midwife

noun

1. A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.

   “A hundred years ago, a midwife would bring the baby into the world - going to a hospital to deliver a baby was either impossible or unheard of.”

   “Modernly, a hospital midwife is usually a registered nurse.”

   “The senior midwife confirmed that […] occasionally a multigravid woman could feel little more than slight abdominal discomfort.”

   “Despite Richard's efforts to midwive his own narrative of legitimacy, the source of this legendary one cannot be controlled because it has moved from the mouths of nurses, midwives and gossips into the public domain.”

2. (figuratively, rare)Someone who assists in bringing about some result or project.

   “He had not read it, but he said that every detail in it was true. This struck me as a rather cavalier attitude to truth, but hatred is not the midwife of caution or accuracy.”

verb

1. (transitive)To act as a midwife.
2. (figuratively, transitive)To facilitate the emergence of.

   “But the bigger objective was to help Iraqis midwife a democratic model that could inspire reform across the Arab-Muslim world and give the youth there a chance at a better future.”

   “In the mid-1960s, Reichism was midwifed into reexistence by such stalwarts as William Schutz, Bernard Gunther, Charlotte Selver, Alexander Lowen, Ida Rolf, and many other exponents of human knead needs.”