Search for an image of a “midwife,” and you will see the internationally identified photo of our profession – a smiling midwife with their head turned, bent over a pregnant belly listening to a foetal heart through a pinard stethoscope.

This heart-warming posture is demonstrative of the strange positions that midwives adopt during their regular day.

Women and midwives have spent decades advocating for active positions during labour and birth. Midwives are delighted to enter a birth suite and see a woman squatting, kneeling, in the shower or bath, or side-lying with a leg supported high in the air. These positions, while excellent for birth, can be extremely damaging to the accoucher.

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