Better Births: The Midwife 'with Woman' provides readers with an in-depth understanding of the fundamental concepts at the heart of all midwifery practice. Written for student midwives and qualified practitioners alike, this evidence-based textbook examines what it means to be 'with woman' from a range of perspectives, in a variety of contexts, and in diverse areas of practice. Based on Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis--the theoretical approach to developing knowledge in nursing science--this authoritative resource systematically examines and analyses the most recent literature and evidence, presenting findings of high relevance to midwives and childbearing women with contributions from international experts. Introduces the concept of being 'with woman' and explains the evolutionary concept analysis approach Provides insights on the relationship between woman and midwife and on fulfilling the 'with woman' concept Reviews contemporary literature to identify new knowledge and generate questions about the concept Includes discussion of global and historical perspectives, high risk midwifery, mental health issues, supporting the bereaved woman, delivering nurturing care to the older childbearing woman, midwifery education, public health, the future of midwifery, and more Better Births is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students in midwifery programmes, scholars and educators in the field, sociologists and researchers in related disciplines, and general readers interested in women's position in society, birth and motherhood, and feminism.

The use of warm water immersion throughout the birthing process is renowned for its physical and psychological benefits, yet waterbirth is still vastly underrepresented as a birthing method across the globe. Now going into its second edition, Dianne Garland's popular and authoritative text guides the reader through the clinical, practical and organisational considerations for delivery in water. Drawing on the author's own extensive experience, the book explores: - The history and evolution of hydrotherapeutic theory. - The specific skills and specialist care required for attending births in this setting. - Key research and debates surrounding the many aspects of waterbirth. - Practical guidance on engaging with parents when promoting waterbirth as an option. From an internationally renowned and respected midwife, this new edition retains the personal and engaging style that made the first edition so popular. The book is enhanced with photos taken from the author's own travels around the world, and features a wealth of interactive material - including an expansion of the Birth Story feature, whereby first-hand accounts of waterbirth from both mothers and practitioners worldwide provide an often moving conclusion to each chapter. With a strong focus on developing practitioners' knowledge and skills in this area, enabling them to confidently offer waterbirth as a safe and viable option, this classic text is an invaluable one-stop resource for anyone with academic, professional or personal interests in waterbirth.

Few experiences can compare to the trauma and pain of losing a baby; and the wall of silence that often surrounds that loss can make grieving even harder. Loving You From Here explores the traumatic impact of losing a baby through stillbirth and neonatal death. It features the moving stories of multiple families; some affected recently, some decades ago, but still living with the loss. This book is a practical guide for grieving parents in the grips of tragedy, and those around them who want to be able to offer support. From managing those initial feelings of shock, grief, guilt and anger, this book will also show families how it is possible to grow around that grief and eventually form an enduring bond with their baby. This profound and insightful book will help everyone impacted by the loss of a baby - before, during or after birth - including those who have suffered an early or a late miscarriage and those who have had an ectopic pregnancy, and provides sensitive and reassuring advice on all aspects of loss and bereavement, as well as practical advice on how to find a new normal. This groundbreaking book breaks through the suffocating silence that surrounds the death of a baby and gives a voice to all those affected by baby loss.

"Not of woman born, the Fortunate, the Unborn"—the terms designating those born by Caesarean section in medieval and Renaissance Europe were mysterious and ambiguous. Examining representations of Caesarean birth in legend and art and tracing its history in medical writing, Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski addresses the web of religious, ethical, and cultural questions concerning abdominal delivery in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Not of Woman Born increases our understanding of the history of the medical profession, of medical iconography, and of ideas surrounding "unnatural" childbirth. Blumenfeld-Kosinski compares texts and visual images in order to trace the evolution of Caesarean birth as it was perceived by the main actors involved—pregnant women, medical practitioners, and artistic or literary interpreters. Bringing together medical treatises and texts as well as hitherto unexplored primary sources such as manuscript illuminations, she provides a fresh perspective on attitudes toward pregnancy and birth in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; the meaning and consequences of medieval medicine for women as both patients and practitioners, and the professionalization of medicine. She discusses writings on Caesarean birth from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when Church Councils ordered midwives to perform the operation if a mother died during childbirth in order that the child might be baptized; to the fourteenth century, when the first medical text, Bernard of Gordon's Lilium medicinae, mentioned the operation; up to the gradual replacement of midwives by male surgeons in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Not of Woman Born offers the first close analysis of Frarnois Rousset's 1581 treatise on the operation as an example of sixteenth-century medical discourse. It also considers the ambiguous nature of Caesarean birth, drawing on accounts of such miraculous examples as the birth of the Antichrist. An appendix reviews the complex etymological history of the term "Caesarean section." Richly interdisciplinary, Not of Woman Born will enliven discussions of the controversial issues surrounding Caesarean delivery today. Medical, social, and cultural historians interested in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, historians, literary scholars, midwives, obstetricians, nurses, and others concerned with women's history will want to read it.

