The Virtual Midwife

Getting to know Halima - committee member for the VIDM 2020 HALIMA MUSA ABDUL ,  is a Nurse-Midwife, a Fellow of the West African College of Nursing, and a lecturer from the Department of Nursing Science, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. She started her journey into Nursing in the year 1996 in the famous School of Nursing Ahmadu Bello University Teaching hospital, Zaria Nigeri...

Jane F. Houston DNP, CNM, FACNM began her nursing and midwifery education in Scotland where she became a registered general nurse RGN with a Bachelor’s degree and completed her diploma in midwifery in 1992 to become a Registered Midwife. She has always felt called to the profession of midwifery since childhood. Jane has caught over 2000 babies on 4 continents, in countries including USA, Scotland,...

Getting to know Chris - VIDM Committee Member Chris Woodhouse has worked in many different aspects of IT for over 30 years. Chris became interested in how IT systems and apps are created and supported, leading to active involvement in new uses for IT in small organisations and education. Chris has been facilitating since 2000 and widened his practice to include online groups and meetings in 2008....

Getting to know Annette - VIDM Committee Member I am Annette Dalsgaard . I have been a registered midwife since 1990 and been practicing midwifery in different practice settings in Denmark. For the last 10 years, I have been working primarily with education and learning as a lecturer/senior lecturer at the midwifery education and an educational consultant in postgraduate education. I am very inter...

Getting to know Susana - VIDM Committee Member Hello, I am Susana Ku. I am a Registered Midwife in Ontario, Canada. I am currently working as a full-time midwife. Before starting my career in Canada, I obtained my degree as a Registered Midwife in Peru. I obtained a master degree in Sexual and Reproductive Health, because Women’s health and rights are one of my passions.  I speak Spanish, English...

Getting to know Lorraine - VIDM Committee Member It has been a pleasure and an honour to be involved with Virtual International Day of the Midwife (VIDM) for over a decade. As one of the (two) non-midwives on the committee, I help support the technology and organizational side of bringing together a global virtual conference. My backgound is in post-secondary education and instructional design, pr...

Getting to Know Ally - committee member for VIDM Ally Anderson is a newly qualified midwife at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, UK. She was a secondary science teacher for thirteen years before embarking on a change of career and going back to study again at Teesside University. Ally’s first degree was in Anatomy and Physiology and she has a PGCE and Masters in Education. Ally...

Getting to Know Raquel, committee member for VIDM Hi! My name is Raquel Justiniano. I´m from Bolivia, residing and working as a midwife in Argentina. I’m currently studying a postgraduate diploma* specializing in Emergency Obstetrics and Gynecology. I developed an interest in maternal and newborn health while finishing my nursing career and later on when volunteering, assisting women´s health in a...

This is more than a book. It is a philosophy of birth that will guide you to connect with the wisdom and purity of your unborn baby. Learning how to communicate with your baby while they are still in your womb may seem unattainable, but the meditations and guided visualizations will allow you to explore this beautiful practice and develop an awareness of your unborn baby so that you are able to wo...

While this in itself sounds too simple, reading the book will give you such a deep insight into the physiology of fear (and its impact on the birthing body) that you will be forever changed. It is not an easy read, but it is worth the effort - especially if you have deep-seated fears that are holding you back from experiencing this life event in all it's power and glory.

Season 3 is all about which books to ready during pregnancy, and first up is Birthing from Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz. This is an extra-ordinary guide to childbirth preparation. Each chapter will take you on a journey of exploration into the profound mystery of birth that can never be understood with your mind but is known to your heart. The exercises and activities are the key to unlo...

It's an uncomfortable conversation. You may be told that a cut is better than a tear but a tear sounds terrifying! A recent Cochrane systematic review examining the evidence on selective versus routine episiotomies for vaginal birth concluded: “Overall, the findings show that selective use of episiotomy in women (where a normal delivery without forceps is anticipated) means that fewer women have s...

