The first contact a newborn baby has is usually with the midwife or obstetrician, as she catches the baby and ‘hands” the newborn to the mother or places the baby on her abdomen or chest.
The First Contact
Category: Birth in South Africa
Pregnancy and childbirth differs in different countries and cultures, these posts are about birth in South Africa.
The Biology of Spiritual Birth Workshop – May 2012
Marianne Littlejohn will be presenting her workshop, “The Biology of Spiritual Birth” in Johannesburg on Sunday the 6th of May 2012, to be held at Genesis Clinic in Saxonwold, Johannesburg.
Fathers at Birth
Fathers at birth are a regular occurrence in our western world and their presence is encouraged. But preparation is needed for them to gain the full benefit of the unfolding process of changing from a couple to becoming a family. Being with their partners at birth is a profoundly moving event for fathers.
The Travelling Midwife: Tale of Two Cities
I imagined how through the centuries, African people had been giving birth in their thatch roofed dwellings, now replaced by glistening tin roofs that do not insulate the home from the heat of the strong African sun. Almost akin to the hospitals and clinics where African women now give birth and that do not insulate them from the emotional and physical trauma of medicalized childbirth.
The Privilege of Midwifery
The obstetricians at Vincent Pallotti hospital have decided to no longer provide a back-up service for my practice. Apart from the loss of the medical back-up as a professional midwife, the greater loss is to mothers and women who are not able to choose this private hospital for medical back-up when they have chosen me as a professional midwife.
The Travelling Midwife: A Homebirth in Clarens
Ane’ wanted to be allowed to walk around, and to eat and drink during labour, She did not want her baby to be separated from her after birth and wanted to experience the the labour and the birth without pain relief.
Natural ‘Undisturbed’ Birth: The Travelling Midwife
Natural Birth is an involuntary physiological process that occurs when labour commences, progresses and culminates in the expulsion of a baby from a mother’s womb.