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Would you like Erykah Badu to be present at your birth? It could happen — she's already a doula, and now has said she wants to be a midwife. More »
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The rate of home births is dropping in England. Cue finger-pointing. More »
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• Kids at the Oakwood Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia received some strange instructional materials. Over the past few months, a pro-life staff member handed out dozens of 4 inch-long fetus dolls with an informational card attached to students. More »
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Professor and midwife Dr. Denis Walsh says moms-to-be get too many epidurals these days, depriving them of the important character-building effects of agony. More »
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We've discussed at-home births, water births and even birth of the dolphin-assisted variety, and I suspect those of you who thought those unconventional births were gross will be similarly repelled by the article in today's New York Times which follows some local ladies as they spawn in inflatable tubs in their apartments. It's graphic! Those of you who are into this sort of thing will think the article is a beautiful expression of the miracle of life. However, I want to make note of two things. One is the look on the face of the woman in the striped shirt in the picture at left. Let's zoom in on that, shall we? More »
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Taking extreme measures in the face of extreme poverty is not just a problem for India's daughters, but for Afghanistan's young girls as well. According to the BBC, an increasing number of very young Afghan women are being married to older suitors in exchange for money or livestock because their families can barely afford to eat. This is a particular problem in the mountainous Badakhshan region, where 7,000 farm animals have died in the past five months due to a snowy winter and the cost of food has skyrocketed. The BBC interviewed a Badakshan midwife, Hanufa Mah, who says she recently helped a ten-year-old through labor. "The girl was so small. I held her in my lap until the child was born." [BBC News] More »
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