A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich paints a picture of how New England life was in Colonial America through the diary of Martha Ballard. Martha Ballard’s diary takes place in Maine along the Kennebec River during the time period from 1785 to 1812. In Martha’s diary, Colonial American life was dominated by religion, agriculture, trading, gender roles, and medicine. Martha Ballard’s Diary illustrates that midwives played an important role as medical healers in colonial America because they delivered babies and provided medical treatments.…
Increasingly women are moving away from the traditional, unnatural child birthing option of hospital births, and embracing other options. This lead me to wonder what types of women are rejecting their parents ways of welcoming children into the world, and exploring alternative options that better suit their family. Homebirths, water births, doulas, and midwives are just a few of the options aside from a drug enduced hospital birth. Similarities and differences between these two groups of women have been identified, but overall, women just want their children to come into a safe, happy environment.…
I reply that most at-risk women choose not to birth at home to begin with, and if they do, certified midwives are trained to manage the problems or transport the women to the necessary care they need in time.…
This essay will discuss the Constitutional principle of Checks and Balances. It will explain the concept and effectiveness of the separation of power. As an example, the case of Brown v. The Board of Education will be used to explain the concept and effectiveness of the separation of power. Brown v. The Board of Education is a famous case that ended segregation in schools in 1954 during the Civil Rights Movement.…
Midwifes will need to have specialist knowledge to deliver a baby, knowledge about pregnancy and checking for symptoms for illness. Midwife will do screening tests in a hospital or at home. Midwifes will be explaining to women who are currently pregnant options, such as giving birth in hospital or at home, natural childbirth and types of pain relief. Midwife must have skills to be able to do screening test. Midwife offering support and advice following events such as miscarriage, termination, stillbirth, neonatal abnormality and neonatal death. Midwife must be able to give support and advice on the daily care of the baby, including breastfeeding, bathing and making up feeds. Giving advice is part of communication skills and a key aspect of being midwifery. Midwife will need to have good teamwork skills when working with other colleagues. Some midwife will need leadership to make sure her colleagues are doing their job…
When historian Laurel Ulrich began her research into the lives of American Revolution-era women, she was hardly encouraged by her initial efforts. "You won't find much," everyone seemed to say. And when she began making her way through the diary of midwife Martha Ballard, she was delving into a book that others had found next-to-useless--too full of trivial detail, or so they said. But the details were what she found interesting; and faced with so few sources, Ulrich realized her only option was to dig deeply into the ones she had, to discover the unspoken realities of women's lives written between the lines of Ballard's diary.…
The United States has gotten away from midwifery starting in 1955, only 1% of births took place at home. The culture shift portrayed midwives as “vestige of the old country.” Midwives were understood as dirty, ignorant and illiterate. Now midwives are often perceived as unprepared. Once doctors started graduating from medical school, business took over the birthing process. Births then went into the hospitals and midwives did not follow. The concept of normal changed.…
The tasks include providing care for the newborn and the family and monitoring the baby and mother for any issues that may come up after delivery (“Postpartum Nurse Careers,” 2015). In order to become a postpartum nurse, one must attend nursing school and pass the NCLEX and receive additional training in birthing and postpartum care (“Postpartum Nurse Careers,” 2015). During this past clinical day, I shadowed a postpartum nurse. I would describe my nurse, Irene, as a very knowledgeable yet compassionate nurse. She was very skilled in providing not only medical care for her patients, but also emotional support. She was very efficient in time management and prioritizing who needed what the most of the four patients she had. She worked very well with the CNA’s on the floor by always communicating with them to coordinate the care they provide as…
Everytime I see those blinding blue eyes that my 4 year old niece has, my mind goes straight to the day before she was born. On October 30th around 4pm, my sister, who was 9 months pregnant at the time, and I are sitting on our comfy brown suede couch. The cliche screams coming from the scary movie that’s playing in the front of the room. Little did I know that in just a few minutes my heart rate would go up, but not from the movie, from the horrors of childbirth.…
Should the partnered status of women have any bearing upon the care she receives from midwives during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period? In relation to the Nursing and Midwifery Board (NMBA) Competency Standards for the Midwife 2010, competency 9, the midwife should actively support midwifery as a public health strategy. Actively supporting midwifery and public health would be seen as actively supporting the woman in her pregnancy journey, regardless of her partnered status, should that be married, partnered, single or from a same sex relationship. This can also be seen as advocating for the woman and her partner, the care she is provided with and collaborating with the woman and other relevant healthcare services to ensure that woman centered care is provided, regardless of partnered status. However research into the experiences of women is seen differently, especially in the case of same sex partnerships and the care that is provided. Women in same sex relationships report the differences between the care provided to them compared to that of heterosexual couples can be seen, further adding to social isolation which can be felt by…
A purposive convenience sample of 32 women who give birth to normal newborn were interviewed about how they would feel or had felt if a male nursing student examined them particularly in the recovery and postpartum setting. Approximately half of the women described the idea of being cared for by a male nurse “uncomfortable” many participants believed that their permission, as should be obtained before being assigned to a male nursing student.…
Midwives are autonomous professionals who are responsible for delivering high quality and holistic care for women during the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period’s .This involves working in close partnership with women to enable the provision of all necessary support, care and guidance (ICM, 2011). The midwife also has the important task of providing woman -centred care whilst always striving to promote normal birth (midwifery 20 20).…
Family-centered maternity care, which involved bringing the fathers of the baby into the delivery room, was just one of the ideas nurse midwives initiated. Nurse midwives incorporated the idea of keeping babies in the same room as the mother after delivery rather than placing the babies in the nursery. Certified Nurse Midwives were advocates for mothers to breastfeed their babies instead of formula feeding which was being taught to the mothers by hospitals during specific time periods (Rooks, 2014). Certified nurse midwives significantly impact the nursing profession. These advanced practice nurses can utilize the skills and knowledge they possess to educate others whether it be at nursing schools or schools of allied health or medicine. CNMs can become part of national or local affairs in order to create policies for health care reform, lead a nurse-midwifery practice in a specific type of work environment, or even perform clinical researches surrounding health benefits, safety, and cost-effectiveness of certain aspects and…
Sitting in the bathroom waiting for the dip stick to tell our fate. A minute passes and two pink lines light up the test strip. It’s official we are expecting again. Flushed with delight and apprehension of confirming my pregnancy, I call the doctor to confirm. It’s a Friday, they cannot see me until Wednesday. With emotions raging through my head, feeling elated and nervous, I can’t wait to tell my husband. I know I should wait for confirmation but I am too excited. He is overjoyed at the news.…
It was witnessing the birth of a baby at twenty five weeks that despite being overwhelmingly shocking and upsetting convinced me beyond doubt that midwifery is the career I wanted to pursue. Being able to build a relationship with a woman throughout postnatal and antenatal care is something that seems very rewarding to me. I recognise that midwifery is about having confidence in your understanding of the woman's body, being able to reassure and relax them.…