Feminist Midwife Reading List
I started midwifery school 10 years ago this month. In some ways, it feels like a lifetime ago. I worked for three years in HIV research organizing and advocacy, feeling stuck behind a computer with minimal face-to-face interaction with people. Through that global health work, I met midwives who were running the show across Central America and Africa, from running hospitals to leading public health departments to catching babies by cell phone light. I originally became a midwife to specialize in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and had plans to return to global health work. My graduate writing focused on that intention, and even my first couple of years of practice I touted that my goal was to work in a high-acuity hospital setting so that I could learn how to work with all the tools at my fingertips, so that when I returned to international work, I could be creative, with less.
And then, I started clinical practice. My first job was a wreck: at an FQHC isolated in the community health system, at a busy hospital with Attendings and Residents who discredited (and sometimes openly hated) midwives, and a floundering midwife group due to administration's capitalistic focus. I wrote my first blog post August 2012, introducing myself and the midwifery care that I intended to provide, and immediately learned how important an intersectional feminist conversation was to midwifery work. I joined the ranks of fellow clinician writers and advocates, and over the last seven years have explored what this platform can do to support folx exploring clinical care as a healthcare provider or consumer. My voice in midwifery began to focus on humanistic care, bringing awareness in our profession to the incredible work by womxn of color in the reproductive justice movement, and integrating abortion and queer care into commonplace midwifery discussions. I continued to work clinically full time, write, and speak with those intentions. My career really changed directions from where it started, but I couldn't be more pleased with where I've found myself now a decade later.
Sending out my personal bio for a few presentations this fall, I have reflected on what my midwifery has become these past few years. My professional work is now at a teaching institution as a full time clinician and Clinical Instructor, precepting students of all backgrounds, and serving the south side of Chicago with pride. My volunteer work on Boards of Directors has been with the intention of pushing conversations about abortion and queer care, how our nursing and midwife communities discuss full scope care, and how programs ensure incoming practitioners are trained in full scope care. My speaking work has been on consent, trauma-informed care, and sex positivity. My writing and social media presence seek the same. And I have many ideas of how I want to do midwifery in the future.
People have reached out often over the past few months asking about how I came to midwifery, how I engage in intentional work/life balance, and what my life is like. Here's a reading list to get things started. I'll admit, I'm emotional reading back on these posts: how much is the same in this broken healthcare infrastructure, how much I've grown as a person and provider but how much I still struggle with, and how the themes remain the same. Would love to hear from you about your favorite posts and how your journey has evolved.
A sample of previous writing about "My Midwifery"
August 2019: The Things That I Forgot
January 2019: The Room of Requirement
January 2019: Monthly Chai Date
October 2018: National Midwifery Week
September 2018: *Midwife
May 2017: What being a midwife means to me, personally
November 2016: My Midwifery Roles
May 2016: #AbortionPositive
February 2016: That moment when.
January 2016: She saw me.
October 2015: Bodily Supposition
August 2015: My Fifteen Minutes
August 2015: Midwives for Reproductive Justice
February 2015: She will declare herself
February 2015: Humanistic care in busy settings
October 2014: 12 Ways To Be A Feminist Healthcare Provider
August 2014: From the Fountain
July 2014: Room Seven Delivered, No Complications
July 2014: Questioning the Routine Pelvic Exam
June 2014: Release
May 2014: Hindsight
April 2014: True Midwifery Care
March 2014: Midwife to Resident: 20 Things I Want To Talk With You About, And Often Do
February 2014: Anger; Understanding
February 2014: The Collective Someone
October 2013: One of my favorite things about being a midwife is...
August 2013: Garnering Trust
July 2013: I am not "just" a midwife
June 2013: Things I wish I could have told my clients today...
February 2013: Defeated. Renewed.
January 2013: Believe in your fellow midwives
December 2012: This was one of those days when...
October 2012: Interpretations
October 2012: Moments
September 2012: Best part of today
September 2012: Gorgeous. Reaffirming.
August 2012: You are not alone in this.