View allAll Photos Tagged Midwifing
...is the book I'm reading.
another self portrait, sorryyyyy. that's what spending days by myself does to me.
sony a580, 1.8/50
This Nahua woman from Chililico, a pottery making town in Hidalgo Mexico, is a powerful curandera and midwife
Midwife Charlie Rae Young of Barefoot Birth is a Florida Licensed Midwife practicing in Tampa, FL. Photo courtesy of family and shared with permission.
Common Midwife Toad, Alytes obstetricans - tadpole
Series on white background
Njideka is a midwife in northern Nigeria – one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth. Here, one in 23 women die in childbirth and one in ten newborns do not survive.
Background
In Spring 2012, the British Government launched a new scheme – Women for Health – to support 7,000 girls and women to train as health workers in northern Nigeria by 2016. The new skills they learn will help save the lives of thousands of mums, babies and children.
Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/ midwives-in-nigeria
Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/Department for International Development
Here I am in the mid 1980s as a fairly new midwife at Odstock Hospital, Salisbury, UK - in the days when I could wear a belt with a beautiful silver antique buckle that my parents gave me.
6 November 2015. Yambio: Midwife Veronica Bernat assists Josephine Emmanuelle, a pregnant woman ready to delivery at the hospital in Yambio, Western Equatoria. Photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran, UNDP - www.albertgonzalez.net
In Afghanistan we visited project sites of Healnet TPO, a Dutch based NGO with years of experience in Afghanistan. We visited project sites in Jalalabad and around to learn more on their midwifery programs that run throughout the government. Their policies have now been implemented by the Afghan government through the whole country.
In Afghanistan we visited project sites of Healnet TPO, a Dutch based NGO with years of experience in Afghanistan. We visited project sites in Jalalabad and around to learn more on their midwifery programs that run throughout the government. Their policies have now been implemented by the Afghan government through the whole country.
A LEGO vignette I made for a friend who graduated as a midwife. The box is printed on photopaper glued on cardboard.
Local call number: c002678
Title:Midwife weighing pregnany woman: Leon County, Florida
Date: 1944
Physical descrip: 1 photoprint - b&w - 5 x 4 in.
Series Title: State Board of Health
Repository: State Library and Archives of Florida, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250 USA. Contact: 850.245.6700. Archives@dos.myflorida.com
Persistent URL: floridamemory.com/items/show/44477
Phyllis Phaju Stevens (right), midwife at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, in Freetown Sierra Leone on June 18, 2015. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
For more information: www.worldbank.org/ebola/
Photo ID: World_Bank_Sierra_Leone_0923
Midwife Charlie Rae Young of Barefoot Birth is a Florida Licensed Midwife practicing in Tampa, FL. Photo courtesy of family and shared with permission.
A third year midwifery student taking part in a practical training session on proper handwashing at the Korle Bu Nursing and Midwifery Training School in Accra, Ghana.
Credit: Kate Holt, JHPIEGO/MCSP
KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20, 2009 -- Stella, the head midwife of the Pajimo Clinic in rural Kitgum, Uganda, uses a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device to listen to a baby's heartbeat. The expectant mother was rushed into the clinic where Stella and a two Army Reserve Soldiers with the 7225th Medical Support Unit helped her deliver a 5.5 lb. baby boy about 90 minutes later.
U.S. Army photo by Maj. Corey Schultz
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
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The midwives arrived shortly before 8 pm and start listening to the baby. All went well for several hours. Not much progress between midnight and 10 am the next day. Concerned that we may have to transfer to the hospital, we tried other labor positions and started to see quick progress. Griffin was born at our home at 11:47 am on November 14th 2009.
The News Line: Feature
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NHS WORKERS TAKE STRIKE ACTION!
HUNDREDS of thousands of NHS workers in England and the north of Ireland went on a four-hour strike on Monday morning.
Nurses, cleaners, porters, midwives, occupational therapists, paramedics, scientists, radiographers, admin, catering and security staff joined picket lines around the country.
The unions on strike were: Unison, Royal College of Midwives, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, Society of Radiographers, British Association of Occupational Therapists, GMB, Unite, Managers in Partnership and Prison Officers Association.
