Midwifing The Midwife

06/05/2025

Here is a good read! Advantage of resuscitating with intact cord. When do you cut the cord?

1. In a randomized trial including late preterm and term infants resuscitated with positive pressure ventilation (PPV) at birth, expanded Apgar score at 5 minutes was significantly higher in infants resuscitated with an intact cord than those who had immediate cord clamping. 2. Delayed cord clamping...

07/04/2025

Check out this study and share what you thought. How many vaginal exams do you do for one client during labor? Do you ask for a consent? What considerations do you take? Have you heard of obstetric r**e and sexual assault during childbirth?

Share your thoughts.

Background Vaginal examination (VE), is a frequent procedure during childbirth. It is the most accepted ways to assess progress during childbirth, but its repetition at short intervals has no value. Over years, VE continued to be plagued by a nature that implies negative feelings and experiences of....

09/03/2025

Did you know that babies actually remember how they were born and the challenges they had in the birth canal? This are called implicit memories which are emotional, sensory, and motor memories. They just can't put that in word but traumatic birth has a long term impact on the life of a baby even after becoming an adult. As midwives, being gentle with babies, especially those with difficult births is important, to reassure them that they are okay and safe, especially those babies needing a resuscitation after birth. Babies experience, feel and remember what happened to them. What are your thoughts?

15/02/2025

Coming back to Midwifing the Midwife after a needed break.

Lets connect and start talking about different topics in midwifery as they resonate to the communities we serve.

How have you been? What does practicing as a midwife in your community look like? What is ONE BIG challenge you are facing right now that is affecting your profession or you as a person? Go ahead and share.

11/01/2023

As a midwife, what are your gaps? Where do you need help the most?

07/01/2023

Choose topics you want to learn more as a continuing education. We will do a live discussion of the topics you choose the most.

👉 Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (preeclampsia/eclampsia)
👉 Obstructed labor
👉 Labor patterns
👉 Identification and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage
👉 Shoulder dystocia
👉 Newborn exam
👉 Obstetric violence

11/07/2022

How long is long enough for a delayed cord clamping? what happens if we don't clamp at all? What happens if we just leave it as is until the placenta is out?

23/02/2021

Do They Even Have A Right?

There is a very big gap, a hierarchy between 'us' the providers and 'them' the patient. There is some sort of a conclusion which is unwritten, a way of thinking which says we are better than them, the patients; we even know their body and how they feel better than them. So we are always condescending. We tell them how they should feel, how they are feeling now, we ignore their concerns or question or even if we are willing to answer, it is not respectful specially for those poor moms who are so scare of the white gown we wear.

Being a midwife is being with the woman. We are with her all the way through her pregnancy, birth and postpartum; even after. We let her guide as she knows her body the best. We follow her needs, we support her, we listen to her, we let her ask questions, we comfort her, we create a safe environment even in a space that is unsafe, we guide her when she needs a guidance, we cry and laugh with her, since we called her to the hospital from her comfortable home so that she can have her baby with us, we make the hospital as safe as possible. How? just by being with her. I know we are busy taking care of lots of moms, I know we are not well paid and life is hard. But, she is trusting hers and her baby's life on our hands, so we should be with her.

It is her right to accept or refuse a treatment even when her life is in danger. She can say ' no I don't need this provider, I want someone else to take care of me' . Does it seem off? You might even say to me you're crazy but its true. SHE HAS A RIGHT TO ACCEPT OR REFUSE WHAT WE OFFER AND WE CAN'T FORCE HER TO DO WHAT WE THINK IS BEST FOR HER. How many of us ask for a mom's permission before we do a cervical check? How many of us say okay if she says 'no I don't want to be checked?'

Becoming the best midwife starts with listening to and respecting a pregnant woman. It starts with respecting their rights, It starts with being with her!

13/01/2021

Most often, we ask how do we prevent maternal mortality that is mainly caused by PPH?
And we look for medications and high tech procedures. The saddest thing is we cause postpartum hemorrhage by inducing birth unnecessarily, we over use uterotonics, we push the woman's body so hard that the body gets confused, we fiddle with the uterus in an attempt to prevent bleeding, we are not patient for the placenta to come out on it's time, we do a loooot of things. Medical cause of PPH is not very common. The biggest cause is uterine atony. Uterine atony is a tired uterus. The biggest reason a uterus gets tired is over stimulation.

Let's take a breath, support physiologic birth and prevent maternal mortality. Intervene only when absolutely necessary.

12/01/2021

Pregnancy is natural, birth is a natural but complex physiologic process. A midwife's job is to support and guard the physiology, so that the mother can do her job, birthing her baby. A midwife safeguards the family, identifying risks when present and managing complications; being respectful of the mother's wishes, culture, addressing fears and guiding her, being an advocate for the mother, the family. That's what a midwife's role is; TO BE WITH THE WOMAN, WHILE THE WOMAN BIRTHS HER BABY. Being a midwife in a medical way is not midwifery, managing birth, intervening the physiology is not midwifery. We are don't manage birth, we support!