Combining a theoretical approach with practical activities, this book is invaluable for nursing and midwifery students and will help them to master the basics of writing at university. It equips students with the skills needed to examine cognitive processes such as reflection and critical thinking and includes essential information on referencing correctly and avoiding plagiarism. Going beyond the traditional essay, it provides support and guidance on producing care critiques, action plans, portfolios and journal article reviews alongside complex argumentative writing and undergraduate dissertation proposals. Written in an engaging and accessible style, this is a comprehensive writing toolkit for students of nursing, midwifery, health and social care. Suitable for students of all levels, it is ideal for use in class or for independent study. New to this Edition: - A new section on writing systematic reviews and responding to case studies for assessment purposes - Extended content on referencing, engaging with sources and critical and argumentative writing, featuring new examples and exercises

A multi-professional research team comprising practitioners, academics, service-users and students has undertaken a major research project on pre and post-registration students engaged in Social Work, Midwifery and Emergency Care (Nursing and Paramedicine) professional degrees. This book explores students' perceptions of the tools and methods used to assess their practice and the impact these processes have had on their learning and professionalism during their journey through the programme. A four-year longitudinal study comprising annual interviews with 14 students has enabled their developing understanding and changing views to emerge, rather than just gaining a snapshot as in previous literature.

Bailliere's Midwives' Dictionary remains the dictionary of choice for midwives throughout the world! The 13th edition of this established and well-respected pocket dictionary has been thoroughly revised and updated to meet the needs of midwives in a variety of clinical settings throughout the world. Woman friendly in approach with a variety of helpful illustrations, the dictionary also contains helpful appendices - post-partum haemorrhage, maternal basic life support, neonatal resuscitation, management of shoulder dystocia, and cord prolapse - together with a useful glossary. User friendly text presented in a handy pocket size format Woman friendly definitions Helpful appendices address primary PPH, maternal basic life support, neonatal resuscitation, management of shoulder dystocia, and cord prolapse Abbreviations list defines common terms Suitable for all midwifery settings, from high-tech obstetric units to home births to remote isolated areas in developing countries Expanded number of entries to aid comprehensiveness Includes updates in genetics, antenatal tests and investigations, infertility terminology and techniques

Gynaecologists Catherine and Reg Hamlin left Australia in 1959 on a short contract to establish a midwifery school in Ethiopia. Over 40 years later, Catherine is still there, running one of the most outstanding medical programmes in the world. The Hamlins dedicated their lives to women suffering the catastrophic effects of obstructed labour. The awful injuries that such labour produces are called fistulae, and until the Hamlins began their work in Ethiopia, fistula sufferers were neglected and forgotten - a vast group of women facing a lifetime of incapacity and degradation. Catherine and Reg, with their team of dedicated fistula surgeons, have successfully operated on over 25,000 women, and the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the hospital they opened in 1974, has become a major teaching institution for gynaecologists from all over Ethiopia and the developing world. Since Reg's death, Catherine and her team have continued the work.

In order to become skilled and competent practitioners, student midwives need to understand the complex individual, family and societal issues they will encounter. By introducing the contemporary context of midwifery practice, this book helps students to understand the problems many women face in society. The book covers topics including violence, mental and sexual health, the rising obesity epidemic and increases in numbers of women from non-UK countries. The authors emphasise the fact that students need to be aware of their public health responsibilities and discuss various health promotion strategies.

