IndexWhat is a midwife?Colonial midwifeMary BreckinridgeFor this article I have chosen to delve into the history of nurse-midwifery in the United States and how Mary Breckinridge triggered a change in not only breastfeeding, but also during childbirth. I chose this topic because I have worked alongside nurse-midwives for the past year. At every turn I am continually amazed by the work these women do and the knowledge they have upon which their practice is based. I want to explore what birth practices were like before the formal training of nurse-midwives, how Mary Breckinridge influenced a change in the way people gave birth, were trained to attend births, and what lasting impacts it has on today's nursing practice- midwife .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay What is a midwife? According to the World Health Organization, midwifery is "skilled, competent and compassionate care for pregnant women, newborns and families... during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and the first weeks of life.” Some more important aspects of being a midwife go beyond just giving birth, they include the ability to assist women through all the factors that might affect her ability to conceive a baby, even though it may seem like enough simple, it can often be influenced by factors we don't see coming or think we'll encounter. Being a midwife also means respecting every woman's views, decisions and circumstances while she's in your care as a medical professional More importantly, though, being a midwife means working with women to help them strengthen and strengthen their abilities to care for themselves and their families.Colonial MidwiferyIn contrast to our modern society, a midwife has not always been required formal education to legally practice as a midwife. a birth attendant. Midwifery was originally brought to America aboard the Mayflower. Two women, named Martha Ballard and Bridget Lee Fuller, survived the two-month voyage to America aboard the ship. During this time, the women witnessed multiple births and continued to chronicle their experiences in diaries. Once the voyage reached America, Fuller continued to provide midwifery care to the women of Plymouth for another 44 years until her death in 1664. For years midwifery was a service that many women provided free of charge to their communities, however, in 1660 the city of New Amsterdam was the first city in America to pay a midwife for her services. The sum of 100 forints, or $52, was paid to a midwife to serve the poor in the community for a year. Although women did not have to attend a formal institution to become a lay midwife, they often spend considerable time shadowing and working alongside an older, more experienced midwife before venturing out on their own. Once alone, in colonial America it was common for a midwife to act under the supervision of a Protestant bishop as, at that time, the infant mortality rate was over fifty percent. Working under the supervision of a bishop allowed for less delay between birth and baptism. In the early 1900s, larger communities often had at least a single midwife who helped women give birth as much as she was physically capable of doing. However, in more rural areas of America, access to healthcare was minimal, meaning that women were often left to give birth to their children withthe help of some untrained family members and neighbors. Due to the lack of training in these areas, maternal deaths per 100,000 births amounted to 800, while 100 out of 1,000 children died before their first birthday. Mary BreckinridgeMary Breckinridge was born in Kentucky in 1881. He was born into a privileged family and received an education in both Europe and the United States. Breckinridge's decision to attend school at St. Luke's Hospital in New York at age 26 came shortly after the deaths of her husband and two young children. She became a professional nurse in 1910 after deciding to dedicate her life to improving the lives and well-being of women and children. Breckinridge spent some time working in France during World War II, where she met several British nurse-midwives who piqued her interest and eventually led her to believe that "nurse-midwifery was the logical answer to the need. . in rural America." Because nurse-midwifery was not formally practiced in the United States at that time, Breckinridge returned to the United States after the war and attended Columbia University where she devoted her studies to public health to address the health problems facing rural eastern Kentucky they had to face. . He thought that if his plans could succeed in such a secluded area, they might later succeed in other areas of America. To survey families in such a large area, Breckinridge set out on horseback in hopes of determining what the needs of these families were and what the practices of lay midwives were. Her travels uncovered an overwhelming lack of prenatal care, and she discovered that many families averaged nine children each. During this time period, births were most often attended by farmers' wives who were self-taught and, in turn, relied heavily on folklore, holistic measures, and superstitions when it came to birthing practices. Due to the tremendous need in communities and the lack of formal midwifery training, Mary Breckinridge established the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in 1925 to provide a venue for formal midwifery training. Once established, she wrote an article in the American Journal of Public Health in 1927 stating that thanks to FNS nurse-midwives, Appalachia Kentucky had gone from the region with the highest maternal mortality rate to one of the regions with the lowest mortality rate. among mothers. Today, Frontier Nursing Service in Breckinridge is known as Frontier Nursing University and is among the most popular institutions for nurse-midwifery education. Changes in Practice For centuries, women have sought pain relief in different forms when it comes to childbirth. For hundreds of years, women have viewed the pain of childbirth as just another challenge to overcome when it came to raising children. For centuries, women have relied exclusively on non-pharmacological measures for pain relief such as hydrotherapy, patterned breathing, relaxation and visualization. It wasn't until the 1850s that anesthesia was used as a form of pain relief during childbirth. In those days, however, anesthesia was considered any type of drug that caused loss of consciousness, and the dosage was the amount needed to achieve that effect. It wasn't until around 1920 that another form of pain relief became popular on a state level. Twilight sleep was a form of pain control in which a drug was administered to not only ease the pain of childbirth, but also completely erased the memory of the experience. . Morphine, which is a narcotic, and scopolamine, which is a drug that acts.