The Midwife's Labour and Birth Handbook

Praise for previous editions:

“An excellent resource for both student midwives and qualified staff alike.” (Alison James, Midwifery Lecturer, Plymouth University)

"A lovely book with a lot of practical advice and easy to navigate. (Jayne Samples, Midwifery Lecturer, University of Huddersfield)

This fully revised and updated third edition of The Midwife’s Labour and Birth Handbook is a practical and accessible guide to midwifery care.

It addresses important questions such as:

• Why are women being pressured into caesarean section for breech presentation when the evidence is equivocal?
• If a baby needs assisted ventilation breaths at birth, why not bring the ambubag to the baby and leave the cord intact so the baby can benefit from the extra maternal oxygen supply?
• Why is skin-to-skin contact at birth so rarely offered to preterm babies when there is evidence of benefit?

This well-regarded text promotes normality and woman-centred care, using research, evidence-based guidelines and anecdotal accounts from women. It challenges practice and guidelines which are biased or based on poor evidence. Guidance is offered on how to deal with difficult, sometimes controversial, situations.

The Midwife's Labour and Birth Handbook 3^rd edition is an essential guide for both student midwives and experienced practising midwives.

New to this edition:

• Full colour photographs including a kneeling breech birth
• Suturing diagrams to assist left-handed midwives.
• Expanded chapters on slow progress in labour and malposition/malpresentations, including a rare photograph of a face presentation birth.

Vicky Chapman is a registered nurse and midwife.?As a midwife Vicky has worked in a variety of hospital settings and as a caseload midwife. She has a particular interest in normal birth, as well as an interest the politics of childbirth and their impact on women's birth experiences. Vicky has recently returned to midwifery practice in Surrey, having had a break in order to be at home with her four children, the last three of which were born at home, including twins.
Cathy Charles is a midwife and ventouse practitioner, practising in acute and community settings in Wiltshire and Somerset. She has lectured and written on the subject of practising as a midwife ventouse practitioner in a stand-alone birthing centre. Like Vicky, Cathy has an interest in waterbirth and home births. She also gained experience in investigating adverse events as a clinical audit/risk management co-ordinator and has been a supervisor of midwives. She teaches aquanatal classes.