Midwife Connection

by ACNM Guest Blogger Jennifer Williams, CNM Unless you’ve been living under a rock or have been on call 24/7 for the past couple of days, it’s unlikely you’ve missed the news coverage of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to pull its funding for breast cancer screening from women who seek care at Planned Parenthood. The initial announcement was met with quite a reaction, and many people expressed concern that this decision was based on an ideology to no longer support Planned Parenthoo...

by Sarah Darby, CNM, reposted with permission from Meandering Midwife "If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me, Threatening the life it belongs to" ~Anna Nalick It's the eve of my birthday. I am pensive today, feeling quiet and somewhat withdrawn. It's not the aging that is nagging at my mind...it's the history. I am sitting here thinking of my mother and wondering if 37 years ago today she was having signs of my impending arrival. I wonder what was going through her m...

by Nancy Jo Reedy, CNM, MPH, FACNM Recently, a conversation about self-care on the ACNM clinical management listserv provided some food for thought. What do we need to do to take care of ourselves so that we can be positive, contributing, and effective midwives? How do we care for ourselves and each other? Do we not have a responsibility to strengthen each of us in our areas of practice? I believe a midwife is always and forever a midwife. No matter where she/he is working—health department...

by Guest Blogger Aubre Tompkins, CNM Aubre Tompkins, CNM, is beginning her second year as a midwife. She has been guest blogging about the lessons she’s learned during her first year in a series for ACNM. Check out her first three posts here: Pearls #1 and #2: Remember to Breathe, and Listen Pearl #3: Emotions are Healthy Pearl #4: Be Humble When you’re starting out, it can take time to get your “midwife legs,” and develop your own personal way of doing things. You can and will choose bits ...

by ACNM Guest Blogger Jennifer Williams, CNM When I was a little girl, I always thought there was a problem with our Nativity set. I could never figure out why the baby was barely dressed and separated from his mama, laying in a bucket of hay. He looked pretty cold and lonely to me. When I was in middle school, I looked at the Nativity set and thought, “Wow, Mary looks pretty good for just having given birth in a stable.” As you can see, my fascination with birth greatly preceded my plans for...