A treasure-trove of literature

Readers who are serious about understanding and discussing aspects of maternity care will find an excellent resource at:
click here

This is a listserve site for a discussion group of Canadian Family Physicians (the equivalent of the Australian General Practitioner), hosted by Dr Michael Klein.

The site contains links to a huge amount of useful literature and debate.
One example, which many readers of this blog will want to print out and review in some detail is Home Birth: An annotated guide to the literature (Vedam et al, May 2011).

Births after Caesarean

Is spontaneous natural labour and birth a realistic option?

The answer, in each case, depends on decisions made during the pregnancy and as the labour progresses.

Most midwives, and many doctors, would encourage women to give birth vaginally. Unless there is a specific and valid reason to avoid vaginal birth, there is no safer way for mother and baby than spontaneous, natural, unmedicated vaginal birth.

Transfer to hospital from planned homebirth in the Melbourne area

Midwives in and around Melbourne have received a letter from the Women's Hospital in Parkville, telling us that backup bookings for women planning homebirth will now restricted to the local area. Women outside the catchment area for the Women's, who require transfer of care, are to "present to the local maternity hospital closest to your client's home."

Update on private midwifery in Victoria

If you are interested in the national private midwifery scene, or trying to locate a midwife outside Victoria, please go to the APMA blog.

For links to websites of private midwives, scroll down this page to web links.

To locate a midwife in Victoria, go to the MIPP list at Maternity Coalition. Alternatively, you can leave a comment at this blog.

Professional Development options

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homebirth position statement

Members of MIPP who are also members of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) will be aware that "ACM is working with both the NMBA and the Commonwealth to develop a contemporary homebirth position statement within the next three months."
(Australian Midwifery News, Autumn 2011 issue, page 3.)

Join the global webinar to celebrate International Midwives' Day 5 May

Plans are set for the Virtual International Day of the Midwife on May 5th. The program, which spans the 24-hour period, with speakers from the various continents, has now been finalised, and it looks to be a very interesting and diverse program: http://internationaldayofthemidwife.wikispaces.com/International+Day+of+the+Midwife+2011