Midwifing Mercy is available for pre-order now!
Advance Praise
Vicki Penwell’s wonderful book is a powerful reminder that birth is more than a physiological event – it defines a culture, within the setting it occurs, among those who participate in the process and for society as a whole. She thoughtfully conveys this message through grounded examples drawn from her own vast experience and places those events in the larger context of midwifery care throughout the world. The stories she tells provide lessons not just for midwives, but more importantly for all those interested in how we can make birth safer and more humane in these challenging times.
EUGENE DECLERQ, PhD, BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Vicki Penwell has developed and practiced sustainable
models of birth that work to save thousands of lives and bring
joy even in the worst of times. She is my cultural hero.
ROBBIE DAVIS-FLOYD, PHD, MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST – AUTHOR, BIRTH AS AN AMERICAN RITE OF PASSAGE
Every birth is a threshold, a moment when what we offer a
woman either expands or diminishes her sense of what is
possible. Midwifing Mercy is Vicki Penwell's nearly fifty-year
distillation of what it takes to get that right. It's a book about
how culture shapes care, and how care, when it is purposeful
and dignified, saves lives.
NEEL SHAH, MD, MPP, FACOG, OBSTETRICIAN – ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
In these pages, you will meet a midwife who does not separate skill from spirit, or excellence from compassion, or outcomes from dignity. You will meet a system builder, someone who has served women and babies in fragile places and then done the harder thing: created a culture that can outlast any one person. That is the kind of leadership our birth world needs more of.
JENNIE JOSEPH, LM, CPM, FOUNDER COMMONSENSE CHILDBIRTH INC., ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S WOMAN OF THE YEAR 2022
Midwifing Mercy is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever books are sold!
The author receives no personal income from the sale of this book. All proceeds support the charity birth work of Mercy In Action Vineyard, Inc.
More Praise for Midwifing Mercy
Note from the Author:
For decades, my team and I have had the honor of serving mothers and babies in some of the most challenging settings in the world. Together, we have attended nearly 20,000 births with exceptional maternal and newborn outcomes. Along the way, we have developed creative approaches, practical frameworks, unique scoring systems, templates, and training tools that have helped make these outcomes possible. In these pages, I share lessons and resources, including what has worked, what we have learned through trial and error, and the values that continue to guide us. My hope is that this book encourages and equips everyone working to make birth safer and more respectful, whether as midwives, health workers, educators, donors, or advocates.
Blessings,
