Midwifery Quotes

“Remember this, for it is as true and true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.”
― Ina May Gaskin, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

“There is no other organ quite like the uterus. If men had such an organ they would brag about it. So should we”
― Ina May Gaskin

“If women lose the right to say where and how they birth their children, then they will have lost something that's as dear to life as breathing.”
― Ami McKay, The Birth House

“The midwife considers the miracle of childbirth as normal, and leaves it alone unless there's trouble. The obstetrician normally sees childbirth as trouble; if he leaves it alone, it's a miracle.”
― Sheila Stubbs

“One way to measure a particular doctor's openness and attitude toward women in general is simply to ask about the doctor's opinion of midwifery.”
― Marsden Wagner, Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First

“She was not as stupid as some I have had, and better company, but still perhaps her going was for the best. She was not what I needed."

"Because I failed," whispered Alyce in the shadows.

"Because she gave up," continued the midwife. "I need an apprentice who can do what I tell her, take what I give her, who can try and risk and fail and try again and not give up...”
― Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice

“When a woman births, not only is a baby being born but so is a mother.
How we treat her will affect how she feels about herself as a mother
and as a parent.
Be gentle. Be kind. Listen.”
― Ruth Ehrhardt, The Basic Needs of a Woman in Labour

“It was the midwife that tried to do me in. Truth be told, it wasn't really her fault. What else is a good Christian woman going to do when a Negro comes flying out from between the legs of the richest white woman in Haller County, Kentucky?”
― Justina Ireland, Dread Nation

“He didn't need to read a book on childbirth to know that the longer this went on, thee greater the danger to both Marigold and her kid. "I'll do it."
Gabe didn't know what the hell he was doing, but he was dead certain about one thing: He had to be in love with Lady Penelope Campion. Nothing less could have persuaded him to do this.
Penny, this is for you.
He rolled his sleeve to his biceps, drew a deep breath through his mouth, and shook out his hand. "I'm going in.”
― Tessa Dare, The Wallflower Wager

“Stories teach us in ways we can remember. They teach us that each woman responds to birth in her unique way and how very wide-ranging that way can be. Sometimes they teach us about silly practices once widely held that were finally discarded. They teach us the occasional difference between accepted medical knowledge and the real bodily experiences that women have - including those that are never reported in medical textbooks nor admitted as possibilities in the medical world. They also demonstrate the mind/body connection in a way that medical studies cannot. Birth stories told by women who were active participants in giving birth often express a good deal of practical wisdom, inspiration, and information for other women. Positive stories shared by women who have had wonderful childbirth experiences are an irreplaceable way to transmit knowledge of a woman's true capacities in pregnancy and birth.”
― Ina May Gaskin, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

“Today, the lay midwife is a response to a growing home-birth movement. In my own community most physicians have decided to withhold prenatal care from the home-birther. This is judgmental and vindictive. These doctors have decided that home birth is not safe, and by withholding prenatal care they are doing their best to make sure it is unsafe. Often it is lay midwives who step forward to fill the void and help eliminate the unnecessary dangers of home birth. They are essential for screening out women who really should not have a home birth. For considerably less money than a physician charges, they spend many more hours with a pregnant woman before, during, and after the birth. and in most places they courageously face the opposition of the established medical community.”
― Susan McCutcheon, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

“Ina May Gaskin is the most important person in maternity care in North America, bar none.”
― Marsden Wagner, Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First

“I dream that someday I will meet her and that thought brings tears to my eyes, still. I imagine her in my mind and I dream of that moment.”
― Julie Watson, Born for Life: A Midwife's Story

“Before enlightenment, cornflakes and coffee. After enlightenment, cornflakes and coffee.”
― Dena Moes, The Buddha Sat Right Here: A Family Odyssey Through India and Nepal

“A new midwife supervisor, Tracy, has started this week and seems absolutely lovely - calm, experienced and sensible. She is now the second midwife supervisor on the unit called Tracy, the current one being a flappy, angry nightmare. To avoid confusion, we have nicknamed them 'Reassuring Trace' and 'Non-reassuring Trace'.”
― Adam Kay, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

“Good midwifery is a combination of art, science, experience, and instinct.”
― Jennifer Worth, Farewell to the East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives

“He didn't need to read a book on childbirth to know that the longer this went on, the greater the danger to both Marigold and her kid. "I'll do it."
Gabe didn't know what the hell he was doing, but he was dead certain about one thing: He had to be in love with Lady Penelope Campion. Nothing less could have persuaded him to do this.
Penny, this is for you.
He rolled his sleeve to his biceps, drew a deep breath through his mouth, and shook out his hand. "I'm going in.”
― Tessa Dare, The Wallflower Wager

“There's a big difference between an intervention that's introduced or suggested due to a true medical need - or even by your request - and one that's due to impatience; a difference between someone saying "We're noticing this, let's discuss your options as well as our recommendations and reasons" and "We're noticing this, and you have to do this." In the first case, a care provider gives information and wants to talk options; in the second, the care provider uses fear and shaming to coerce the decision they want. Having a working, respectful, and good relationship with your care provider can make all the difference here, but so can your clarity about this one thing: you deserve respect, options, and support. If you are feeling pressured into an intervention, if you are feeling guilted into an intervention, if you are feeling ignored, disrespected, or embarrassed in any way, as if you need to make a certain choice to please other people in the room, this is not good care and you need a second opinion - or a new care provider.”
― January Harshe, Birth Without Fear: The Judgment-Free Guide to Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum

“With the warm glow from the hearth and the candles scattered about the room, she looks like something out of a Renaissance painting. Pink cheeks and round body. Every so often, I tend a patient who makes the act of birth a thing of beauty. they make it look like what it really is, at its most elemental -- right and natural -- and I cannot help but marvel.”
― Ariel Lawhon, The Frozen River