Midwifery From The Tudors To The 21st Century

This book recounts the journey of English midwives over six centuries and their battle for survival as a discrete profession, caring safely for childbearing women. With a particular focus on sixteenth and twentieth century midwifery practice, it includes new research which provides evidence of the identity, social status, lives, families and practice of contemporary midwives, and argues that the excellent care given by ecclesiastically licensed midwives in Tudor England was not bettered until the twentieth century. Relying on a wide variety of archived and personally collected material, this history illuminates the lives, words, professional experiences and outcomes of midwives. It explores the place of women in society, the development of midwifery education and regulation, the seventeenth century arrival of the accoucheurs and the continuing drive by obstetricians to medicalise birth. A fascinating and compelling read, it highlights the politics and challenges that have shaped midwifery practice today and encourages readers to be confident in midwifery-led care and giving women choices in childbirth. It is an important read for all those interested in childbirth.

Mayes’ Midwifery is a core text for students in the UK, known and loved for its in-depth approach and its close alignment with curricula and practice in this country. The sixteenth edition has been fully updated by leading midwifery educators Sue Macdonald and Gail Johnson, and input from several new expert contributors ensures this book remains at the cutting edge. The text covers all the main aspects of midwifery in detail, including the various stages of pregnancy, possible complexities around childbirth, and psychological and social considerations related to women’s health. It provides the most recent evidence along with detailed anatomy and physiology information, and how these translate into practice. Packed full of case studies, reflective activities and images, and accompanied by an ancillary website with 600 multiple choice questions and downloadable images, Mayes’ Midwifery makes learning easy for nursing students entering the profession as well as midwives returning to practice and qualified midwives working in different settings in the UK and overseas. Expert contributors include midwifery academics and clinicians, researchers, physiotherapists, neonatal nurse specialists, social scientists and legal experts Learning outcomes and key points to support structured study Reflective activities to apply theory to practice Figures, tables and breakout boxes help navigation and revision Associated online resources with over 600 MCQs, reflective activities, case studies, downloadable image bank to help with essay and assignment preparation Further reading to deepen knowledge and understanding New chapters addressing the issues around being a student midwife and entering the profession More detail about FGM and its legal implications, as well as transgender/binary individuals in pregnancy and childbirth New information on infection and control following from the COVID-19 pandemic Enhanced artwork program

The Art of Midwifery is the first book to examine midwives' lives and work across Europe in the early modern period. Drawing on a vast range of archival material from England, Holland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the contributors show the diversity in midwives' practices, competence, socio-economic background and education, as well as their public function and image. The Art of Midwifery is an excellent resource for students of women's history, social history and medical history.

This book is the first comprehensive and detailed study of early modern midwives in seventeenth-century London. Midwives, as a group, have been dismissed by historians as being inadequately educated and trained for the task of child delivery. The Midwives of Seventeenth-Century London rejects these claims by exploring the midwives' training and their licensing in an unofficial apprenticeship by the Church. Dr. Evenden also offers an accurate depiction of the midwives in their socioeconomic context by examining a wide range of seventeenth-century sources. This expansive study not only recovers the names of almost one thousand women who worked as midwives in the twelve London parishes, but also brings to light details about their spouses, their families and their associates.

Originally published in 1986, this book examines the history of midwifery, concentrating on 19th and 20th Century Britain. It shows how the evolution of the midwife has been influenced by cultural waves which started in the Near East and Egypt in pre-classical times and slowly spread Northwards and Eastwards over Europe. The authors emphasize the effects of specialization and professionalization upon midwifery and also the influence of male authority and interest group politics. The evolution of the educated qualified midwife of the 20th Century is recorded, leading up to the ongoing debates about high technology birth vis-à-vis natural birth and home deliveries.

The Gynaeciorum libri, a compendium of ancient and contemporary texts on gynaecology, is the inspiration for this intensive exploration of the origins of a subfield of medicine. Focusing on its readers in the period from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century, when men and women were in competition for control over childbirth, Helen King sheds new light on how the claim of female difference was shaped by specific social and cultural conditions.

Nurses and midwives, both qualified and in training, have a lively interest in how their professions have developed. A stimulating collection of research-based essays, this book explores and compares the distinct histories of nursing and midwifery in Britain from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the modern day.