labor and birth

Midwifery for Expectant Parents 3
I have dreamed of writing a book ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper (as my Grandpa would say). I am a life long devourer of books, never full, always looking for the next meal. I read all types of book, my hunger does not discriminate: fiction, non-fiction, […]

Midwifery for Expectant Parents

midwife 10
600 Births in as a Midwife. This number seems both huge and small at the same time. I have also been a midwife for a decade, which also feels like a drop in the bucket and monumental. Over the years, I have collected cards and photos from families and keep […]

600 Births

Nitrous Oxide 4
The use of Nitrous Oxide in Midwifery is both an old and new tool in the birth space. I’d like to use this post to discuss my experiences with it as a Midwife as well as some of the data available. Many years ago, I had been the Clinical Director […]

Nitrous Oxide in Midwifery

The Fifth Pearl
This series started many moons ago and I have refined and expanded it over the years. In this installment, I am sharing The Fifth Pearl. This Pearl pertains to your personal practice and to our Midwifery community as a whole; we must work together to affect the change that we […]

The Fifth Pearl

Tools of My Trade 2
As I continue with this hybrid series; part essay and part photo-essay about the Tools of My Trade, I am drawn to discuss my birth kit and tools. This post was inspired by an article that I recently stumbled across. It highlights midwives from around the world; Bangladesh, Guinea, Uganda, […]

Tools Of My Trade, #5

Pearls of Practice 4
Many Moons ago, I started this series all about the Pearls of Practice that I have learned on my midwifery journey. I have decided to share them here, I hope that they can lend support and provide encouragement for others on this path. Stay tuned in the coming months for […]

The First Pearls of Practice

400 Babies 9
WOW! I have been blessed by 400 (actually 401) babies and their families. Since the beginning of my work as a midwife, I have been committed to keeping and maintaining my outcome statistics. Partially this is because I am a bit of a nerd, partially because I love to record […]

Blessed By 400 Babies

Births Remembered
396 births remembered.    396 births that I have been honored and blessed to attend as a midwife. Each has been unique, all beautiful. Some were funny and light-hearted. Some were hard fought, some were excruciating and pushed me to my limits. This work is demanding and asks everything that […]

Births Remembered

6
Are routine vaginal exams in pregnancy necessary? I am here to tell you, emphatically, that no they are not! As a midwife, I tend to cringe at the very nature of any intervention being routine or necessary for every client.Routine vaginal exams to assess your cervix during pregnancy are one […]

The Myth of Vaginal Exams

Postdates Pregnancy
So, your long anticipated due date is fast approaching and still no signs of baby? If this is your first baby, take a deep breath. Likely, you have everything ready, the baby clothes are washed and folded, the “equipment” is all set up and there has been a car seat […]

Beyond 40 Weeks