An insightful, honest memoir by a remarkable woman. --Alycin Hayes, Author of Amazon Hitchhiker An extraordinary book by a person of deep faith and courage. --Kenneth D. Wald, Author of forthcoming Ghosts on the Wall Adventures of a Midwife chronicles the journey of a woman with a goal, determined to excel in spite of life's challenges. We cheer for her every stage of her lifelong sojourn. --Leo Hines, Writers Alliance of Gainesville Adventures of a Midwife: Finding Joy on the Journey relates the challenges Elsie Wilson had in becoming a nurse-midwife in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and the rainforests of Congo, Africa. This memoir describes her struggles in surviving abuse, cancer, depression, and fire. Her commitment to missions, which started at age thirteen, grew when she won a nursing scholarship and cared for her dying mother. The doubt and uncertainty that she could be used by God was dispelled as He took her on a journey only He could design, ending in joy. She never imagined she would be driving up creek beds in a Jeep, crossing over swinging bridges, or examining a pregnant woman with a snake hanging over her head. Delivering babies in shacks with newspapers on the walls and depending on God in life-threatening circumstances developed an inner joy despite these difficulties. God's faithfulness and grace provided the strength to survive the trauma she experienced and led her to become a spiritual midwife.

Mama Midwife is the story of young Miso the mouse, whose mother is a midwife. When Mama rushes out of the house in the middle of the night during a slumber party, Miso's friends are intrigued! Is Miso's mama a superhero? A secret agent? Miso giggles at the theories and gathers her friends close to share the real-life adventures of a midwife. When Miso's dream of attending a birth in the forest comes true, she learns more about birth then she ever could have imagined. This beautifully illustrated, hardcover book is perfect for children expecting a new sibling. Whether a baby is born at home or in the hospital, midwives play an invaluable, powerful and often sacred role in many births. Mama Midwife is a hip and tender story that introduces children to midwifery, while celebrating and affirming our ability to birth.

A fascinating slice of social history - Jennifer Worth's tales of being a midwife in 1950s London, now a major BBC TV series. Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying, not only because of their grimly impoverished surroundings, but also because of what they were expected to endure. But while Jennifer witnessed brutality and tragedy, she also met with amazing kindness and understanding, tempered by a great deal of Cockney humour. She also earned the confidences of some whose lives were truly stranger, more poignant and more terrifying than could ever be recounted in fiction. Attached to an order of nuns who had been working in the slums since the 1870s, Jennifer tells the story not only of the women she treated, but also of the community of nuns (including one who was accused of stealing jewels from Hatton Garden) and the camaraderie of the midwives with whom she trained. Funny, disturbing and incredibly moving, Jennifer's stories bring to life the colourful world of the East End in the 1950s.

“Lyrically written and profoundly told … Kim Woodard Osterholzer’s story … embraced me on the first page and held me tight until the very last word.”—Leslie Gould, #1 bestselling and Christy-award winning author “Inspiring in the best of ways.”—Stasi Eldredge, New York Times bestselling author of Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul “A master class in respectful, woman-centered midwifery.”—Dr. Sara Wickham, author, midwifery lecturer, and consultant Kim Osterholzer, a midwife who's caught over 500 babies since 1993, ushers readers behind the doors of Amish homes as she recounts her lively and life-changing adventures learning the heart and craft of midwifery. In A Midwife in Amish Country, Kim chronicles the escapades of her nine-year apprenticeship grappling with the joys and struggles of homebirth as she tags along with the woman who helped her birth her own children at home. With drama and insight, she recounts the beauty and painstaking effort of those early years spent catching babies next to crackling woodstoves, under lantern light, and in farmhouses powered by windmills for running water and with outhouses for bathrooms. Some births kept her from home for days on end; others she missed by heart-pounding seconds. Yet every birth enthralled her, whether she was halting hemorrhages, blowing air into tiny lungs, or bouncing through wild rides in ambulances. Too many times to count, Kim stumbled home feeling overwhelmed and inadequate—yet as she strained against her misgivings, self-doubts, and seemingly insurmountable challenges, those sacred moments transformed her into a woman of power and conviction. Her experiences taught her the heart of true midwifery—stroking, smoothing, wiping, tidying, nourishing, comforting, hearing, encouraging, validating, and witnessing. Slowly, steadily, Kim learned to play her part as midwife to the Amish—women unflagging in their passion to welcome new lives—and at last, tried and tested, took her rightful place among them.

Not since Anna Diamant’s The Red Tent or Geraldine Brooks’s People of the Book has a novel transported readers so intimately into the complex lives of women centuries ago or so richly into a story of intrigue that transcends the boundaries of history. A “lavishly detailed” (Elle Canada) debut that masterfully captures sixteenth-century Venice against a dramatic and poetic tale of suspense. Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers using her secret “birthing spoons.” When a count implores her to attend his dying wife and save their unborn son, she is torn. A Papal edict forbids Jews from rendering medical treatment to Christians, but his payment is enough to ransom her husband Isaac, who has been captured at sea. Can she refuse her duty to a woman who is suffering? Hannah’s choice entangles her in a treacherous family rivalry that endangers the child and threatens her voyage to Malta, where Isaac, believing her dead in the plague, is preparing to buy his passage to a new life. Told with exceptional skill, The Midwife of Venice brings to life a time and a place cloaked in fascination and mystery and introduces a captivating new talent in historical fiction.

"In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth's population--killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant--the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power--and the strong who possess it. A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining"--Back cover.

"On a dark night in 1775, Lizzie Boylston is awakened by the sound of cannons. From a hill south of Boston, she watches as fires burn in Charlestown, in a battle that she soon discovers has claimed her husband's life. Alone in a new town. Soon, word spreads of Lizzie's extraordinary midwifery and healing skills, and she begins to channel her grief into caring for those who need her." -- back cover.