They are now taking six days of action short of strike action, with a work to rule and an overtime ban. This is the second week of industrial action in the NHS in the ongoing dispute over pay.
At Whittington Hospital in north London there was a big picket of nurses, midwives and other workers.
Jacky Davis, a doctor, joined the picket and told News Line: ‘NHS workers are asking for 1% from a Tory cabinet of millionaires. It’s the frontline staff caring for the patients that keep the NHS afloat despite the fact that the government is trying to break it up and sell it off.’
At St Anne’s Hospital in N15, where most of the patients are mental health patients, Tim Loveridge, a Unison steward, said: ‘I don’t think we’ll get anything with this kind of action.
‘I think the leadership is waiting for the Labour Party to make things better and I don’t think that’s going to happen. We should broaden the fight over austerity.’
Elaine Johnson, Unison branch officer, said: ‘We all use the NHS. We have to recognise that all the workers, from cleaners, to assistants and all low paid staff – we need a fair wage for everyone.
‘St Anne’s is down to close and it’s bad for the patients and the community. Where are the patients going to go? I think the patients are getting a raw deal.’
When asked by News Line if she would support an occupation of the hospital against closure, she replied: ‘Of course it should be occupied.’
At Lewisham Hospital in south east London, radiographers, midwives and mental health workers joined the dozens of Unison and Unite members on the picket line.
Anita Down, Unite Branch Secretary, said: ‘We have to carry on fighting to defend our terms and conditions and for decent rates of pay. The trust is trying to recruit 200 extra nurses, but because of low pay that’s not happening.’
Jigna Patel, Society of Radiographers rep, told News Line: ‘We are fighting against low pay and for equal opportunities across the public sector. We need to be more noticed. They need to take the views of staff into consideration.
‘We are all committed to serve the community. The government should increase its derisory 1% pay offer.’
On the picket line at the London Ambulance Service Headquarters in Waterloo Road, central London, the GMB senior organiser, Andy Prendergast told News Line: ‘The turnout for today’s strike is very solid. Just about everyone apart from those agreed for life and limb cover with management is taking action.
‘It palpably shows the anger at the pay rise being taken away. The Pay Review Body has meant that the NHS has not had a pay dispute for 32 years.
‘Jeremy Hunt took his own pay rise as recommended by the pay review body. Our action will continue. The public is on side with us. And the government needs to sit up and listen.’
At the nearby St Thomas’ Hospital, Mary Sladden, a member of the RCM, said: ‘I think it’s a real shame we have to take this action. It’s an amazing job we do, we’re working long hours, we rarely get a lunch break because we are concerned the women will be without the care they need. Cutting the one per cent shows a real lack of respect for us and the work we do.’
Addressing the pickets, Jon Skewes, director of the RCM, said: ‘Public support has gone up since our last action in October. A survey showed that 82% of the public support our action.
‘In Scotland there was a deal where they paid what the pay review body ordered, in Wales, they got the one per cent as a consolidated pay rise. We need to continue the action until we get what we want.’
There was a large turnout of pickets outside the Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Bedfordshire, bolstered by the presence of radiographers.
The local society of Radiographers representative Julius Malilay told News Line: ‘This is our second strike action calling for a 1% pay rise for all NHS workers that has been denied to us by this government.
‘We have no option but to strike and show the government we are a force they should recognise and not ignore. We are a vital part of the NHS and we want a living wage.
‘The government dismisses radiographers as nothing, because they know we are here for the patients and they rely on this and think that they can get away with low pay and we will put up with it.
‘We fear that radiographers will be forced out of the profession because we can’t afford to live on the wages being paid. Also work conditions have deteriorated and we are forced to work 12-hour shifts with no overtime.
‘All unions should come out together. In the last strike we came out a week after the other unions. We need co-ordinated and synchronised action. We must all come out together.’
There were 200 workers on the picket line at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, north west London.
The DeLorean DMC12 car from the film Back To The Future arrived on the picket line to emphasise the drive of the Tory coalition to destroy the NHS.
Steve Sweeney, full-time official from the GMB, told News Line: ‘I worked as a health worker for 15 years. It is a damning indictment of the government that we are standing on a picket line because they are refusing to pay a measly 1% pay rise as recommended by the pay review body.
