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Midwife Experiences
Better Births Five Years on
I’m old enough to remember Changing Childbirth five, ten and even fifteen years on (now it’s 28 years – how did that happen?) And now it is Better Births five years on. The two Reports had the same visionary leader, Baroness Julia Cumberlege, who can be proud of what...
Lessons in Appreciation
I am sure I am not the only midwife who has found themselves desperately trying to look patient, while observing a newborn babies first nappy change. It's hard to enjoy the special moment unfolding before you when you are twelve minutes in and you did not even have...
Moral Injury – an Introduction for midwives
* trigger warning – birth trauma/abuse * The concept of ‘moral injury’ in midwifery is being recognised at last. Here, we repost in full an article by Lynn Genevieve originally published in our magazine, Midwifery Matters in Summer 2019. Lynn introduces a concept...
Don’t Give up
My journey in midwifery has not been a linear conventional one. In fact I am totally amazed that I’m still a midwife and actually have a contract working in the NHS. But I’m an intersectional feminist birth activist, so giving up was never really going to happen was...
Reasons to be Joyful
Caroline Flint offers us a healthy dose of her characteristic wit and wisdom in this inspiring article. She shares her reasons for feeling optimistic about birth and the opportunities that midwives and women can grasp even during the COVID-19 crisis.After years and...
20 Ways to Support Labour
I've just popped together a simple list of ideas to use when supporting someone through labour. As a doula I spent many hours supporting women in the latent phase of labour at home and sometimes it can be hard to keep that energy flowing through the hours of the...
Birth out of the Box – A Twin Homebirth
I have quite a varied role in my work – for which I am grateful. I generally have three small jobs. They include teaching and practising holistic therapies,specializing in womens reproductive health and well-being. The other side of my role involves teaching...
Top Tips for Reducing the Risk of Perineal Tears in Labour
The reduction of risk and prevention of perineal tears when supporting birth is a core part of skilled midwifery practice. We know that perineal damage can have both short and long term impacts around discomfort, pain and sexual functioning and a Cochrane review...
Being Black and Birthing in the West
One of the legacies of colonisation, and the continued colonisation of different groups of people, is the deliberate throwing away of cultural heritage and knowledge. When I was younger, actually even now, my mum would talk about fish. ‘I dream a fish’, she’d say. We...
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