Michelle Tant

 (June 2017) As I slowly began to take more triage calls as a student midwife, I learnt the early standard ‘advice’ we would routinely give to women calling in early labour… “Have you had a bath and a couple of paracetamol?” being the primary line of defence in encouraging women to cope at home, away from the intervention and interference of the labour ward. The intention is of course pure, when everything is normal and if that is where she feels safe, then the best place for a woman to be in early labour is at home. So what if the very thing that is intended to help women to cope with the latent phase of labour, is actually causing the latent phase to last longer? I read a fascinating blog post by Midwife Undercover  who had noticed an apparent increase in the length of the latent phase of labour and had consequently looked into the possibility that paracetamol was the culprit. As I read, I felt like I was experiencing an ‘eureka’ moment – paracetamol works by inh...

(December 2016) Mary paused again as the back ache which had been plaguing her for the last few hours gripped her, causing her to grasp onto the donkey’s pack as she walked alongside. She looked up as the sensation passed and saw the outline of the town up ahead and sighed inwardly in relief, careful not to let Joseph hear her. He had been so kind and gentle with her since this whole thing had started and though she felt sure that he would continue to stand by her, she worried that it wouldn’t take much for him to take the advice of all their friends and family and reject her completely. He didn’t talk about it but she knew that the community was confused by his determination to stand by his pregnant bride to be. Many of his family could barely look him in the face and business had fallen recently, he was a skilled carpenter, taking pride in carrying on the family business, but he didn’t seem to waver. There were the faithful few though who seemed to trust his judgement however...

(April 2015) Contrary to the information the media would have us believe, a majority of women still will go into labour without the need for induction and will give birth vaginally (NICE 2014). Currently however most of those women will also birth in an obstetric unit, though hopefully the dissemination of the new NICE guidance will start to have an impact of chosen place of birth given that around 45% of women are at low risk of complications in labour. So it would seem that most midwifery care in labour is given to women on a high risk unit at present. As a student midwives we are taught about the normal physiology of birth, that the mechanism of labour is facilitated by a delicate balance of hormones and that oxytocin is an element to be treasured and worked with. Of course we are also taught about when labour and birth takes a more complicated route and what action to take in those situations, and the inclination sometimes is to imagine that all normality is left behind in t...