International Day of the Midwives is celebrated May 5th. International Day of the Midwife is observed in over 50 nations around the world. International Day of the Midwife helps recognize and honor midwives came out of the 1987 International Confederation of Midwives conference in the Netherlands. A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery monitoring and administering medication, injections and intravenous infusions during labor. monitoring the fetes during labor. Advising about and supporting parents in the daily care of their newborn babies. Helping parents to cope with miscarriage, termination, stillbirth and neonatal death.

Today, 7.8 percent of all hospital-born American babies are delivered by a midwife, who are gaining in popularity because women want a healthy, natural birth experience.

Midwife’s role during labor and birth:

Midwives will support you through labor and birth. They can:

• give you information, encouragement and emotional support
• monitor your progress and suggest strategies to help your labor
• monitor the baby’s heartbeat and other signs
• offer you pain relief, or arrange for a doctor to administer it
• get extra medical help if needed

After your baby is born, your midwife will care for both you and your baby immediately after the birth. The midwife, or your doctor, will check whether you have lost too much blood or need stitches.

Midwives offer postnatal care in hospital, including:

• Helping you with breastfeeding and settling your baby
• Showing you how to bathe your baby and change nappies
• Administering pain relief if needed (or organizing a doctor to provide it)
• Carrying out some routine health tests, such as newborn screening

Why it is important to celebrate midwives

• There is a shortage of midwives 
• Midwives save millions of lives every year
• Midwives provide critical medical care
• Midwives are important defenders of women’s rights