Midwife? You mean they still make those?

Yep, they sure do. I think most people have one of three views of midwives: the mountain women from history, the trippy-dippy hippy women of the 60s and 70s, or the New York midwife from the Rikki Lake movie. In reality, midwives are a wonderfully interesting blend of these women, as well as the women in our own lives.
Midwives are nothing new. Some people say that midwifery is the "second oldest profession", which makes sense if you think about "the oldest profession". Here's the deal . . . until the early to mid 1900s, almost all American women delivered at home. Successfully, I might add. That's about the time that doctors (men) horned in and created a system that "ruined it for everybody else".
I could go on and on about all this stuff, but I'd rather save it for another post.