Now In Its Third Edition, Breastfeeding Management For The Clinician: Using The Evidence Is A Trusted Compendium On Breastfeeding For The Practicing Clinician. It Provides A Research-Based Approach To Breastfeeding Care By Including Literature Reviews While Covering The Incidence, Etiology, Risk Factors, Prevention, Prognosis And Implications, Interventions, Expected Outcomes, Care Plans, And Clinical Algorithms. Expanded To Include New Approaches To Solving Common And Uncommon Breastfeeding Problems, The Third Edition Discusses The Political And Social Landscape Of Breastfeeding Including New State And Federal Laws And Policies Related To Breastfeeding. Also Explained And Clarified Are New Revelations About Infant Sucking Mechanics As Seen Under Ultrasound Presented As A Combination Of Vacuum And Compression. Breastfeeding Management For The Clinician: Using The Evidence, Third Edition Provides Both The Problem Solving Approach Busy Clinicians Need To Resolve Issues Encountered In Everyday Practice And The Evidence-Based Foundation They Need To Impact Positive Change In The Workplace.

The full renewal program slides are also included on the CD. Difficult concepts are simplified and brought to life for all levels of learners. S.T.A.B.L.E. stands for the 6 assessment parameters covered in the program: Sugar, Temperature, Airway, Blood pressure, Lab work, and Emotional support for the family.

Due to ethical issues surrounding data collection in the field of healthcare, students areno longer able to undertake their own empirical research. This book is written for nursing and midwifery students completing a research project based on reviewing published literature and using secondary data. It de-mystifies the concept of literature review methodology and supports students writing up their dissertation, thesis or work-based learning project.

The book provides step-by-step guidance on:

- Identifying a research problem

- Qualitative and quantitative research design

- Literature searching

- Ethical considerations

- Analysis of secondary data

- Writing your dissertation

Through its discussion of non-empirical methods, the book also prepares students for future empirical research by providing examples of best practice in healthcare research. The book is essential reading for undergraduates and postgraduates who want to succeed in their nursing or midwifery research project.

The second book from Sunday Times bestselling author Linda Fairley. 'No matter how many babies I deliver, each and every one is a miracle, connecting me to the world like nothing else, reminding me that we are all equal in the beginning, and in the end. It's a great leveller, childbirth.' It's January 1972 and times have changed since Linda first stepped onto a maternity ward four years earlier. Gone are the starched skirts and steaming milk kitchens of the 1960s; these are the exhilarating days of disposable equipment and new technology. The Pill will soon be free to all women, and more and more fathers are daring to brave the delivery room. At the newly-opened Ashton maternity unit the midwives' spirits are high, and, in spite of the dark cloud of laundry strikes on the horizon, there's the scent of a new era on the cold winter wind. But one thing has stayed the same - the babies keep coming. Year after year, Linda faithfully helps the women of Greater Manchester through their most vulnerable and emotional hours, whether it is by giving calm instructions over the phone to a panicking husband, delivering a baby unexpectedly in a hospital lift, or by dashing headlong to the rescue of a snowed-in mum-to-be. As 25-year-old Linda becomes a mother herself she understands, more than ever, what a precious gift it is to bring children into the world, and she holds each new baby just that little bit tighter. As the years roll by Linda finds herself delivering the babies of mothers and fathers she helped to bring into the world decades earlier - making her something of a local celebrity. Through the highs and lows, through the modernisations that transform the hospital and the world outside, Linda's passion for midwifery burns as bright as ever. With 42 years of experience Linda is one of Britain's longest-serving midwives, and reaching the retirement age in 2008 didn't stop her doing the job she loves. Although she has seen generations of women give birth and delivered more than 2,000 babies, she treats every new arrival like the new miracle it is.

