The midwife
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Delivering a career
They're often pigeonholed as the "people that deliver babies", but that's only part of the vital service they provide: what is a midwife?
Why will the doctor see you now?
The intervention of medicine in births is a recent development. How and why has childbirth become a medical procedure?
Born too soon?
For premature babies, their family's background can mean the difference between life and death. Discover the effects of health inequality on those born too soon.
Related programme
Join a midwife for questions and answers, including additional web links
Maxine Campbell is a midwife at Leeds General Hospital Trust.
Q. How can I find some up to date and reliable information on pregnancy and childbirth?
A. There are some excellent websites available – you might like to start with these.
Try the BBC’s Having a Baby website.
The National Childbirth Trust – is a UK voluntary organization which 'offers support in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood’.
The NHS Direct Online Encyclopaedia offers information on pregnancy and one about ectopic pregnancy.
Midwives Information and Resource Service (MIDIRS)
Q. How can I find out about having a home birth?
A. Currently only 2% of births in the UK take place at home and yet ‘there is no evidence that hospital births are any more or less safe for women with pregnancies with no identified risk factors than those which take place at home or in GP or midwifery units.’
You can find a useful summary of the evidence in one of a series of Informed choice leaflets produced by MIDIRS. See No.10 entitled ‘Place of Birth’.
The NCT site concentrates more on the experience of home birth from the point of view of the woman and her family.
‘Birthchoice UK’ has been written ‘as a public information service by two childbirth educators and a statistician, using their knowledge and experience of maternity care provision. It does not contain medical advice but aims to help prospective parents make an informed choice about place of birth.
Q. How common are Caesarean sections in this country and why are they carried out?
A. About 20% of births in the UK are carried out by Caesarean section (in the United States the figure is higher – around 25%). This is a controversial area – some people believe that Caesareans may at times be carried out unnecessarily. You can find out more about the reasons for Caesarean births on the following sites.
The BBC Having a Baby site gives a useful overview and the NCT site.
The Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS) campaigns for improvements in services, and its website features articles on key issues in pregnancy and childbirth.
Other links
Complementary therapy (Online Encyclopedia)
NHS Directory of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
British Complementary Medicine Association (BCMA)
Institute for Complementary Medicine
Complementary and alternative therapies(Bandolier)
Dr Foster Complementary Therapists Guide
Working for the NHS links
Working for the NHS (Online Encyclopaedia)
Skills for HealthRoyal College of Nursing
Royal College of Midwives
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Content last updated: 13/02/2004
