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Journal Vol. 34, No. 3 — Once Upon a Birth

ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

To read or download this Journal as a PDF. Please click here.

Editorial
AIMS Journal co-editor, Salli Ward, looks at the dialogue between mothers and medicine in birthing history, and takes us through the Journal contributions that reflect the changing practices and dynamics.

My oldest birth stories
Anne may have started her journey to being a doula from listening to her grandmother’s fascinating birth stories from the early 20th century.

Family stories: putting them into the wider context
AIMS Journal co-editor, Alex Smith, shares the birth stories she has inherited, starting with that of her grandmother in 1896.

A brief history of district midwifery
Tania Staras delivers startlingly candid quotations from interviews she has carried out for research purposes to illustrate the development of the role of the midwife.

Birth shorts
A collection of reminiscences and stories handed down, proving how common it is for people to receive these birthing stories from parents.

Birth Stories Before
Three more recollections of birth or the tales that carried them, including the sorrows of lost babies.

Village birth and life
With remarkable recall, Pamela evokes images of rural Cheshire in times gone by, the hardships and the delights.

Stories told to AIMS in the 1960s
AIMS founder, Sonia Willington, wrote to the press about the loneliness of the new mother in hospital, and the lack of compassion in staff and regimes, in the early 1960s. How much has changed since then and how far do we still need to go?

Elderly Primigravida has three Home Births
Starting as an elderly mother of 31(!) Deborah had three different home birth experiences, which she shares with us here.

Miracle baby
A story of medicine (or God) doing great things - mostly - to bring back baby Liam after he suffered a catastrophic brain haemorrhage at 2 weeks old.

Reflections of an ex-midwife
Dot looks back on her long and distinguished career and reflects on some key moments.

Birth Activists’ Briefing: The NMPA clinical audits and Family Gateway
The Campaigns Team update us about the purpose and focus of the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit and gives us an insightful overview of the resources they provide.

What has the AIMS Campaigns Team been up to this quarter?
We hear about the determined activities of the AIMS Campaigns Team.

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