About the Book
Birth Emergencies for Community Midwives comprehensively explores the recognition and treatment of antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum complications, spanning the care provided in community settings and definitive management in hospitals. Though written primarily for midwives who attend community births, Birth Emergencies merges current information with holistic perspectives that can help to reduce maternal, fetal and neonatal complications in any setting.
Each chapter begins with clearly stated objectives and an instructive case study and ends with incisive discussion topics that anticipate real-world situations. Topics covered include
- Maternal adaptations to pregnancy
- Critical thinking and risk assessment
- Recognizing and managing emergencies
- Antepartum bleeding
- Abdominal pain
- Difficulty breathing
- Trauma
- Shock
- Altered level of consciousness
- Cardiac arrest
- Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy
- Preterm birth
- Preterm prelabor rupture of membranes
- Malpresentations
- Multiple gestation
- Cord prolapse
- Shoulder dystocia
- Fetal and neonatal health
- Neonatal resuscitation
- Low-birthweight infants
- Postpartum hemorrhage
- Differential diagnoses
- Client relations
- Intra- and interprofessional relations
- Midwifery and medicine
- Transferring care
- Stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout
- Building a safer practice
Incorporating the latest research and professional guidance enhanced by 320 figures, 81 tables, 24 mnemonics-many of them unique-and numerous highlights and graphics, Birth Emergencies is the most comprehensive textbook of its kind.

"Bonnie's excellent book is a valuable resource for community midwives managing out-of-hospital birth emergencies. . . . Buy it, read it, reread it, and save lives."
from the foreword by
Joe Livingston, MD, MPH