The Sunday Times bestseller 'Delivering my first baby is a memory that will stay with me forever. Just feeling the warmth of a newborn head in your hands, that new life, there's honestly nothing like it... I've since brought more than 2,200 babies into the world, and I still tingle with excitement every time.' It's the summer of 1968 and St Mary's Maternity Hospital in Manchester is a place from a bygone age. It is filled with starched white hats and full skirts, steaming laundries and milk kitchens, strict curfews and bellowed commands. It is a time of homebirths, swaddling and dangerous anaesthetics. It was this world that Linda Fairley entered as a trainee midwife aged just 19 years old. From the moment Linda delivered her first baby - racing across rain-splattered Manchester street on her trusty moped in the dead of night - Linda knew she'd found her vocation. 'The midwife's here!' they always exclaimed, joined in their joyful chorus by relieved husbands, mothers, grandmothers and whoever else had found themselves in close proximity to a woman about to give birth. Under the strict supervision of community midwife Mrs Tattershall, Linda's gruellingly long days were spent on overcrowded wards pinning Terry nappies, making up bottles and sterilizing bedpans - and above all helping women in need. Her life was a succession of emergencies, successes and tragedies: a never-ending chain of actions which made all the difference between life and death. There was Mrs Petty who gave birth in heartbreaking poverty; Mrs Drew who confided to Linda that the triplets she was carrying were not in fact her husband's; and Muriel Turner, whose dangerously premature baby boy survived - against all the odds. Forty years later Linda's passion for midwifery burns as bright as ever as she is now celebrated as one of Britain's longest-serving midwives, still holding the lives of mothers and children in her own two hands. Rich in period detail and told with a good dose of Manchester humour, The Midwife's Here! is the extraordinary, heartwarming tale of a truly inspiring woman.

Un grand nombre de renseignements errones circulent au sujet de la consommation de medicaments, de drogues et d'alcool pendant la grossesse et l'allaitement. Les fournisseurs de soins de sante ont le devoir de connaitre les veritables risques et avantages, pour la mere et son bebe, de continuer ou de cesser de prendre un medicament ou une autre substance. Or, les fournisseurs de soins ne sont pas toujours outilles pour donner les conseils les plus judicieux aux femmes qui sont enceintes ou allaitent et qui sont exposees a des psychotropes. -Y a-t-il des moments ou l'on peut consommer de l'alcool sans danger pendant l'allaitement ? -Quels risques court le bebe d'une femme qui consomme du cannabis pendant la grossesse ou l'allaitement ? -Le tabagisme a-t-il des effets differents pendant la grossesse et l'allaitement ? -Quel est l'effet de la cocaine sur le foetus ou le nouveau-ne ? -Si une femme cesse de prendre un antidepresseur lorsqu'elle tombe enceinte, quelles seront les repercussions sur elle-meme et le foetus ? -Une femme peut-elle allaiter sans danger si elle prend de la codeine ? Le document Exposition aux psychotropes et a d'autres substances pendant la grossesse et l'allaitement: Ressource pour les fournisseurs de soins de sante est une source pratique de renseignements et de recommandations fondes sur l'experience clinique concernant ces questions et beaucoup d'autres. Il est destine aux medecins de premier recours, aux psychiatres, aux pharmaciens, aux obstetriciens, aux sages femmes, aux infirmieres hygienistes et aux infirmieres praticiennes. Cette ressource: -decrit en detail les proprietes et les effets de nombreux psychotropes et autres substances, et recommande des facons de conseiller les femmes qui prennent ces substances; -dissipe les mythes couramment associes a l'exposition aux drogues pendant la grossesse et l'allaitement; -aborde les grands principes du travail clinique aupres de femmes enceintes ou qui allaitent et qui font usage de psychotropes ou d'autres substances; -passe en revue les concepts de toxicomanie, de dependance et d'abus; -propose des outils de depistage et examine les meilleures pratiques dans ce domaine; -explore le role therapeutique important des professionnels de la sante aupres des femmes qui souhaitent modifier leur style de vie et ameliorer leur sante et celle de leur bebe.

