The basic definition of a Midwife is someone, usually a woman, who helps other women deliver babies in the hospital and sometimes at the homes of these women. Well, that was what I also thought. But the definition above is just a minute aspect of midwifery because midwifery is not just about helping expectant mothers give birth.
It’s about helping women of all ages with their reproductive health issues which can be both physical and mental. Thus establishing the fact that midwifery starts even before a woman gets pregnant.
Sometimes before women get pregnant, they visit the hospital to get a full body check-up, to know if everything is right with their bodies, and to treat any anomalies. This is to prepare their bodies for the pregnancy ahead. During pregnancy, women visit the Antenatal clinic on a weekly or monthly basis depending on how far along they are in the pregnancy.
Most midwives believe that birth is a natural process, so midwives take care of pregnant women by examining them from head to toe requesting and interpreting laboratory results and scans, checking on the unborn baby by checking the Fetal heart rate, teaching expectant mothers about the appropriate food groups and how to combine them to obtain the nutrients needed for the growth and development of both mother and unborn baby.
Midwives also help women who have emotional problems which include coping with pregnancy, fear of childbirth, and sometimes family problems. The signs and symptoms of labor and any danger signs during pregnancy and labor are taught by midwives as to what steps to take when this happens. Midwives support mothers during childbirth by telling them techniques and tips needed for the safe birth of the baby and to reduce maternal exhaustion and stress.
After birth, an examination of both mother and baby is done by midwives to make sure both mother and baby are healthy. Midwives help women establish breastfeeding and give mothers information to help them take care of their babies and families. This is just but a few of what midwifery is about.
Therefore, I believe midwifery is not just about helping women to give birth or bringing new offspring to the world, but helping them give birth, feel good about the experience, helping her to realize and appreciate their relevance, and giving them facts and information that change their views about herself and the world and makes her feel beautiful, happy, content, hopeful and confident.
