Speaking of Midwives

What happens when Black midwives design their dream model of perinatal care? At Alameda Health System in California, Black families in Beloved Birth had an 8% preterm birth rate, compared with about 14% for Black families in the same health system who didn’t receive this care. NICU admissions dropped from 12% to 5%.Our host, Melissa Avery, PhD CNM talks with Jyesha Wren, CNM founding director and...

Blood pressure often peaks after patients have already gone home; yet fewer than half of people with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy receive the recommended blood pressure check within 7 to 10 days of birth. Follow-up is even lower for Black and Hispanic patients, who also face a disproportionate burden of severe complications. Why is that happening, and what can we do about it? In this episod...

We know midwifery care works. So why isn't it everywhere? In this episode, host Dr. Melissa Avery sits down with Brie Thumm, CNM, PhD, midwife and assistant professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz College of Nursing, to explore this game-changing question: not whether midwifery care improves outcomes, but how to get it adopted, sustained, and equitably integrated across every setting...

The U.S. lags behind other developed nations in maternal and infant health outcomes; and Dr. Cynthia Nypaver, midwife, associate professor, and program director at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, believes preconception care is a missing piece of the puzzle. In this episode, Dr. Nypaver joins us to unpack her latest article synthesizing the research on preconception health innovati...

In this episode of Speaking of Midwives, our host talks with Dr. Nikia Grayson, midwife, chief clinical officer at CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health in Memphis and Carbondale, and associate professor at UCSF, about her article, "The Choices Black Midwifery Fellowship: An Innovative Model for Training Midwives in Reproductive Justice and Community-Centered Care."Dr. Grayson describes how CHOIC...

The tools we use to counsel patients aren't always keeping pace with reality. In this episode, midwife-researcher Ann Ledbetter joins us to discuss her study, Observed versus Predicted Vaginal Birth After Cesarean for Patients of a Community Health Center, published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health. Ann shares findings from 507 labors after cesarean at a Milwaukee community...

Adapting Group Prenatal Care for Telehealth: Lessons from a Federally Qualified Health CenterWhen COVID-19 made in-person group prenatal care impossible, the midwifery team at Mary's Center, a federally qualified health center serving a predominantly a Spanish-speaking community in Washington, DC, didn't just adapt they innovated. In this episode of Speaking of Midwives, our host Dr. Melissa Avery...

Every midwife knows the tension. How long is too long in second stage, and what does the evidence actually say about letting someone labor down? In this episode of Speaking of Midwives , our host Dr. Melissa Avery sits down with Dr. Elise Erickson, midwife, PhD, and associate professor at the University of Arizona, to discuss her research published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Hea...

In this episode of Speaking of Midwives , host Melissa Avery, PhD CNM sits down with Dr. Julie Blumenfeld , Associate Professor and Midwifery Program Director at Rutgers University, to tackle one of the most critical challenges facing the profession today: the clinical preceptor shortage. Despite the growing demand for midwifery care in the United States, securing clinical sites remains a complex...

Since the landmark ARRIVE trial reshaped labor induction practices across the country, midwives have been asking, what do these findings actually mean in the hands of midwifery-led care? In this episode of Speaking of Midwives, host Melissa Avery sits down with Dr. Denise Smith, midwife, researcher, and assistant professor at the University of Colorado, to discuss her recently published study in t...

What does the research tell us about how pregnant people of color experience communication with their care providers? What can midwives do about it right now? In this episode, we sit down with Amy Goh, CNM, PhD, whose integrative review published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health examined communication dynamics between pregnant people of color and their prenatal care providers a...

Behind every breakthrough in reproductive healthcare, a researcher is asking the right questions. More often than you think, that researcher is a midwife. Welcome to Speaking of Midwives , we are the official podcast of the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health where our host, Melissa Avery, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN leads conversations about evidence, innovations, and the future of midwifery...