According to her midwife Jana, Mira’s was a textbook birth: it was quite fast, even for a second birth, and proceeded without any complications. In reflecting on her attendance at Mira’s birth, which I had witnessed the day before, Jana emphasised that her task during birth is only to observe: “Observing, keeping an objective view, and recognising what the situation …
Tag Archives: Midwifery
Critical interventions in birth in the first 1000 days
This article is part of the series: The First Thousand Days of Life
Choice and the assigning of value in the practices and crafting of life-giving work
In healthy birthing initiatives described by, among others, the World Health Organization, emphasis has been placed on the importance of ‘the golden trio’: vaginal birth, breastfeeding and immediate skin to skin contact after birth. These three experiences are said to seed a baby’s immune system with …
In the journals
Below are some recent issues that might be of interest:
In the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Andrea Pieroni and Maria Elena Giusti conducted a medical ethnobotanical study of the Occitan communities in Italy, titled “Alpine ethnobotany in Italy: traditional knowledge of gastronomic and medicinal plants among the Occitans of the upper Varaita valley, Piedmont“.
Istav Praet …