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31 March 2009
Why I Became a Homebirth Midwife and Midwifery Today Mother
The one thing that made me want to become a midwife was the birth of my first child. I was having a lovely, natural birth in the hospital. I was laboring wonderfully, loving it. When I got really going, at probably about 9 cm dilation, the staff came in to give me a saddle block. I said, “But I’m... Read More...
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13 February 2009
You Can Help Change Birth
We all can work in many ways to change birth. To get some ideas about what you can do, read “26 Ways to Change Birth,” a Midwifery Today article by Sara Wickham. One of my favorite ways to plant seeds of change is to talk to people in the grocery store, on an airplane or wherever I am. I... Read More...
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31 January 2009
Midwifery in Uganda - Report from Marion Toepke McLean
Marion, who you read about in my previous blog post , has shared this little picture of Uganda with us and also a lovely birth story. Midwifery Today sent Marion with a Doppler which was the piece of equipment the midwives wanted most. -Jan I'm greeting you from Soroti, Uganda, here on the high savannah... Read More...
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24 January 2009
Marion Toepke McLean, Certified Nurse Midwife
"Marion delivered her first baby in Africa." Her husband, Fergus, called me to announce this touching news. Marion has volunteered in Afghanistan and now in Uganda. She is my very special mentor and a faithful writer for Midwifery Today from before its birth. It was in 1976 that I was touched... Read More...
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20 January 2009
Birth and Bio-Physical Profile
My friend, who is a homebirth and birth center midwife, just had a round of Bio-Physical Profile problems. That is, some of her clients decided to step on the medical intervention train and have one, "just to see if their baby was all right." What that invariably does is start them on the,... Read More...
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12 January 2009
Feeding Your Family While on Call
One of the great joys of my life is growing our food. I translate this into meals as I bring it in from the garden. It is ever so handy to have meals already prepared after working all day. When I was doing births I would just call my daughter and have her get, for instance, spaghetti sauce out of the... Read More...
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02 January 2009
Hope, Dream and Do - Are You Called to Midwifery?
A new year is the perfect time to take stock of your life. Are you headed in the direction you want for your life? We as birth practitioners and activists are called to help motherbaby have the best birth possible. There are many callings within that theme. You may have a dream to be a doula or a midwife... Read More...
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17 December 2008
Three Cups of Tea
I recently read the book Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time , by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. This is an unusual book for me to review in that it isn’t about midwifery or birth. It’s about a subject that I encourage people about as often as I can... Read More...
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09 May 2008
Role of Doulas
Having both a midwife and a doula in a homebirth is nice. My midwife mentor and one of the column writers for Midwifery Today , Marion Toepke McLean, cautioned us early on that when midwives do too much labor support, our judgment of what is going on may be clouded. Sometimes labor is very long but very... Read More...
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09 March 2008
Survivor Moms: After the Birth
Hi! Mickey Sperlich here, sitting in for Jan’s blog one more time. I was sharing with you about the forthcoming book “Survivor Moms: Women’s Stories of Birthing, Mothering and Healing after Sexual Abuse.” In addition to the chapters on “Life before Motherhood”, “Pregnancy”, and “Labor & Birth”, we... Read More...
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09 March 2008
No More Palpation?
I got a shock recently. My midwife friend told me that she explains to women that their doctor or midwife will palpate their belly in their prenatal visits to find the position of the baby, and the women look at her like she was from another planet. She said that she learned that doctors, especially... Read More...
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05 March 2008
Survivor Moms: Women’s Stories of Birthing, Mothering and Healing
Hi! Mickey Sperlich here, sitting in for Jan again. I was telling you the story of how our book Survivor Moms: Women’s Stories of Birthing, Mothering and Healing came to be. As I said, there are 81 women whose stories form the basis for this book. Their stories are varied and rich, and span the time... Read More...
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03 March 2008
Survivor Moms Speak Out project leads to book due out soon
Hi there! Jan asked me to contribute to her blog while she is traveling in South Africa. I am honored that Motherbaby Press is going to soon release our book, “Survivor Moms: Women’s stories of birthing, mothering, and healing after sexual abuse.” It is a collection of narratives of women survivors of... Read More...
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12 February 2008
Less Pain in Labor
The other day I took my young friend--whose birth I am helping with--to the birth center where she plans to have her baby. The midwife, while showing her the birth pool, stated that recent research show that women experience 70% less pain while birthing in water. I don't know if there is any way... Read More...
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08 February 2008
Fighting Infection in Birth
Methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) is another good reason to have your baby at home. It is rampant in hospitals. Our local newspaper reported recently that 90,000 Americans are sickened by this infection each year and almost 19,000 are killed by it. This is more people than are killed by AIDS... Read More...
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