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift." Albert Einstein You will be faced with many choices and decisions during pregnancy. Some of them will feel wrong and some will feel right. Some will require a lot of research and study. Some will involve opinions from family, friends and...

In our society it is a miracle if a woman gets to adulthood without taking on the belief that childbirth is inherently painful. We have been taught this since a young age. It’s the way childbirth is portrayed in the media, and it’s reinforced in all of the horror stories that people love to tell us (particularly when we are pregnant). One reason our beliefs are so important is because we all suffe...

Shereen Zarroug and Eleonora Fornelli have a vision "to be the catalyst that makes the UAE the leading country in the world with the highest rates of positive birth and parenting experiences as a result of increased and on going support, education and respected choices" !  In this interview they share their respective birth stories, how they came to be birth professionals and their mission to spre...

In April of 2011, Jen McLellan launched the Plus Size Mommy Memoirs (now called Plus Mommy) blog, housed within the Plus Size Birthwebsite. This award-winning blog, which has received over 4 million pageviews, focused on topics ranging from plus size pregnancy to birth, body positivity to motherhood. A Facebook page and exploded overnight and brought together thousands of plus size women of all wa...

When you are used to being in control of your life and at work it can be difficult to let go and accept that birth is a process that cannot be 'managed' like a work project and a large part of this process involves letting go of negative beliefs, limiting beliefs, cultural conditioning and factors out of your control.  A positive birth experience is one where you confidently participate in all the...

I met the [Surfing Midwife](http://www.thesurfingmidwife.com/) [Margreet Wibbelink](http://www.thesurfingmidwife.com/about/) at the Sensitive Midwifery Conference in 2018 and was immediately blown away by her charisma and her message. She came to South Africa from the Netherlands on a one way ticket and 14 years later she is still here and literally making waves in the birth world here. Besides ha...

So often, ladies will feedback to me that they “did not know how to push” or that they they were told that they were “doing it wrong.” I am always dismayed when I hear these stories because pushing is instinctive when you work with your body and what you are feeling. You will use the same muscles and techniques as you do when you pass a stool and nobody has ever told you that you are doing it wron...

Every day I get asked questions about labor so  I thought it would be a good idea to make a podcast of the top 10\. Please join me in the [Virtual Midwife Cafe](https://www.facebook.com/groups/thevirtualmidwifecafe/) where I get to chat about these in more detail and where we have weekly live chats for me to answer your questions or if you have any other burning questions.  * What to do if you los...

If you are 34+ weeks pregnant and your baby is in breech position, this meditation is for you. While there is still plenty of time for your baby to move, this guided visualisation will help to focus your thoughts. I recommend using it together with exercises from [Spinning Babies](www.spinningbabies.com) to loosen and ease the muscles and ligaments to allow for movement. As always, this does not r...

Regardless of whether you are having an elective c/section out of choice or circumstance, it gives you an opportunity to prepare yourself for an exact date. This guided visualisation will fast forward you in time to the day your baby will be born and imagine how you might be feeling, visualise what will happen and mentally prepare yourself so that you are able to go into surgery feeling calm and c...

It is always a concern if you have been diagnosed with placenta preavia, especially if you are hoping to have a natural birth. This guided visualisation will help you to harness the power of your mind to imagine your placenta gradually moving up and thus allowing your baby to move into the perfect position for birth. Your mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality which is t...

Midwifery is a sacred art and through it we honour those who came before us. Our generation did not invent the right to give birth where and with whom one chooses, and we revere the instincts that facilitate healthy non-medical births all over the world. [Ancient Art Midwifery Institute](https://www.ancientartmidwifery.com/) is fundamentally dedicated to the promotion of midwifery as more than a c...

Real Food for Pregnancy [Lily Nichols](http://pilatesnutritionist.com/), takes prenatal nutrition advice out of the dark ages and provides an easy-to-follow guide for making the best food and lifestyle choices during pregnancy. Most prenatal nutrition advice is either outdated or not evidenced-based. In [Real Food for Pregnancy](http://realfoodforpregnancy.com/), Lily Nichol’s debunks a LOT of pre...