Safely Giving Birth

In this column, the editor of the Journal of Perinatal Education discusses the growing challenge of assuring a safe birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote, support, and protect normal birth.     

Legacies,Transitions, and Advancing Normal Birth

In this column, the new editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discusses the significance of legacies, transitions, and advancing normal birth. The editor pays tribute to the legacies left behind by former editors Francine Nichols and Sharron Humenick and shares her vision for The Journal of Perinatal Education as it transitions into the next phase of advancing normal birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote normal birth.     

Witnessing a Natural,Safe, and Healthy Birth

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discusses her experience witnessing a natural, safe, and healthy home birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote normal birth.     

Healthy Birth Practices Revisited

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education describes this special issue where distiguished authors provide updated evidence-based reviews of the Lamaze International Six Healthy Birth Practices that promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth.This issue is dedicated to Elisabeth Bing on the occasion of her 100th birthday.     

Where to Give Birth

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discusses choices mothers make when deciding on where to give birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

In This Issue—Preparing for Birth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered many aspects of promoting normal pregnancy and birth practices. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

In This Issue—The Impact of Birth Physiology on the Transition to Motherhood

In this column, the associate editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discusses the impact of birth physiology on the transition to motherhood. The associate editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

Editorial Challenges

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education (JPE) discusses some of the challenges involved in becoming the new editor of JPE. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote normal birth.     

JPE: Making a Global Impact

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education (JPE) discusses how Lamaze International and JPE are making a global impact in advancing normal birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote normal birth.     

Continuing Education Module The Courage to Birth

Childbirth educator Kathryn McGrath reflects on fear and courage and comes to see some levels of fear as a normal part of the process of pregnancy and birth and not something to be brushed aside. In this article, originally presented as a keynote address in 2005 at the Lamaze International Annual Conference, McGrath discusses fear during pregnancy and birth and presents ways in which the childbirth educator can acknowledge and accept women’s fears, and help find the courage they need to give birth.     

Naomi's Birth

A first-time mother, who is also a nurse, tells the story of her drug-free birth at a free-standing birth center.     

Research Summaries for Normal Birth

In this column, the author summarizes research studies relevant to normal birth. The studies summarized include a large trial evaluating the effect of prior vaginal births after a cesarean on outcomes in subsequent births; a study linking umbilical cord blood pH with intellectual outcomes in childhood; and a prospective trial evaluating the effect of routine antenatal nonstress testing on maternal anxiety. The author also highlights four articles about normal birth in a recent nursing journal series dedicated to the topic.     

Preparing for the First Birth: Mothers' Experiences at Home and in Hospital in Australia

The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of a group of first-time mothers who had given birth at home or in hospital in Australia. Data were generated from in-depth interviews with 19 women and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. One of the categories to emerge from the analysis, “Preparing for Birth,” is discussed in this article. Preparing for Birth consisted of two subcategories, “Finding a Childbirth Setting” and “Setting Up Birth Expectations,” which were mediated by beliefs, convenience, finances, reputation, imagination, education and knowledge, birth stories, and previous life experiences. Overall, the women who had planned home births felt more prepared for birth and were better supported by their midwives compared with women who had planned hospital births.     

They Said So on the News: Parsing Media Reports About Birth

In this column, the authors reprise recent selections from the Lamaze International research blog, Science & Sensibility. Each selection discusses shortcomings in the news media coverage of childbirth issues. The authors demonstrate how to identify misleading claims in the media and highlight how childbirth educators can apply a common-sense approach and careful fact checking to help women understand the whole story.     

Time for Rebirth

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education (JPE) discusses how nature works exquisitely to accomplish its intended outcomes and compares the rebirth of flowers and trees in the springtime to physiological birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

Role models for pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discusses how the media provide role models-good and bad-for pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. There is a critical need for more positive role models that promote natural, safe, and healthy pregnancy and birth. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

A tribute to sharron smith humenick: 1937-2006

The purpose of this article is to honor Dr. Sharron S. Humenick, a long-time advocate of normal childbirth and Lamaze International, for her many accomplishments, her vigorous commitment to promoting the benefits of normal birth, and her passionate and diligent efforts in encouraging ongoing, evidence-based research that underscores the importance of a satisfying, normal-birth experience for women and their families. Dr. Humenick was a trailblazer in life and also became an exceptional guide in demonstrating how to cope with a terminal illness and dying. Through her numerous colleagues and friends in the United States and other countries, Dr. Humenick's legacy will live on in worldwide efforts to improve the childbirth experience for women and their families.     

A Paradigm of Normal Birth: Teaching Through the Healthy Birth Practices

Debra McAllister, a childbirth educator with 9 years of experience as a labor and delivery nurse, provides commentary on how she teaches through the Six Healthy Birth Practices as a paradigm for normal birth.     

Listening to grandmothers

In this column, three proud grandmothers share their unique stories and eloquently describe the transforming experience of becoming a grandmother and the joy associated with witnessing their daughters giving birth.