Pt 2 : Perspectives on Global Midwifery; A US midwife’s diary of the 29th ICM Triennial Congress [Click here for Pt 1] As an advocate for US midwifery and women’s health, I recently had the opportunity to be temporarily lifted out of the trenches of our national battle for access to midwifery care.  As an …

I recently had the opportunity to travel to South Africa as part of a delegation for the Midwives Alliance of North America as an Observer to the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Triennial Council meeting. I had the unique privilege of listening and learning about the organizational processes that unfold as midwifery leaders from over …

The sad case involving a Maryland based Certified Professional Midwife and an infant death following a birth at home in Alexandria has ignited a tinder box of ongoing frustrations and accusations from both sides of a cultural divide between medicine and midwifery.  It is time for both physicians and midwives to re-examine their assumptions about …

In Time’s American Women: Birthing Babies at Home, Catherine Elton discusses the “battle over birth” between midwives and obstetricians. As she reviews the recent skirmish related to a controversial meta-analysis by Dr. Joseph Wax published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that throws the safety of home birth into question, she highlights the primary factor where …

An incredibly bold and insightful article from a US Obstetrician.  If there are physicians like this within the bureaucracy, then there is hope for our future.  Please pass this along and send this woman some huzzahs! The following wins the Midwife Monologues award for “Best Quote of the Year”: Industrial obstetrics strips the locus of …

On March 30 Governer Kaine signed HB 2163, giving final approval to a bill that will set an historic precedent for setting standards for informed choice in maternity care.  Effective July 1, 2009, regulations for Certified Professional Midwives will require that midwives disclose to their clients “evidenced based information” about the risks associated with vbac, breech, …

It was enough of a pleasant surprise when Consumer Reports analyzed maternity care in the US and gave the midwives model top ranking,”Maternity Care: High-tech vs high-touch“.  But when the stodgy and mainsteam biased Time Magazine comes out with a story this week in the Health and Science section titled “The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans“, you …

Start with two lemons: Two bills introduced by a freshman Delegate from Harrisonburg who “loves midwives” but lends his ear to obstetricians in his community who feel quite differently. Throw out the rotten fruit: HB 2167- a bill intended to eliminate VBAC births at home but written in a way that singled out low-income women from accessing midwives for normal …

More and more women are asking us about the benefits of ingesting their own placentas after their birth.  The practice is becoming more well known, CBS just did a story on it.  The benefits are considered worth the yuck factor; better milk supply, reduced postpartum depression and more balanced hormones in the weeks following birth.  There are some intriguing recipes …

Since your bill would essentially mandate surgery for the underprivileged women in your community, I highly encourage you to become educated about the risks of cesarean section, especially when a woman has more than one.  The maternal death rate is rising in our country.  The CDC has acknowledged that the death rates are actually under …