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All My Babies

195355 min 0 sec280 shots

This 1953 film follows Miss Mary, a Black midwife, as she prepares her equipment, visits expectant mothers, and takes part in clinic instruction about pregnancy and childbirth. She works with medical staff while teaching families to keep supplies clean, prepare the home for delivery, provide nourishing food, and obtain examinations before and after birth.

At Ida’s home, Mary times the contractions, guides Ida through labor, and delivers a healthy boy weighing eight and a quarter pounds. She clears the baby’s airway, treats his umbilical cord and eyes, checks the placenta and the mother for bleeding, and helps Ida begin nursing.

Mary later attends a second mother during a rapid labor in a poorly prepared home and delivers a premature boy. She sends for a portable incubator, shows the family how to keep the infant warm, and stresses proper food for the mother and minimal handling of the baby. Follow-up visits cover sterile cord care and medical checkups, and four months later the child is shown healthy and growing; Mary closes by placing his photograph with those of other children she has delivered and saying that she is proud of all her babies.

Provenance and rights

Original producer: Creator listed on Library of Congress item record
Collection: Library of Congress — explicit public-domain National Film Registry set
Original title: All My Babies
Date: 1953
Original link: Open on loc.gov
Rights: public_domain