Dr Grantly Dick-Read died on 11 June 1959. His teaching, however, gains a growing recognition even though others are putting their names to his theories and practices. The delivery on this recording was not in fact an 'easy' one, as the baby was not fully rotated. The record, therefore, not only justifies Dick-Read's teaching but is also a tribute to his own skill as a gynaecologist. The following sleeve notes were written a month after the recording. 'When my wife informed me that she was going to have a baby, I think my reactions were typical of most husbands. I was delighted, for we both wanted to start a family, but I was also anxious. My knowledge of childbirth was limited. I had heard that pregnancy could be 'difficult', that labour itself, if not actually dangerous, meant many hours of suffering either nobly endured or alleviated with anaesthesia. My wife, however, insisted that I read "Childbirth without Fear" by Dr Grantly Dick-Read. There I learned the simple tenets upon which his teaching is founded. The fear of childbirth can be overcome by simple instruction in the truth of natural processes. The methods by which a woman can help herself and not cause her own distress - correct breathing and relaxation for use during pregnancy and labour were explained. Simple exercises (requiring only a few minutes per day) to aid the general fitness for the birth of the baby were described. Dr Dick-Read stressed that even more important than the removal of pain is the spiritual joy the mother experiences when she sees her baby into the world, a joy, which transcends the moment of birth, and has a lasting influence on the family unity. This, as Dr Dick-Read says, is the experience, which is destroyed when the sensations of birth are removed or disturbed by interference. My wife decided that she would prepare for natural childbirth. It was at this point that as a recording executive I became involved professionally. My wife volunteered to have her labour recorded and Dr Dick-Read agreed to supervise her delivery and give a commentary as the labour proceeded. In effect, we had provided Dr Dick-Read with a test of some severity. We were not asking him to choose the best result from, say, twelve cases. The patient was not even selected by him. She was having her first baby and she was over thirty. Mrs Dick-Read began the antenatal preparation, as described in the book "Antenatal Illustrated". The voices you will hear on this record are those of Dr Dick-Read, Mrs Dick-Read, the expectant mother and, towards the end of the record, a woman doctor in general practice who assisted Dr Dick-Read. Another doctor who was present primarily as an interested observer was also skilled in the administration of pain relief should the patient have desired it. A bedroom in Dr Dick-Read's house in Petersfield had been equipped with a labour bed. Trilene and Pethedine were available; for, contrary to some reports, a strongly maintained principle of Dr Dick-Read's teaching was that the patient should not be expected to suffer any unnecessary pain or discomfort. Three microphones were used. One was placed above the bed and used to pick up conversations between doctor and patient and also the atmosphere of the ward, which was calm and peaceful throughout. At each side of the bed we placed microphones for use when either Dr or Mrs Dick-Read wished to make any comment. I personally operated the recording equipment in an adjoining room during the confinement and can categorically state that at no time did I feel that my wife was asked to bear any severe discomfort. Even when owing to the incomplete rotation of the baby's head at the outlet, and in order to prevent unnecessarily prolonging the final stage of labour, a small incision was made, my wife did not feel this and did not at any stage request anaesthetic. That she was asked to do a lot of very hard work she will be the first to admit. But the joy of the birth itself is unforgettable. During the early stages of her labour I was with her and able to help during her contractions with the back-rubbing, she found so beneficial at this stage. A swishing sound on the record during the first stage contractions is made by this back-rubbing. It is during this stage that Dr Dick-Read insisted that all patients should have company. So often the expectant mother is 'left to get on with it until the second stage is reached. During the second stage considerable background noise is caused by the movement of the bed-clothes when the patient changes her position in order to use her contractions efficiently. The recording was made on tape, edited and then transferred to a long playing record. Before we started to condense the recording of a twelve-hour labour to the length of one LP record we invited reporters to hear parts of the as yet uncut tape, including the last twenty minutes. It was pointed out to them that although a very heavy task of selection lay ahead, there was nothing which needed to be suppressed for the purpose of demonstrating natural childbirth. The editing presented two major problems. Owing to the fact that our microphones were highly sensitive in order to pick up the quietly and calmly conducted comments and discussions of the doctor, his patient and his assistants, we also picked up many unwanted and distracting noises, doors closing, sterilised tins being opened, running taps, etc. These noises have been removed wherever possible from the finished record. Condensation proved more difficult, for many of the early stage contractions were very similar, and throughout the first two stages there were long periods when the patient was lying peacefully relaxed between her contractions. All that was merely repetitious or irrelevant had to be discarded. To present a twelve-hour labour on one long playing record was clearly impossible, therefore we were faced with a further problem. If we did not include some passages of rest and relaxation, we would give an impression that the patient moved rapidly from contraction to contraction; but to allow a five-minute rest its full playing time was not possible. We have tried, therefore, to maintain the impression of the overall rhythm of labour by selection of contractions and the shortening of silences. We have not condensed individual contractions. This is important in demonstrating the breath control called for during contractions. This record, then, is an account of a twelve-hour labour leading up to the dramatic moments when the baby is born. One of the most outstanding moments on this record occurs towards the end of the first side. Using his stethoscope with a microphone placed alongside it, Dr Dick-Read searches for and listens to the heart-beat of the baby while it is still in the birth canal, one hour and a half before it is born-an exciting moment for the recording technicians and the doctors when they heard the playback for the first time. Reporting on the last twenty minutes of this recording, one of Britain's leading newspapers, the "Daily Mirror", called it: "The most moving record I have ever heard". If this record helps to abolish fear, it will help to abolish pain in labour. If it helps to spread the teachings of Dr Grantly Dick-Read, then it will have done its job. His work won its due recognition when it was acknowledged and approved by His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, who also commented upon the spiritual approach inherent in Dr Dick-Read's method, saying: "The researches of the Englishman, Dr Grantly Dick-Read, differed notably from those of the Russians (notably the followers of I.P. Pavlov) in their philosophical and metaphysical postulates which were not based, like those of the Russians, on materialistic concepts". This record should help to prepare a woman for the emotional and spiritual experience which is her right, and needs to be fought for, just as much as her right to highly skilled surgery, or pain-killing drugs. There is still some opposition to Dr Dick-Read's work, especially in his own country; there are many places where lip-service is paid to his system; but if his method is followed sincerely by those responsible for the conduct of labour, the result can be as on this record. Here, then, unscripted and unrehearsed, is a record of a natural childbirth.' H.J.U.

