This information hub gathers together classic articles and blog posts written for and about midwives and midwifery practice.
Midwives have long been persecuted, frequently by from those who benefit from spreading falsehoods about us. They often do this because they seek to personally or professionally gain from undermining midwifery.
And yet midwifery care can make more of a positive difference to women, babies and families than anything else that is offered during the childbearing year. That’s shown in this Cochrane review, as well as here, and here and in this study. as well as in many other articles and studies on my website and elsewhere.
Almost all of my research has been about knowledge, though I’m interested in the entire span of ways in which we can know things, from science and statistics to experience and intuition.
Most of my books focus on evidence and science, while also looking at the wider issues and the questions that haven’t been asked or researched. But over the years, I have used my research and analysis skills to look into some of the areas that have been neglected, as well as to cover some fun topics.
This page gathers together all of my articles about midwifery practise and wisdom, including some of the lighter pieces that I have written over the years. It’s my hope that these articles might bring a smile or a knowing nod to some of the midwives out there, and that they may help the next generation as well.
Passing yarns forward: unravelling the dimensions of knitting and birth
How do midwives support women in bureaucratic health care systems?
Induction and synchronised swimming: Mary Cronk words of wisdom
Twenty birth kit essentials
Ten things you can do before clamping the umbilical cord…
Perineal care bundles: clinicians’ concerns
The Poo Taboo
Screening: what are we missing?
Tips for physiological birth of the placenta
Normality and Goalposts
The birth of a midwife?
And that was that!
Curiosity and the Caul
Pondering the post-birth tea break
Pinard Wisdom
The Rhombus of Michaelis
To feel, or not to feel?
Induction and synchronised swimming: Mary Cronk words of wisdom
The importance of illumination – the case of covert retention
What’s true, pussycat?
Tips for physiological birth of the placenta
Body wisdom: detecting birth by smell (part 1)
Top ten technologies that have improved the lives of women and midwives
Reclaiming the Art in Birth
Professionalisation of the Sacral Rub
What’s on the label?
Unpacking Sweeping Policies
Nutrition and the wisdom of craving
Is Apgar scoring a flexible friend?
The theoretical risk of water embolism
Bring back the bed bath?
A Tale of Two Women
Women, wizards and patchwork quilts
A seasonal story about chicks, pants and common sense…
Blaming the baby
We’ve always done it that way (part 1)
Towards Greener Birth
The Changing Face of A and P
Obesity: Naming, Blaming and Shaming
Hips and feet should never meet
Sterile water blocks: is it time to talk?
Are emergency mnemonics help(err)ful?
Untangling tocophobia
The ungentle art of persuasion
Pondering Domesticity…
Do midwives kiss babies?
The ALTE mysteries
Whatever happened to the precautionary principle?
How are you sleeping?
Being clear about continuity
Stimulating conversation: does cold water wake babies in utero? Part 1
Exploring the Exceptions
Is this going to change your management?
Photo by Marcus Wallis on Unsplash
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