Blog About: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

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Article by Elizabeth Davis: "As midwifery is poised to go mainstream, we must be very clear on our foundation: What is essential to our work, and what is momentary or temporary? In other words, what about midwifery has endured, and what must endure if we are to continue to provide what women want when they seek midwifery care?"

Article by Robbie Davis-Floyd, PhD: A distressing cross-cultural trend is showing up in the growing body of anthropological literature about midwifery and birth in the developing world. From Tanzania to Papua New Guinea, anthropologists who observe professional midwives giving prenatal care and attending births increasingly note that, far from the midwifery ideal, professional midwives often treat women very badly during birth, ignoring their needs and requests, talking to them disrespectfully, ordering them around, and sometimes even yelling at them and slapping them. At the same time, and in direct correlation, the professional midwives are themselves often treated badly by the healthcare systems in which they work. ...

Our new combo offer makes a perfect gift for any aspiring midwife Paths to Becoming a Midwife will help her discover what kind of midwife she should be and what training optons are best for her. Midwifery Today Number 78 has a listing of direct entry programs available around the US, as well as articles on traditional midwifery, nurse-midwifery, apprenticeship, and direct entry midwifery.

A non-profit organization that provides prenatal and postpartum care services as well as full-service midwifery care and birthing center services. CSC runs The Birth Place birthing center and the Easy Access Prenatal Care Clinic. The clinic utilizes The JJ Way® MCH healthcare system to provide accessible, culturally-relevant midwifery-based care to uninsured and underinsured women who prefer to birth in a hospital.

I received this email from an expectant father seeking help in changing a local hospital's policy on midwives attending births. If you live in the area (and even if you don't), please consider making a phone call or sending a letter/email to the hospital administrator to heighten awareness of the issue and hopefully change hospital policy for the benefit of mothers and babies:

My wife and I are expecting our first in September. We are eager and excited to work with a specific midwife/nurse practitioner who works in a woman's health office near our home. This office is connected with Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland. For this reason, we can not work with our midwife during birth because Holy Cross does not allow midwives to help women deliver in their hos...