Search the journal articles


Choose a journal by date and volume:

Browse all journal articles

Journal Vol. 18, No. 1 — Homebirth - why is it still hard labour?

ISSN 0256-5004 (Print)

Why are we still struggling over home birth?
Nadine Edwards challenges us to think about why it is still so difficult for women to choose to give birth at home.

What is happening in AIMS
A review of what AIMS has been doing over the last few months.

At Last - An NMC Home Birth Circular
Beverley Beech recounts the long consumer battle to ensure that a woman in labour at home could expect a midwife to attend her when called.

In Brief
Shane Ridley looks at home birth in the press.

Woman with woman - A Doula's story.
Caroline Spear describes her journey to her vocation as a Birth Doula.

Making it Real, Making it Better.
Earlier this year the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts covering Greater Manchester, East Cheshire and High Peak issued a very glossy document inviting comments on their proposals for centralising maternity services under the guise of improving care. AIMS Chair Beverley Beech responds.

Resources - further sources of homebirth support and information

Do you qualify for a hospital birth?
Despite the evidence that a fit and healthy woman giving birth at home is no less safe than those who are delivered in hospital, the staff still persist in giving women who want a home birth a long list of risks and reasons for persuading them into hospital. Laura Abbott, practicing independent midwife, has produced a list that all women wanting a hospital birth should be asked to consider before they agree to the booking.

Aelwyn's Birth Story.
Kerris Casey-St.Pierre shares her three very different birth experiences.

Home water birth against advice
Sarah Ockwell-Smith, mum to three, Classical Homeopath and HypnoBirthing practitioner, describes her home water birth following two emergency hospital births.

Excuses, Excuses.
We asked women to tell us why booking a home birth was challenging, here are some of the reasons given to women...

Allowed a homebirth?
Jo-Anne Berry describes her very quick home births.

Home birth: a new concept?
Shane Ridley reports on the excellent 6th Chichester Home Birth conference in Bristol on 25th March 2006.

Questionable Home Birth Interventions
One of the problems that we face by encouraging more home births is the lack of understanding by many hospital-based midwives of the risk of interventions.

Also in this issue:

Letters; Breech Birth; More than a Game?

Book Reviews:

Latest Content

Journal

« »

Pregnancy and hearing: Did you know…

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 Did you know that one in three pregnant women develop tinnitus compared with one in ten who are not pregnant? Tinnitus is the sensation o…

Read more

Editorial: Hello and welcome. How a…

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By Alex Smith Welcome to the December 2024 edition of the AIMS journal. The theme for this quarter considers the experience of care for d…

Read more

Welcome to the Deaf Community – a l…

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4 By a hearing mother of a deaf baby Sat in the hospital ward, I snapped a cute picture on my phone of my tiny little newborn wearing a hea…

Read more

Events

« »

AIMS Workshop: The Foundation Stone…

Join us for an interactive online AIMS workshop: " The Foundation Stones for Supporting the Physiological Process in Pregnancy and Birth ". Tickets available here: https:…

Read more

MuM-PreDiCT Dissemination event

MuM-PreDiCT is a UK-wide research programme funded by the Medical Research Council. The project focuses on understanding how multiple long-term conditions affect women, b…

Read more

AIMS Workshop: Focusing on Inductio…

Join us for an interactive online AIMS workshop, " Focusing on Induction of Labour ". Tickets available here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/aims/1472572 Nadia Higso…

Read more

Latest Campaigns

« »

AIMS Letter to Wes Streeting

AIMS has written to Wes Streeting MP, welcoming him to the role of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We acknowledge his awareness that maternity services are…

Read more

Involving Service User Voices in Ma…

This is an edited version of an invited talk given by Jo Dagustun, AIMS Campaigns Team, to the International Labour and Birth Research Conference UK, 24 - 26 April 2023.…

Read more

Birth Trauma Inquiry Open Letter in…

We write this letter in response to the recently published APPG Report on Birth Trauma which can be found here The report was extremely moving and we honour the brave con…

Read more