Ladyparts is a podcast that takes a wide view on women’s health.
I believe that in order for women to make informed decisions about our health, we have to break taboos against publicly discussing our basic bodily functions and most perplexing symptoms. Ladyparts takes a wide view, attempting to bridge the divide between mainstream medicine and holistic healthcare.
This is also about the decisions we make as a society that impact women’s bodies, minds, and wellbeing. We look at where the healthcare system supports women and girls, and where it lets us down hard. We think about women’s bodies in the working world, and how we can bend the paradigm towards gender parity. This is a resource for people who were born with female anatomy as well as those who identify as female. We’re greater than the sum of our parts (but the sum of our parts is pretty frickin great too).
Ladyparts wrapped its first season in June 2019.
Episode 7: Midwifery and Maternal Health
Host Andrea Muraskin and guest Joan Combellick recording at Baobab Tree Studios in New Haven, CT
Midwives are specialists in normal physiologic birth, but only about 12 percent of babies in the US are delivered by midwives. In this episode, two midwives make the case for how better integration of midwifery into the US medical system could help lower this country's high rate of maternal mortality, cut down on unnecessary interventions, and make birth a more dignified, healthier experience for moms. First, Joan Combellick, puts midwifery and US maternal health outcomes in a global context. Then, Stephanie Mitchell speaks to the experiences of black women in the maternal health system, and the importance of being an advocate for her patients.
Stephanie Mitchell (@doctor_midwife) on Instagram previewing a live video in her home studio.
Joan Combellick, CNM, MPH, PhD. Joan Combellick is a certified nurse midwife with 25 years of clinical experience in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Joan is currently working as a Women's Health Research Fellow at the Connecticut VA Health System
Stephanie Mitchell, CNM, MSN, DNP. Stephanie Mitchell is an advance practice Certified Nurse Midwife in private practice in Providence, Rhode Island. Prior to becoming a midwife she worked for ten years as a labor and delivery nurse at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Follow Stephanie on Instagram @doctor_midwife and check out her podcast, Doctor Midwife- at Your Cervix.
Support Ladyparts on Patreon and get access to extended cuts of this and other interviews. Join the conversation on our closed Facebook group.
Interested in sponsoring this podcast? Email revkev@baobabstudios.tv.