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Midwifery is the term traditionally used to describe the art of assisting a woman through childbirth. In the modern context, this term is used to describe the activities of these health care providers who are experts in women's health care including giving prenatal care to expecting mothers. They attend the birth of the infant and provide postpartum care to the mother and her infant. Practitioners of midwifery are known as midwives, a term used in reference to both women and men (the term means "with woman").
Midwives are autonomous practitioners who are specialists in normal pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum. Midwives are also primary care givers: providing general women's health care. Midwives are trained to recognize and deal with deviations from the norm. Obstetricians, in contrast, are specialists in illness related to childbearing and in surgery. The two professions are complementary. Midwives refer to obstetricians when a woman requires care beyond her areas of expertise. In many jurisdictions, these professions work together to provide care to childbearing women. In others, only the midwife is available to provide care. Midwives are trained to handle certain situations that are considered abnormal using non-invasive techniques, including breech birth on occasion. In many areas of the world, traditional birth attendants, also known as traditional midwives care for childbearing women.
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A History of Midwifery in North Carolina - A general timeline of important dates, statistics and legislation passed by the state.
About Midwives and Midwifery - A collection of net links on the history of midwives and midwifery, from About.com.
Meta Description: [ Midwives and midwifery in women's history: delivering babies and taking care of the mother's health has been a woman's job through much of history. ]
Biography of Mary Breckinridge - Regarded as the first to bring nurse-midwifery to the United States and founder of the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. Includes photographs, illustrations and a list of further reading.
Contributions by the Midwives of Antiquity to the Art and Science of Modern Medicine - Article which lists and gives brief descriptions of notable practitioners from ancient through to new world times. Also details the changeable attitudes towards the profession.
Delivering Childbirth - The Orlando Project - Paper which researches novels written by women during the 18th century on the subject. Compares the realities with the way in which writings of the time presented the experience.
Kate Sheppard Midwifery - History of Midwifery - Features a brief general overview as well as focusing on New Zealand's past to the recent present.
Meta Description: [ Midwifery - delivering babies, helping doctors delivering babies, post - natal care. antenatal eduction ]
MidwifeInfo.com - A Short History of Midwifery - Describes the profession from ancient times onwards. Also provides information on the beginnings in America, the increasing medicalization of childbirth, modern nurse-midwifery and current trends. Further reading also offered.
Meta Description: [ MidwifeInfo: a comprehensive information resource for parents and midwives. ]
Midwifery in Wisconsin - Covers the period from 1850 - 1905. Describes general practices and includes a list for further reading.
Midwives of Washington - Offers a complete timeline from 1917 through to the present day.
Royal College Of Midwives: History - Details the roots, challenges and emergence of the RCM in the UK from 1881 to the present day.
The History of Midwifery and Childbirth - A Time Line - Offers a time line of childbirth and midwifery in America. Includes further links to books of interest and organizations mentioned within.
Meta Description: [ Informational time line of childbirth and midwifery in America. ]
Who Was Martha Ballard? - Explores the diary of a midwife from the Massachusetts town of Oxford between the years of 1785 until 1813. Includes extracts, stories, themes and a search function.
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