the.com/midwifery
The original medical specialty: helping humans do the one thing they've always known how to do.
means The practice of assisting women through pregnancy, labor, and childbirth.
from From 'mid' (an old word meaning 'with,' not the directional 'middle') plus 'wife' (in its archaic sense of simply 'woman'). A midwife is literally the one who is 'with the woman' — standing alongside her through labor. The root is Old English/Germanic, and the compound dates back to medieval English, long before 'wife' narrowed mostly to mean 'married woman.'
- older than
- obstetrics by about 4,000 years
- etymology
- means with woman, literally
- outcomes
- low risk births, often equal or better outcomes
- scope
- covers prenatal, birth, and postpartum care