Midwifery is used to describe a number of different types of health practitioners, other than doctors, who provide prenatal care to expecting mothers, attend the birth of the infant and provide postnatal care to the mother and infant. Nurse-midwives also provide gynaecological care to women of all ages. Practitioners of midwifery are known as midwives, a term used in reference to both women and men (the term means "with the woman"). Most are independent practitioners who work with obstetricians when the need arises. They usually deal with normal births only but are trained to recognise and deal with deviation from the norm. If something abnormal is discovered during prenatal care, the client is sent to an obstetrician. Other midwives will deal with abnormal births, including breech birth. There are two main divisions of modern midwifery in the United States, nurse-midwives and direct-entry midwives. In the United Kingdom midwives are practitioners in their own right, and take responsibility for the antenatal, intrapartum and immediate postnatal care of women. In many parts of the world, midwives delivery far more children than doctors. This new book brings together the latest research on this ever-changing field.

A research-based, up-to-the minute account of the current status of antenatal education, focusing on the key challenges it faces in the future, offering suggestions for how these challenges might best be met. It describes some innovative approaches to accessing vulnerable groups of parents and how collaboration between the statutory and voluntary sectors might result in a better educational service for pregnant women and their families. Narratives from parents are analysed and commented upon, and underpinning the book will be an account of how the principles and practices of adult education should inform antenatal education. Demonstrates the potential for antenatal education to make a positive impact on women's experience of birth Points the way to accessing new sources of funding for antenatal classes Illustrates new teaching strategies with the aim of accessing groups of parents currently not involved with antenatal education Aims to show how antenatal education can be a central, rather than peripheral part of the holistic care provided to pregnant women and their families

This book provides an introduction to the sociological study of midwifery. The readings have been selected to highlight the interplay between midwifery and medicine, reflecting the medicalisation of childbirth. It highlights the major themes in both a historical and a current context, as well as western and non-western societies. Two major themes underlie the organisation of this book: that the conception of midwifery must be broadened to encompass a sociological perspective; and that the ongoing trend toward the medicalisation of midwifery is crucial to an understanding of the historical, current, and future status of midwifery. By medicalisation of childbirth and midwifery the author mean the increasing tendency for women to prefer a hospital delivery to a home delivery, the increasing trend toward the use of technology and clinical intervention in childbirth, and the determination of medical practitioners to confine the role played by midwives in pregnancy and childbirth, if any, to a purely subordinate one.

Offers state-of-the-art analyses of the new midwifery Midwifery in the developed world is in a state of ferment and change - a phenomenon referred to as the new midwifery. Reconceiving Midwifery offers state-of-the-art analyses of the new midwifery as it is practiced. The authors - social scientists and midwifery practitioners - reflect on regional differences in the emerging profession, providing a systematic account of its historical, local, and international roots, its evolving regulatory status, and the degree to which it has been integrated into health care systems.

This work provides insight into the subjective experience of stillbirth, miscarriage and pregnancy, and the professional response. It has grown out of interviews with women and with the range of health professionals who were significant in their care. These experiences are drawn upon to explore the dilemmas in offering good care, and to suggest ways in which practice might be improved.