‘When the government needs money to bomb other countries they find it. And they fund tax cuts for millionaires. The Tory coalition followed the worst health secretary in living memory, Andrew Landsley, wrecker of the NHS, with Jeremy Hunt, who is even worse.
‘The reason Northwick Park Hospital is at the bottom of the A&E league table for waiting times is obvious, it is the strain of closing local A&Es, particularly Central Middlesex.
‘The local Tory MP has the cheek to claim that it was because of the pressure of eastern Europeans using the A&E.’
Chris Sunderland, RCM Health and Safety Rep, said: ‘We want fair pay, we want to maintain the service for mums and babies. If the pay is not equal to other professions we will not get the calibre of person applying to be a midwife. The bottom line is to maintain standards for mothers and babies.’
John Cass, Unison member and maintenance engineer, said: ‘I haven’t had a pay rise for five years, I am very disillusioned because everything is going up. I can’t even afford to heat my own home.
‘We should get rid of all the privateers from the NHS and bring back everything in house. We should bring back the hospital kitchen. The food for the patients is coming in pre-packed frozen meals, it has little nutrition and the patients don’t like it. We need everyone coming out together to save the NHS.’
Daniela Capasson, midwife RCM, said: ‘I am deputy matron for service improvements at Northwick Park and I work on IT projects, which look at how workloads affect healthcare.
‘By closing the maternity unit at Ealing Hospital the local community will be forced to tap into services not in their community. The culture, language and social skills have developed at Ealing to deal with the local population there.
‘When a woman is pregnant it is a very vulnerable moment in her life. In Northwick Park we would have the risk of delivering dead babies. The increased distance will impact on the survival rates of mothers and babies.
‘Last week a baby was delivered on the busy roundabout just outside the hospital. The father had to flag down passing cars for help. Travelling from the extreme side of Brent or Ealing with a woman in labour is very risky. Pregnancy is special because we are dealing with two patients, mother and baby.
‘There is no space at Northwick Park, they are not building any new buildings around the maternity department. We are delivering 5,000 babies a year and we are closing our doors to new admissions when the unit is full.
‘Midwives and doctors are dog-tired working at their best to care for patients. The 3,000 babies delivered each year at Ealing will have to be sent elsewhere. Hillingdon, West Middlesex, Chelsea and Northwick Park will not be able to take the extra patients.’
On the 50-strong picket line outside Deptford Ambulance Station on the Old Kent Road, John Scott said that coordinated action from all the unions would be the best way forward.
He said: ‘Do you remember the action on November 5th and the march on Parliament, well revolution is coming to the UK.
‘I think that the more of us that contribute to the fight, the better it’s going to be for all of us. I have two sisters who work as teachers, and what’s being done to them is appaling. This government are trying to get teachers to work until 6pm. It’s just child care. It’s nothing to do with education
He continued: ‘In the ambulance service we are really struggling for medics. Many of us are really disappointed because we want to become medics, but now we have to pay for our own training.
‘So the Ambulance service are getting their medics from everywhere else, like from Australia, but the Australian medics can’t drive over here, so they have to have two staff.
‘And yet the people who could be medics over here they are just pushing them out. It’s barmy, it’s absolute madness. And we are doing twice the amount of jobs that we were five years ago’ , he said.
Marcus Davis, Rotherhithe Ambulance Station Unison shop steward said: ‘I think the closer we get to a general election the stronger the action is going to get.
‘At the moment we are going for a four hour strike, predominantly on a Monday, but as the election gets closer and closer we’ll go for a six hour or eight hour strike.
‘A lot of NHS workers work 9am to 5pm, so there is no point in having a 24 hour strike. We had one two years ago and that was really hard work. But a four hour strike in the morning, and then again in rush our, that would work.
‘But we don’t want to go the way of the fire Brigades Union. They had a four hour strike recently and nobody knew about it.
‘Ambulance workers have been out in force. I think from the figures of the ambulance service 80 per cent of the workforce were out. That is a pretty strong turnout.
‘We need a strong leadership and the TUC aren’t giving it. With a strong leadership then people will turn out at every opportunity.’
At St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south west London, Bob Holdawanski said: ‘MPs got 65% over five years, we got 1% over five years. We deserve more than 1%.’
