Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many countries, midwifery is a medical profession. A professional in midwifery is known as a midwife.
Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million human births globally. In the developed countries, most deliveries occur in hospitals, while in the developing countries most are home births.
A birthing center is a healthcare facility, staffed by nurse midwives, midwives and/or obstetricians, for mothers in labor, who may be assisted by doulas and coaches. The midwives monitor the labor, and well-being of the mother and the baby during birth. Doulas can assist the midwives and make the birth easier. Should additional medical assistance be required, the mother can be transferred to a hospital. This transfer is more likely if an epidural is needed, there is meconium staining, it is a prolonged labor, or the newborn needs intensive care. Some hospitals have birth centers as an alternative to the usual high tech maternity wards.
A home birth is a birth that takes place in a residence rather than in a hospital or a birthing center. They may be attended by a midwife, or lay attendant with experience in managing home births. Home birth was, until the advent of modern medicine, the de facto method of delivery. The term was coined in the middle of the 19th century as births began to take place in hospitals.
The National Maternity Action Plan (NMAP) is an Australian document prepared by maternity consumer groups to alter the way Governments fund and resource maternity services.
Ina May Gaskin is an American midwife who has been described as "the mother of authentic midwifery." She helped found the self-sustaining community, The Farm, with her husband Stephen Gaskin in 1971 where she markedly launched her career in midwifery. She is known for the Gaskin Maneuver, has written several books on midwifery and childbirth, and continues to educate society through lectures and conferences and spread her message of natural, old-age inspired, fearless childbirth.
Sheila Helena Elizabeth Kitzinger MBE was a British natural childbirth activist and author on childbirth and pregnancy. She wrote more than 20 books and had a worldwide reputation as a passionate and committed advocate for change.
The Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) provides healthcare services to rural, underserved populations since 1925, and educates nurse-midwives since 1939.
Mary Cronk was an independent midwife from Scotland who was awarded her MBE for services to midwifery over her many years of practice.
Childbirth Connection, formerly known as the Maternity Center Association, is an American national nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy, and policy. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the interests of childbearing women and families.
Prunella Mary Briance (1926–2017) was the British founder of the National Childbirth Trust and a passionate campaigner to improve the health of women and their experience in childbirth.
Ruth Watson Lubic, CNM, EdD, FAAN, FACNM, is an American nurse-midwife and applied anthropologist who pioneered the role of nurse-midwives as primary care providers for women, particularly in maternity care. Lubic is considered to be one of the leaders of the nurse-midwifery movement in the United States.
Annie McCall was a British medical doctor and was a significant contributor to the modern practice of midwifery.
In the United States, certified nurse midwives (CNMs) are advanced practice registered nurses in nurse midwifery, the nursing care of women during pregnancy and the postpartum period. CNMs are considered as midwives.
Midwives in the United States assist childbearing women during pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Some midwives also provide primary care for women including well-woman exams, health promotion, and disease prevention, family planning options, and care for common gynecological concerns. Before the turn of the 20th century, traditional midwives were informally trained and helped deliver almost all births. Today, midwives are professionals who must undergo formal training. Midwives in the United States formed the Midwifery Education, Regulation, and Association task force to establish a framework for midwifery.
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
Jessy Kent-Parsons was a mother and child welfare campaigner, who established a School for Mothers in Tottenham in 1912, and organised one of the first antenatal clinics in England in 1917.
Jean Robinson is a British activist for patient rights. She was the author of the 1988 pamphlet A Patient Voice at the GMC: A Lay Member's View of the General Medical Council, published by Health Rights. She was the chair of the Patients Association from 1973 to 1975. She served as a lay member of the General Medical Council (GMC) in the 1980s. Robinson was appointed a Visiting Professor at the School of Health Sciences of the University of Ulster in 1997.
Joan Elsa Donley was a Canadian-born New Zealand nurse and midwife. Donley was a key figure who shaped midwifery and the home birth movement in New Zealand.
Beverley Ann Lawrence Beech was a Welsh author, chair of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS) from 1977 to 2017 and an active campaigner against the medicalisation of pregnancy and birth. She raised awareness of the harm that can be done to women in obstetrics during labour and the importance of women being aware of their rights so they can make their own decisions about the place and manner of the birth of their children. She also counselled for a more positive attitude towards home births.
