Birth Articles

Ancient rituals for modern times As a long term yoga teacher and practitioner, when I became pregnant with my first son I was very interested to learn about what the teachings of yoga had to offer, beyond the benefits of preparing my physical body for birth. Two children later and I discovered the philosophical teachings of yoga and Ayurveda have an abundant wealth of support and nourishment to offer pregnant women. In my own experience, I found the rituals

Rituals and ceremonies flourish in every culture and have done so throughout history. Perhaps the two most ritual-inspiring events are birth and death. These events have seeped into culture, mysticism, religion and local custom. Rituals for the promotion of labour abound the world over! Some tribes in Central Africa believe sexual embarrassment of the pregnant woman will promote labour and customs include the father of the baby exposing his genitalia to her. In parts of Jamaica, it is customary

Siblings at birth - how it is possible? Before I became a mother I worked in early childhood development. Much of my time was spent observing and recording children's developmental capabilities and needs. I use those recordings to write programs for individual children in early childhood settings. I worked with many high university-trained early childhood experts. All of whom could rattle off the theories of Erickson and Piaget, but when it came to actually connect physically and emotionally with

The important thing to remember about the so-called high-risk situations (and there are many more situations usually included in the list than the three here) is the role of fear. Fear clouds the mind, fear has us revert to basic survival instincts – fight or flight. Fear stops labour. Risk brings up fear, if it’s risky then it’s not safe. But we need to put that into perspective, everything has its risks, everything. “Breech birth, vaginal birth after caesarean

My alarm is sounding, but I am already awake, I jump up and my heart is pounding as I will be a student midwife. The day is here, my first day of placement, in a real hospital, on a real maternity ward – I have been anticipating this day, not just since being at University, but from beginning my path to becoming a midwife (my dream job). I get dressed in my uniform and bolt out the door. Did

As any woman who has ever been overdue and anxious to get to the finish line will tell you – there are lots of ideas out there about how to bring on labour. There is the eating hot curries idea. Then there is the driving over the railway lines without using the break idea. Some woman swear by castor oil or enormous quantities of fresh pineapple, although both have unpleasant side effects! We’ve even heard of women repeatedly jogging

Birth Plans have been around for many years. They originated to assist women to inform their midwife or doctor of their wishes during labour, particularly if they wanted to avoid routine interventions. Birth Plans have evolved since their humble beginnings. Now they may be comprised of many things, including thoughts and expectations of what you would like for the birth of your baby. I must say from the out set, that I personally dislike the term ‘Birth Plan’. The

Ryan McAllister is a parent, biophysicist and a research professor at Georgetown University. For over 10 years Ryan has studied maternity care. Ryan presents this YouTube video called “Unbreaking Birth” . This video is well worth watching. Ryan presents complex issues in an easy to understand manner. He explores the United States maternity care system and highlights how this system has profoundly failed. The United States spends the most on maternity care.  It has the most expensive and possibly

Stalled Labour: Mom and Midwife Melanie's Story I'm a homebirth midwife, I am doing my PhD on birth outside the system and this was my first pregnancy. At 2.30 am I started contracting, and I was planning a homebirth. I felt fine about birthing a slightly preterm baby at home because deep down I knew he was ready. I contracted regularly through the night and as the sun came up it continued. Also, I felt sure that labour was

Recently I was at a lovely homebirth. The baby was born into his parent's arms after a short but intense labour. No problems during labour were identified. Once the woman and her baby were snuggled together and comfortable, I set to the task of checking the placenta under the women’s watchful glaze. Quickly we both saw that there was a true knot of the umbilical cord. I have seen quite a few true knots of the umbilical cord over

This YouTube video is intended for midwives, student midwives and those curious about the realities of life as a midwife. Midwifery has its fantastic highs but also has lows. This video highlights the importance of midwives taking care of themselves and offers strategies to avoid midwife burnout. Page revised on 15th December 2021 Further Reading Day in the Life of an Independent Midwife  Call the real midwives - A trip down memory lane Childbirth

This is a story of a day in the life of an Independent Midwife. The familiar jangle of the mobile at 3 am woke me but not with a start as I had been expecting the call. I received a text at 9.30 pm giving me the heads up that things were happening. She was term plus 12 days and keen for labour to start, especially since it was a “super moon’ that night. They lived in a remote

Call the real midwives - My mum was a midwife in the East End of London in the 1950's and so I grew up surrounded by stories of midwifery. It was probably one of the main reasons I became a midwife, going to the UK to undertake my midwifery training. When the TV series Call the Midwife came out I felt very sad not to be able to share it with my mum as she had already passed away.

Introduction The intense nature of labour means most women will look for and use some form of pain relief during their childbirth. For those women who prefer to avoid or minimise the use of medical analgesia, acupressure is a safe, effective, drug-free alternative. The degree of assistance that acupressure provides varies from woman to woman. While almost all women think it is helpful, on the other end of the scale women use words like ‘lifesaving’ and ‘magic’ when raving