Ralph Miram, South of England RCM Organiser, said: ‘If we had a rise in line with inflation our midwives would be £4,000 better off, while NHS managers are getting £166 million in bonuses
‘It’s the anger our midwives feel that has brought them out.’
On a lively picket line outside the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital midwife Carmel McCullough told News Line ‘I have worked in the NHS for 34 years and never worked in conditions as bad as they are now.
‘The saddest thing is it is now difficult to provide the appropriate service for mothers and their babies. It is now normal to work for 12 hours without a break and never finish work on time – this is the norm today and it is expected of us. I think this strike is more about recognition of the service we provide rather than pay.’
On the picket line outside Hammersmith Hospital midwife Shelley Thompson said ‘We are striking over a paltry one per cent and it is ridiculous to say this threatens thousands of jobs. There has definitely been a media blackout for this strike because Cameron doesn’t want any more trouble.
‘I say get the Tories out because the NHS is really suffering because of them. If the public knew the damage that is being done there would be a general strike.’
Pickets outside Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith were joined by campaigners fighting against the closure of the hospital.
Unite striker Richard Stevenson said: ‘We have been getting hundreds of tooting horns from passing motorists , there is tremendous public support for our action. We need an indefinite general strike to kick this government out, that’s the way to defend the NHS.’
One of the campaigners, Desiree Craneborough, told News Line: ‘It is vital to keep this hospital open, especially since the closure of the A&E at Hammersmith which has seen waiting times increase. Hospital workers are the veins and arteries of the NHS and they need our support.’
There was an enthusiastic Unison turnout at Homerton Hospital, in Hackney, North-East London.
Ian Bain, there with his friends and colleagues from the hospital, said: ‘I want to send out a message to the government, that I think it’s unfair, that MPs have been awarded an 11% pay increase by the Pay Review Board. But hospital staff have been offered a mere 1%.
‘I earn less than a normal living wage, for someone working on London. To strike goes against the grain for most of us, but we feel that today’s action is necessary. We’re only out for a few hours, so it’s not a full strike, but more like a shot across the bows for the government.’
There were lively pickets at several entrances of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, giving out stickers, with a strong contingent of radiographers.
Liam Thetford, Senior Industrial Relations Officer of the Society of Radiographers said: ‘We’ve got quite a lot of support from radiographers. The patients are supportive.
‘There are a lot of cuts going on at the minute and this is the last straw – no pay rise for the fifth year. The Pay Review Body has been disbanded for next year and they are not going to produce a report.
‘There’s a lot of anger from the NHS. If it carries on, it won’t be financially worthwhile coming into the NHS, what with three years of Uni. Most are £25,000 or more in debt. The wage needs to justify the training.
‘There’s a big shortage in radiotherapy. Student attrition rates are high. It’s a complex hands-on job. We study physics in depth and its constantly developing. The latest independent review says they’re looking to increase radiotherapy services, but there’s just not enough staff.
‘I’m not happy with what the Tories are doing to the NHS, slowly breaking it up and privatising it. It should not be sold off.’
Unison Steward, Simon Mitchell said: ‘This hospital is now trying to turn itself into a mutual. This usually means its turning itself into a private operation, which could be bought and sold to the highest bidder.
‘It’s a continuing campaign for fairness in pay and conditions and to defend the NHS and all the public services. It would be nice if there were co-ordinated action by all the public sector unions.’
Unison picket, Matt Stevenson said: ‘When the government first came to power, they chose to drive a wedge between the general public and the public sector – to take the heat out of the city of London and the banking sector- allowing them to carry out their cuts. The trade union movement has got to stand up for the public sector.''
• see more pictures on photo gallery
A midwife, Radhika, in rural Nepal prepares a vaccination for a newborn. Photo © Aisha Faquir/World Bank
Home birth midwife Charlie Rae Young of Barefoot Birth in Tampa FL. Charlie is a Florida Licensed Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife, and Certified Lactation Counselor.
