Waterbirth International

👶💦We are so excited to officially introduce the very first annual WORLD WATER BIRTH WEEK June 22–26!💦👶

Created as a global celebration that honors gentle, evidence-based waterbirth and the providers and families helping transform birth around the world.

For one powerful week, midwives, doulas, nurses, physicians, educators, and families across the globe will come together to celebrate the beauty, safety, and physiology of waterbirth.

Every day, families experience calmer, gentler births through the support of warm water and respectful care. Yet many people still have never seen what physiologic waterbirth can truly look like or understand the research supporting it.

Throughout the Week We’ll Share:
💧 Real waterbirth stories
💧 Evidence-based research
💧 Historic archival footage
💧 Provider spotlights from around the world
💧 Beautiful examples of gentle birth in action

World Waterbirth Day — June 25
As part of the celebration, June 25 has also been designated as World Waterbirth Day by Waterbirth Canada in honor of Barbara Harper’s lifelong contributions to waterbirth education and advocacy.
💙 Follow and tag for more information and campaign highlights.

From hospitals to homebirth settings, providers trained through Waterbirth International are helping families experience safer, more respectful, physiologic birth in communities worldwide.

World Water Birth Week is more than a celebration.
It is a reminder that birth can be calm. Birth can be gentle. Birth can be deeply human.

And we want YOU to be part of it.

Have a waterbirth story or photos to share?
Your experience could help educate providers and inspire families around the world.

💧🌍 Learn more at waterbirth.org/world-water-birth-week 🌍💧

👶💦Did you know that expanding access to midwifery care could dramatically improve maternal and newborn outcomes in the United States?💦👶

At Waterbirth International, we deeply believe in supporting midwives and physiologic, evidence-based birth care around the world. Midwives play an essential role in protecting normal birth, honoring families, and creating calmer, safer birth experiences.

To every midwife advocating for respectful care and better outcomes: thank you for the work you do every day.

Learn more about our global midwifery education mission at waterbirth.org

A 2023 "Expert Review” article was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The authors present the case:

"...fully integrating the midwifery model of care in philosophically aligned healthcare teams and institutions is a key strategy for addressing healthcare disparities and the maternity care crisis in the United States. Expanding the midwifery model of care would align the United States with peer nations that consistently demonstrate maternal and neonatal outcomes that are significantly better than those found in the United States."

The authors cite the approach to midwifery that is standard in other countries, especially in wealthy European nations, where women have as much as seven times the access to midwives that they do in the United States. They report that midwifery care has improved outcomes by 56 different measures — including lower morbidity and mortality among mothers and newborns, fewer preterm births and low birthweight infants, and reduced interventions in labor.

Source: Combellick, JL, Telfer, ML, et al. Midwifery care during labor and birth in the United States. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Source: Forman, R. Midwifery Review: Adding Care by Midwives Improves Birth Outcomes. Yale School of Medicine.

👶💜Happy International Doula Month to the incredible doulas supporting families around the world!💜👶

This year’s theme, “Doulas: Nurturing the World, One Family at a Time,” beautifully reflects what we witness every day at Waterbirth International: when doulas support a mother, the impact goes far beyond the birth room.

Doulas provide calm presence, emotional reassurance, evidence-based education, and continuous support during one of life’s most vulnerable and transformative moments. Their work helps families feel informed, seen, respected, and empowered.

Many doulas trained through the Waterbirth International Provider Course are helping families better understand physiologic birth, water immersion, informed consent, comfort measures, newborn transition, and respectful maternity care. Their guidance helps parents make decisions rooted in knowledge and not fear.

We are honored to educate doulas from around the world who are committed to gentle, evidence-based birth practices. Through Barbara Harper’s 40+ years of global experience, doulas gain deeper understanding of labor physiology, maternal autonomy, waterbirth safety, and the sacred transition from womb to world.

From birth centers to hospitals to homebirth settings, doulas continue to change birth culture one family at a time, bringing compassion, advocacy, and trust back into the birth experience.

To every doula who has trained with us, supported a laboring mother through the night, held a hand, whispered reassurance, protected a peaceful environment, or helped a family feel safe and strong:
✨ We celebrate you.
✨ We honor your work.
✨ The world needs more birth professionals like you.

💧🌍 Explore the Waterbirth International Global Provider Directory and discover doulas around the world who have trained with us at waterbirth.org 🌍💧

🌍💦 Check your inbox! Did you get the Spring edition of WBI Global Impacts & Updates? 🌍💦

So much has been happening at Waterbirth International and if you haven’t seen our latest update, you may be missing some of the most exciting momentum we have had this year.

From hospital trainings in Cambridge to a powerful return to Mexico, and now an upcoming mission to Nigeria sparked by one inspired provider, Barbara Harper's work continues to grow in ways that are truly meaningful for birth professionals and families around the world.

Inside our latest newsletter:
💧 Real global impact and provider trainings
💧 New voices and conversations through recent podcasts
💧 A growing international community of certified providers
💧 Big announcement happening in June!
💧 Opportunities to get involved and share your story

Every step forward helps expand access to safe, respectful, evidence-based birth.

✨ Read the latest issue:✨
https://mailchi.mp/waterbirth/april-2026-news

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