Hands-off midwifery and the art of balance

“You work with some midwives who do everything; they do VEs every four hours and have their hands doing all these things when the baby comes. And then you go out with others who are different, who hardly ever do those things, who just know where women are [in relation to the progress of their labour] by looking at them and listening and they don’t interfere so much; they seem to know when they really need to touch and when it’s better not to. And you think, ‘that’s great, that’s what I want to do!’ But how do I learn when to do it and not?” Kiera, Student Midwife