Maternity & Midwifery Forum

birth

Midwifery Sector News

“You shouldn’t have to feel you’re pushing your pregnancy aside…”

Paul
“Even when you account for ethnicity, substance misuse, smoking – an out-of-home [situation] or housing instability leads to a low birth-weight baby.”   Being pregnant whilst homeless throws up a unique set of challenges. Pregnant women who become homeless have priority need for accommodation, according to government guidance, but problems......
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Midwifery Sector News

Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome during pregnancy, birth and beyond

Paul
After the actor and activist Jameela Jamil mentioned her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in an Instagram comment in February and was later presented with an award by the Ehlers-Danlos Society for being a patient advocate, a lot of fans were left scratching their heads. Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a relatively unknown......
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Midwifery Sector News

Optimizing the use of Caesarean Section

Paul
In October 2018, The Lancet published an epidemiological report   on global use of caesarean sections – it put the UK figure at just over 26% of all births.  This comes, perhaps not coincidentally, at a time when tokophobia (the extreme fear of birth) seems to be on the rise.......
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Midwifery Sector News

Getting it right the first time – Holding on to labour

Paul
Many pregnant women – especially those who have given birth before – have an innate sense of when they’ve gone into labour ‘for real’.  However, if they show up to the labour ward of their local or chosen hospital too soon, they run the risk of being sent home where......
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Midwifery Sector News

How can all women be given the choice and the options? 

Paul
In a week of fevered speculation about how Archie, the son of the Duchess of Sussex’s was to be born it was clear that, whatever finally happened, whether it was a home birth or at the private Portland Hospital, the Duchess had informed choice and the infrastructure to make it......
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Midwifery Sector News

The Case for Parental Voices in Perinatal Mortality Review

Paul
Watching the start of the “infected Blood Enquiry” into the 1970s contaminated blood products scandal which had such devastating effect on the haemophiliac community and others is hard. 3000 died. The Enquiry started with heart rending testimonials from those affected, and the relatives of the dead.  The Grenfell Enquiry started......
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Videos

Improving birth outcomes through education and training in Sierra Leone – Helena White

Paul
Improving birth outcomes through education and training in Sierra Leone – Helena White, Midwife, The African Maternity Link from Narrowcast Media Group on Vimeo. Helena White, Midwife, The African Maternity Link gives a presentation discussing “Improving birth outcomes through education and training in Sierra Leone” at the London Maternity &......
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Midwifery Feature Articles

Midwives for Africa – A Call for Volunteers

Paul
Life for African Mothers (formerly Hope for Grace Kodindo) was formed following the screening of BBC Panorama’s “Dead Mums Don’t Cry” in 2005. The programme showed the tragedy of maternal mortality in Chad, one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s poorest countries, where in one hospital, at least one woman was dying every......
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Midwifery Sector News

Your Birth: Stories from midwifery led areas

Paul
Photo by Carlo Navarro on Unsplash
A new book by midwives from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board aims to promote confidence in the birth process and redress the balance of negative media around birth. Written by Emma Mills, Clinical Research Midwife and Louise Taylor, Consultant Midwife, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board Your Birth: Stories from midwifery led areas is a collection of......
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