At Her Feet4 Syys 2025

Mother of Midwifery Today: A Conversation with Jan Tritten

In this intimate conversation, Blyss visits the home of Jan Tritten—midwife, visionary, and the founding editor of Midwifery Today magazine. Surrounded by her garden, animals, and family history, Jan reflects on a life devoted to birth, storytelling, and community.

From her own births to attending dozens within a birth co-op, Jan found her calling not only in midwifery but in weaving together the voices of others. Through Midwifery Today and its global conferences, she became what she calls the “mother” of a movement—holding space for wisdom, tradition, and connection across generations.

Jan Shares:

How a traumatic hospital birth became the fuel for her lifetime of advocacy.
The early days of home birth in Northern California, alongside pioneers like Raven Lang.
Founding Midwifery Today after a Spirit-led vision, and sustaining it for 37 years.
Stories of mentorship, partnership, and the creation of conferences that brought the magazine’s pages alive.
Her faith journey and how spirituality continues to shape her vision of birth.
Reflections on medicalization, free birth, and why mentorship and tradition matter most in educating midwives.
Why her definition of midwifery is simply: “relationship first.”

Through it all, Jan reminds us that midwifery is not just a profession, but a vocation of the heart—a sacred calling rooted in love, trust, and relationship.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Midwifery Today – Jan’s 37-year magazine and conference legacy.
Raven Lang – Author of The Birth Book and pioneer in Santa Cruz home birth. Interview coming up in this series.
The Birth Book (Raven Lang) – Seminal text of the home birth movement.
Frontier Nursing Service – Historic nurse-midwifery program in Kentucky.
Carol Gautschi – Midwife, co-coordinator of the Classical Midwifery Conference, and featured in an upcoming At Her Feet interview next season.
Michel Odent – French obstetrician, pioneer of water birth and physiological childbirth.
Ina May Gaskin – Founder of The Farm Midwifery Center; author of Spiritual Midwifery; creator of the Gaskin Maneuver. Interview coming next season.
Dr. John Stevenson – Australian doctor, home birth advocate, and contributor to Midwifery Today.
Cornelia Enning – German midwife known for her work teaching water birth.
Gail Hart – Oregon midwife with decades of experience, previously interviewed on At Her Feet.
Chris Howard – Midwife who became Jan’s partner after she left the birth co-op.
Tom Duncan – Physician who attended home births aligned with midwifery practices.
Angelina Martinez Miranda – Traditional Mexican midwife in Morelos, heir to three generations of midwifery, and international teacher of Mexican birth practices.
Angelica root – Traditional herb used to help release a retained placenta.

Thank you to all the elders, donations and volunteers that have made this project possible.

Together, we can preserve the wisdom of elder midwives for generations to come. Give today and be part of this legacy.…please visit bridgemidwives.com for more information on how to donate.

Community Circles (First Thursdays of each month)

Podcast Editor: Shea Lyons

Archivist and Producer: Blyss Young

Instagram: @TheBridgeMidwives

Join our Facebook community: The Bridge Midwives Project

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Jaksot(17)

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