‘Birth Days’: a documentary film

A woman appears on screen; she cries deeply A friendly hand appears on screen, caresses the naked back of the woman, then her face A midwife tries to comfort a woman in labour The pregnant woman and...

Acupressure And Acupuncture During Birth: An Integrative Guide For Acupuncturists And Birth Professionals

Enabling perinatal volunteering

There is overwhelming evidence that volunteering and peer support has a unique and valuable contribution to make to ‘Better Births’ outcomes (Spiby et al, 2015; Parents 1st and Institute for Voluntary...

Gestational diabetes and ethics

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) around 700 000 women give birth in England and Wales annually; up to 5% of these women have either pre-existing diabetes or...

Exploring problematic substance use among registered midwives

There is a united level of concern for the health and wellbeing of midwives in the UK, where recent research has shown that many of these midwives experience work-related stress and burnout (Hunter et...

Terminology review: changing culture to reduce risk

Oxytocin (Syntocinon®) and ergometrine with oxytocin (Syntometrine®) are two well-known brands of oxytocics in current use in maternity centres within the UK A recent incident alerted staff at...

What is a professional midwifery advocate?

Midwives roles are dedicated to their profession, their patients, and giving their time to help women during their pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum period This job can be taxing on the health...

Childbirth satisfaction and perceptions of control: postnatal psychological implications

The safe delivery of a healthy baby is a critical priority in perinatal care However, maternal satisfaction also remains an important outcome, as it has the potential to influence psychological...

Back to the future: midwives' experiences of undertaking a return to midwifery practice programme

Midwifery shortages are a global issue (World Health Organization, 2018) Maintaining an adequate and competent workforce is a major challenge for health service providers An increasingly important...

Utilisation of antenatal care services as determinants of satisfaction and its challenges in Lagos, Nigeria

Complications of pregnancy and childbirth cause more deaths and disabilities than any other reproductive health problems in African countries, including Nigeria (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016)...

Does COVID-19 affect pregnant women?

Why breech birth matters

I was recently teaching a physiological breech birth training day for Breech Birth Network, CIC where I met a wonderful doula with a vast amount of knowledge on physiological birth and supporting...