Midwifery Practice and Models of Care

New Largest Ever Waterbirth Study

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Transfer from Planned Home Birth to Hospital: Improving Inter-professional Collaboration

Abstract Women’s heightened interest in choice of birthplace and increased rates of planned home birth in the United States have been well documented, yet there remains significant public and professional debate about the ethics of planned home birth in jurisdictions where care is not clearly integrated across birth settings. Simultaneously,…

Supporting Healthy and Normal Physiologic Childbirth: A Consensus Statement by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, Midwives Alliance of North America, and the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives

Introduction In 1996, the World Health Organization called for the elimination of unnecessary intervention in childbirth, yet currently there are few resources to assist maternity care providers in achieving this goal. The purpose of this consensus statement is to explicitly identify key benchmarks of safe, healthy, and normal physiologic childbirth.…

Reinscribing the Birthing Body: Homebirth as Ritual Performance

Abstract In this article, I examine the clinical practices engaged in by U.S. homebirth midwives and their clients from the beginning of pregnancy through to the immediate postpartum period, deconstructing them for their symbolic and ritual content. Using data collected from open‐ended, semistructured interviews and intensive participant‐observation, I describe the…

Food is more than nutrition. Nutritional counseling and the language of prenatal diet in midwifery and obstetric practice

Find the full study Subscription only. To request a copy, contact us here Citation Moreno-Black, G. and M. Cheyney (2010). Food is More than Nutrition: Nutritional Counseling and the Language of Prenatal Diet in Midwifery and Obstetric Practice. Appetite 56(2): 538.

Born at home: The biological, cultural and political dimensions of maternity care in the United States (Book)

Synopsis This is a book about women who choose to give birth at home against the wishes and indeed the interests of established medicine. It focuses on conditions in the US. It places the issue within the context of the continuing health care crisis in this country and poses surprisingly…

Nutritional Counseling in Midwifery and Obstetric Practice

Abstract It is generally acknowledged that pregnant women require healthy diets. However, the cultural idea of “eating for two” and what constitutes an “appropriate” diet during pregnancy have been contested grounds of research as guidelines have changed over the decades. Using a grounded theory approach, we examine how research on…

Narratives of Risk: Speaking Across the Hospital/ Homebirth Divide

Find the full study Open source. To access the full article, click here Citation Cheyney, M. and C. Everson. (2009). Narratives of Risk: Speaking Across the Hospital/ Homebirth Divide. Anthropology Newsletter 50(3): 7-8.

Homebirth as Systems-Challenging Praxis: Knowledge, Power and Intimacy in the Birthplace

Abstract In this article, I examine the processes and motivations involved when women in the United States choose to circumvent the dominant obstetric care paradigm by delivering at home with a group of care providers called direct-entry midwives. Using grounded theory, participant observation, and open-ended, semistructured interviewing, I collected and…