place of delivery is often not captured on a birth […]

Also posted in Homebirth, Issues, Midwifery, Politics | Leave a comment

Cesareans less likely when mother is a physician

By The Midwife | Published: August 30, 2013

There have been several studies which have looked into the economic incentives which might play into the decision making that leads to a cesarean birth, but a new report for the National Bureau of Economic Research (recently reported on NPR) has found that cesareans are 10% less likely when the patient in labor is a […]

Also posted in Cesarean Birth, Hospitals | Leave a comment

Question Kegels?

By The Midwife | Published: December 3, 2011

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 […]

Also posted in Gynecology, Miscellaneous, Postpartum, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Wax Study Revisited

By The Midwife | Published: October 9, 2011

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 […]

Also posted in Choice, Complications, Homebirth, Hospitals, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Politics | 1 Comment

Midwifery Care Associated with Better Outcomes

By The Midwife | Published: August 29, 2011

Via MidwifeInfo, a systematic review spanning 18 years and encompassing 21 studies has found that midwives provide comparable or better care to women than care managed exclusively by physicians.   This finding was part of a larger review focusing on advanced practice nurses (nurse-midwives, nurse-anesthetists, nurse-practitioners etc.), and will be published in the upcoming September/ […]

Also posted in Journal Articles, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, News | Leave a comment

NIH Consensus updates on VBACs

By The Midwife | Published: March 3, 2011

One of the advantages to being a midwife is being on all kinds of funky mailing lists, which means that all softs of health information, conference invitations, and sometimes even free samples often show up on my doorstep.  A few days ago, I got just such a mailing– the NIH Consensus Development Conference Statement on […]

Also posted in Cesarean Birth, Complications, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Vaginal Birth, VBAC | Leave a comment

Newsworthy 11/11/08

By The Midwife | Published: November 11, 2008

One week after our historic election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, here’s a very interesting article on what his presidency might mean for Women’s Health (of the non-“airquotes” variety), namely improved access to birth control and sex education (i.e. the federal government no longer funding abstinence-only programs), a reversal […]

Also posted in Choice, Complications, Contraception, Education, Feminism, Labor and Birth, Politics, Pregnancy, Sex and Sexuality, Women's Health | 4 Comments

“Choosy Mothers Choose Cesareans”

By The Midwife | Published: April 24, 2008

Sometimes, briefly, you feel like you’re making progress, that midwifery outreach is making a difference, that people are becoming more educated and informed, and then you read an article like this one, over at Time Magazine, and you realize that you exist in a small bubble where your philosophy on birth is far different than […]

Also posted in Cesarean Birth, Complications, Hospitals | 5 Comments

Like trying to put out a wildfire

By The Midwife | Published: March 11, 2008

Chlamydia is the sexually transmitted infection du jour in our clinic. On a daily basis I probably encounter at least one, often 2, and sometimes 3-4 women per day who have it. For the majority of the women I see, learning that they have an STI is often like a wake-up call. They usually get […]

Also posted in Pregnancy, Primary Care, STIs, Women's Health | 10 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, Midwifery, Politics, Pregnancy | 1 Comment