Midwife

A midwife is a professional in midwifery. In addition to providing care to women during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum period, midwives may also provide primary care related to reproductive health, including annual gynecological exams, family planning, and menopausal care. Many developing countries are investing money and training for midwives and other community health workers so that they can provide well-woman primary care services that are currently lacking.

Midwives are specialists in pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and well-woman health care. They are educated and trained to recognize the variations of normal progress of labor and deal with deviations from normal to discern and intervene in high risk situations, such as breech births, twin births and births where the baby is in a posterior position, using non-invasive techniques. When a pregnant woman requires care beyond the midwife's scope of practice, they refer women to obstetricians or perinatologists who are specialists in complications related to pregnancy and birth, including surgical and instrumental deliveries. In many parts of the world, these professions work in tandem to provide care to childbearing women. In others, only the midwife is available to provide care, and in yet other countries many women elect to utilize obstetricians primarily over midwives.

Midwives (novel)

Midwives: A Novel is a novel by Chris Bohjalian, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in October 1998.

Plot summary

On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead—and Sibyl inadvertently killed her? Midwives tells the story of Sibyl Danforth from the point of view of her young daughter.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A TV version was made in 2001, adapted from this novel. It stars Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie and directed by Glenn Jordan.

Midwives (magazine)

Midwives magazine is a bi-monthly magazine produced for members of the Royal College of Midwives. It covers all aspects of maternity care, including clinical practice, education and research. It is published by Redactive Media Group on behalf of the Royal College of Midwives. It has a circulation of nearly 42,000.

History

Midwives was first published as Nursing notes, by Dame Rosalind Paget, shortly after the foundation of the Royal College of Midwives in 1881. The publication has had many names over the years including Nursing notes and midwives’ chronicle: for the professional nurse and midwife (1908-1939), Midwives chronicle and nursing notes (1940-1957), Midwives chronicle (1958-1995), RCM Midwives Journal (1998-2002), RCM Midwives (2002-2008). In 2008, the publication was rebranded as a magazine and titled Midwives. This coincided with Redactive Media Group becoming the title’s publisher.

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