About Midwifery

Midwifery encompasses care of women during pregnancy, labour, and the postpartum period, as well as care of the newborn. The midwife is the professional in obstetrics. They are educated and trained to recognize the variations of normal progress of labor and deal with deviations from normal to discern and intervene in high risk situations. Midwives refer women to specialists such as obstetricians or perinatologists in complications related to pregnancy and birth when a pregnant woman requires care beyond the midwives scope of practice. In many parts of the world, these professions work in tandem to provide care to childbearing women. In others, only the midwife is available to provide care. Midwives are trained to handle certain more difficult deliveries, including breech births, twin births and births where the baby is in a posterior position, using non-invasive techniques.