Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives

Rating:
Summary: This book tells the TRUTH!
Review: Finally a book that tells the truth about what really happens when a woman has her baby in the hospital with a certified nurse-midwife, CNM. Ivy-league-educated author Catherine Taylor, writes about her own experience as a nurse-midwifery patient as well as stories of many births she attended as an observer or doula.

What is most amazing about the stories of birth that are retold is the author's realization that the certified nurse-midwives that the pregnant women trust are agents of the medical institutions. In story after story, the CNM patients are mislead about what to expect of their birth experiences.

Taylor shadowed a number of CNM's during their usual workdays at their hospitals. The CNM care frequently mirrored physician-nurse care as busy CNMs left their clients in very active labor. Claims one CNM, "We try to compensate by having a nurse attend them." Yet while a number of CNMs expressed a longing to be more actively involved with the women they care for, none actually provided the women with hands-on, continuous care during their labors and births. Taylor points out hospital-based CNMs frequently provide inadequate midwifery care, failing to provide even a modicum of "human presence" which is a core competency of the ACNM (American College of Nurse Midwives).

In birth story after birth story the reader is made aware of the inability of the CNM to prepare women for a drug-free, empowering birth. Woman after woman believed the slick hospital promotions that shows the beaming new mom and dad holding their little one with the ever-present staff hovering nearby. The rude reality is that for most of the women, this was a fantasy.

The midwifery clients were unprepared for the pain of labor and what to do about it. The midwives were too busy running from patient to patient to do more than stick their head in a room long enough to don a glove and check dilation and make lame suggestions for dealing with pain. The nurses also had no time to provide one on one support--that left the women and their partners to go it alone, without having been educated about what to do.

One theme that is played out in many of these stories is the power the hospital has over the CNMs. Whatever their personal beliefs may have been, they inevitably acquiesced to the hospital administration or physicians if there was friction between what a client/patient wanted. A few of the examples given include handing out "goodie" bags loaded with formula while theoretically promoting breastfeeding; telling a woman she needs pitocin when it is actually being given to speed up labor for the staff's benefit; and breaking a water bag for the physician's convenience.

Many CNMs seem to relish their role as mini physicians. IVs, rupturing membranes, ordering antibiotics, pitocin and epidurals, cutting episiotomies and dragging babies out by suction vacuum are daily activities for hospital-based CNMs. Yet the ACNM claims that one of the primary characteristics of a midwife is as an advocate "of non-intervention in the absence of complications." With the widespread use of routine interventions by CNMs, one has to wonder whether any of the ACNM publications can be trusted. Said one CNM to a VBAC client, "With the next baby, if the baby starts to look big, my preference is to induce a week early. You're so tiny you might have to have a c-section for all your babies."

Do CNMs educate their clients better than physicians so that when interventions are offered, they are able to make fully informed decisions? Taylor wonders about this too and asks, "Can parents in the middle of the unfamiliar and often disorienting experience of labor make good decisions?" Can parents really be fully informed when a CNM has to please her collaborating or supervising physician or comply with hospital protocol in order to keep her job? Too often it seems, they side with those who sign their paychecks.

Some women have been able to hire doulas to provide the emotional support and unbiased information about hospital interventions. Sadly this is not always what they thought they were getting either. As Taylor points out, doulas are trained to never be critical. This means that if a woman suddenly decides she wants drugs during her labor, the doula supports her. Like CNMs, doulas frequently find they must walk a fine line to be welcome in a hospital. Sometimes this may mean not advocating 100% for the woman but rather guiding her to comply with some unnecessary intervention that will soothe the staff and keep the doula in their good graces.

Taylor discovered that at one hospital, the majority of CNMs had homebirths. She attended a number of homebirths while researching this book as well as at Elizabeth Gilmore's birth center in New Mexico. Taylor chose to have her second child born at home. After her less than satisfactory first birth, Taylor explains that at home the woman's ability to birth is protected rather than controlled. This is what Taylor wants. This is, I believe, the primary reason women in America choose to have a homebirth.

Taylor's emotional process of going from a hospital birth to a homebirth is somewhat detailed in this book. Those of us who have had home births know exactly what she is dealing with when explaining her homebirth decision to those who only believe in hospital birth. She writes, "I realized my friend's viscerally negative reaction to homebirth was probably not based on some piece of knowledge or information, but rather on ungrounded fears."

While an ideal arrangement for birth is to have supportive medical care at the ready in case of an emergency, most homebirth families and midwives find this very difficult to obtain. Unlike a great many American women, Taylor had insurance while pregnant with her second baby and utilized that insurance to buy back-up medical care her CNM was unable to provide. While physicians decry those who plan homebirths without medical back-up, these physicians increase the dangers of homebirth by refusing to provide the very care they believe is essential for safety. Like Taylor, who pretended to plan a hospital birth in order to have emergency medical care readily available, those with money can buy a safety net. The rest cross their fingers or pray.

