Not all of us will give birth, but each of us has been born.
It is the primal passage all human beings make.
Almost all of us are born into the hands of midwives.
Surprising but true, about 80% of the people alive on the planet today have been born into the hands of a midwife. This has been true since the dawn of time.
In most human cultures, birth is a social event, not a potential medical emergency, and it is an integral part of family and community life. Many cultures focus on honoring the miracle of spirit becoming flesh and celebrating the phenomenon of life’s continuation with the birth of each newborn.
Birth Matters. How one gives birth, and how one is born, matters deeply.
Whether we enter it intentionally or unintentionally, happily or unhappily, prepared or unprepared, giving birth is a rite of passage like no other. Afterwards, birth is forever embedded in our memories and embodied in our flesh. We remember it deep in our bones and souls our whole lives.
Why Midwives?
Pregnancy and birth are complex, elegant processes designed to work well. In most cases, they do. Midwives are experts in normal physiologic birth. Midwives have been receiving the generations into their hands since the dawn of time. The advent of modern obstetrics in the United States dramatically shifted beliefs and practices about childbirth.
Why Midwifery Care?
The evidence is clear, consistent, and convincing. The Midwives Model of Care is the most effective and efficient model of maternity care. It results in fewer interventions, better outcomes, greater client satisfaction, and costs far less than the standard medical model of care. Read more about numerous studies about midwifery care and maternal health.
History and Modernity
The case can absolutely be made that the lineage of midwives is the longest and oldest unbroken line of healing professionals on earth. While some modern industrialized countries use midwives as the gold standard in maternity care, other modern countries have systems designed to put them out of business or make them illegal, shutting them out of the continuum of care.
What Really Matters
What matters to childbearing women, matters to midwives.
Geradine Simkins
Supporting Each Other
Midwives and their clients are dynamically intertwined, a braided grapevine of interlaced roots, branches and fruits feeding and supporting each other.
About Geradine
Geradine Simkins is a midwife, writer, activist, and visionary who passionately provided midwifery care in a variety of settings for more than 40 years.
Wisdom from Midwives 