On December 21st 2018, we lost one of midwifery’s heroes, Mary Cronk.
A staunch and strong advocate for women, Mary was a passionate midwife, an inspiring teacher and a famously and delightfully stroppy woman.
She was a true radical who taught what many term ‘real midwifery’ and encouraged others to become assertive.
In tribute to a wonderful woman and midwife, I am re-sharing this post in which I discussed the wonderful analogy which Mary used to use to explain why induction of labour often didn’t work or took a long time.
I love it when people remind me of brilliant ideas and analogies that I had forgotten.
A while back, one of my post-term pregnancy online course participants reminded me of the wonderful and well-loved midwife Mary Cronk’s analogy about induction of labour.
It explains why it is that induction often takes far longer than when women go into labour spontaneously, and also why induction sometimes fails.
Mary would say that to imagine that labour, with all its different factors, like hormones and muscles and so on, is like a synchronised swimming team.
It all works really beautifully together, she would say.
But induction of labour?
That is like throwing one of the swimmers in the pool and hoping the rest jump in!
Mary Cronk is also well known for having a collection of phrases which she taught women to use when their rights weren’t being respected, and you can read them here.
If you’d like to find out more:
You’ll find more on this, and many other topics, in my upcoming book on midwifery knowledge.
I’ll be sharing more details in September, and my email subscribers always get the earliest, juiciest, and most extensive details!
If you’re not on my email list and would like to be, sign up here, and then check for the confirmation email.
photo credit: Kristopher Roller
About the Author: Dr Sara Wickham is an author, speaker, and researcher specialising in pregnancy, birth and maternity care. Her work focuses on evidence-based, woman-centred information and informed decision-making, drawing on more than 30 years of midwifery knowledge and experience.
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