Photo courtesy of photographer/family/archive and used with permission of the family.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Sept. 22, 2022) - Kim Faust, a certified nurse midwife at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, reviews a birth control model with a patient. Faust, a native of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University and says, “My goal is to help women take control of their health throughout the stages of their lives.” October 2-8 is National Midwifery Week, recognize midwives and midwife-led care. (U.S. Navy photo by Deidre Smith, Naval Hospital Jacksonville/Released). #FacesofNHJax #MidwiferyWeek2022
Midwife Amichia Solange attends to Angelica Konate at Mouyassue Health Center in Côte d’Ivoire on 3rd March 2020. Angelica is six months pregnant and had come for a prenatal appointment where she received a dose of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) to prevent malaria during pregnancy.
Photo Credit: Mwangi Kirubi, PMI Impact Malaria
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- 1st. Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson (left) and Stella, the head midwife of the Pajimo Clinic in rural Kitgum, Uganda, work together to deliver a newborn. The 19-year-old mother arrived at the clinic run by U.S. and East African medical personnel and gave birth about 90 minutes later. Watson, a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier with the 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU), is a labor and delivery nurse in her civilian occupation and was called upon to assist in the delivery. The mother asked Watson to name her son, and Watson chose the name "Cage." (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
I didn't know it at the time I was there, but the Historic Dockyard is used for many of the exterior locations in Call the Midwife. I think the midwives ride their bicycles over these cobbles at the beginning of each episode. I'd really love to go back to the Dockyard for one of their Call the Midwife tours.
A skilled birth attendant (midwife), Radhika, consults with her patient in rural Nepal. Photo © Aisha Faquir/World Bank
During PBS’ CALL THE MIDWIFE session at the TCA Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, July 21, 2012, actresses Helen George, Laura Main, Jessica Raine and producer Hugh Warren discuss the colorful stories of midwifery and families in London’s East End in the 1950s. (Premieres Sundays, September 30 to November 4, 2012)
All photos in this set should be credited to Rahoul Ghose/PBS.
During PBS’ CALL THE MIDWIFE session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, actress Miranda Hart discusses the third series of the hit British drama.
All photos in this set should be credited to Rahoul Ghose/PBS.
Midwife Charlie Rae Young of Barefoot Birth is a Florida Licensed Midwife practicing in Tampa, FL. Photo courtesy of family and shared with permission.
On 8/30/14, The Midwife Center for Birth & Women's Health hosted Black Women Do Breastfeed in celebration of the 2nd annual Black Breastfeeding Week.
Sherifa, 21, shows signs of following in her principal's determined footsteps. "I want to be like our principal, I see her as a mentor. She's very inspiring." Sherifa dreams of furthering her career to teach others to become midwives: "This is what I'm called for," she says. "This is what I'm suppose to do."
Background
In Spring 2012, the British Government launched a new scheme – Women for Health – to support 7,000 girls and women to train as health workers in northern Nigeria by 2016. The new skills they learn will help save the lives of thousands of mums, babies and children.
Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/midwives-in-nigeria
Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/Department for International Development
During PBS’ CALL THE MIDWIFE session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, actress Miranda Hart discusses the third series of the hit British drama.
All photos in this set should be credited to Rahoul Ghose/PBS.
time.com/26789/w-eugene-smith-life-magazine-1951-photo-es...
Original caption: A tuberculosis case, 33-year-old Leon Snipe, sat morosely on a bed while Maude arranged with his sister for him to go to a state sanatorium.
W. Eugene Smith/Life Pictures/Shutterstock
W. Eugene Smith’s Landmark Photo Essay, ‘Nurse Midwife’
“In December 1951, LIFE published one of the most extraordinary photo essays ever to appear in the magazine. Across a dozen pages and featuring more than 20 of the great W. Eugene Smith’ pictures, the story of a tireless South Carolina nurse and midwife named Maude Callen opened a window on a world that, surely, countless LIFE readers had never seen — and, perhaps, had never even imagined. Working in the rural South in the 1950s, in “an area of some 400 square miles veined with muddy roads,” as LIFE put it, Callen served as “doctor, dietician, psychologist, bail-goer and friend” to thousands of poor (most of them desperately poor) patients — only two percent of whom were white.”
“Nurse Midwife” as it appeared in the Dec. 3, 1951, issue of LIFE magazine.
archive.org/details/Life-1951-12-03-Vol-31-No-23/page/134...