Taylor's praises Elizabeth Gilmore's Taos, New Mexico free-standing birth center. The practice employs obstetricians who provide built-in back up for the midwifery clients. Clients can choose to birth at home or the birth center. Although seemingly idyllic, the birth center has been a labor of love for Gilmore who has worked ceaselessly to keep it viable. The politics of birth are everywhere an endless war.

This book was written because Catherine Taylor had to write about her birth experience. Like so many of The Complete Mother subscribers, her homebirth transformed her into a strong, self-assured mother and woman. Those of us who have been there and done that will smile that knowing smile while reading of her metamorphosis. It's the secret knowledge that's suddenly discovered that we had the power all along, but didn't know it.

Taylor recognizes that the road to self-discovery is frequently full of pain and vomit and body fluids. "Yet it was one of the most vital and powerful moments of my life...my midwife did not just attend the birth of my baby; she attended the birth of a new, powerful, confident and loving part of myself." Amen.

Reviewed at The Compleat Mother website

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and enjoyable reading!
Review: I am having my second birth with a CNM in a freestanding birth center, so books of this subject matter are very interesting to me.

Admittedly, I sometimes get bored with books that strictly tell statistics or research data, but I don't want to only read anecdotal information either.

I enjoyed Taylor's book so much because it encorporated so many aspects of childbirth and midwifery care. She didn't just observe one midwife, and she makes it clear that there is no cookie-cutter model for a midwife either. It is nearly impossible to catergorize midwives in one description.

I loved reading about the births she observed and I appreciated the statistical data, complete with endnotes, that she inserted throughout the book. I felt that this project obviously meant a great deal to her, since she decided in the course of writing the book to become a doula. "Experiencing" her doula training and her childbirth class with her, as well as following her own pregnancy, was really interesting in light of all that she was learning and reporting in her studies.

This book had it all! Research, drama, emotion... I read the entire thing in a few days, which says a lot for the mother of a 2 year old!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and enjoyable reading!
Review: I am having my second birth with a CNM in a freestanding birth center, so books of this subject matter are very interesting to me.

Admittedly, I sometimes get bored with books that strictly tell statistics or research data, but I don't want to only read anecdotal information either.

I enjoyed Taylor's book so much because it encorporated so many aspects of childbirth and midwifery care. She didn't just observe one midwife, and she makes it clear that there is no cookie-cutter model for a midwife either. It is nearly impossible to catergorize midwives in one description.

I loved reading about the births she observed and I appreciated the statistical data, complete with endnotes, that she inserted throughout the book. I felt that this project obviously meant a great deal to her, since she decided in the course of writing the book to become a doula. "Experiencing" her doula training and her childbirth class with her, as well as following her own pregnancy, was really interesting in light of all that she was learning and reporting in her studies.

This book had it all! Research, drama, emotion... I read the entire thing in a few days, which says a lot for the mother of a 2 year old!

Rating:
Summary: Helped me understand my experiences.
Review: I believed that just having a midwife rather than a doctor would bring along with it a certain set of assumptions and practices.

This book helped me understand some of the constraints placed on midwives practicing in hospitals, the ways that doctors can make decisions for your care anyway without you even meeting them, and the different kinds of midwives and midwifery practiced in America.

It was well-researched and well-written with an honest, truthful and inquiring spirit. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Helped me understand my experiences.
Review: I believed that just having a midwife rather than a doctor would bring along with it a certain set of assumptions and practices.

This book helped me understand some of the constraints placed on midwives practicing in hospitals, the ways that doctors can make decisions for your care anyway without you even meeting them, and the different kinds of midwives and midwifery practiced in America.

It was well-researched and well-written with an honest, truthful and inquiring spirit. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books Out There!
Review: I just finished this amazing book; it took me less than two days. I could not put it down.

Catherine Taylor's intimate, first-person account of midwifery care that includes her own homebirth experience with a midwife and a doula is completely engrossing. You feel like you are in her world; you pull for her and for the women she describes; you wait with anticipation for a healthy birth, an impending cesarean, a hospital transfer.. you enter her world. And you love it.

Not only does the book provide an entertaining, emotional narrative, it gives important insight into the political climate of midwifery care, the difficulties faced by midwives thrust into a hospital-based practice, and the practices and techniques used by modern midwives. The book illustrates a wide range of midwives, from the earthy, groovy, herbal mama to the suited-up, no-nonsense, "medicalized" nurse-midwife. She shows that there is not one typical midwife, but they all generally share the same goal: a healthy, fulfilled mother and a happy, healthy baby.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in midwifery care, every pregnant woman, and maybe some day, every obstetrician.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books Out There!
Review: I just finished this amazing book; it took me less than two days. I could not put it down.

Catherine Taylor's intimate, first-person account of midwifery care that includes her own homebirth experience with a midwife and a doula is completely engrossing. You feel like you are in her world; you pull for her and for the women she describes; you wait with anticipation for a healthy birth, an impending cesarean, a hospital transfer.. you enter her world. And you love it.

Not only does the book provide an entertaining, emotional narrative, it gives important insight into the political climate of midwifery care, the difficulties faced by midwives thrust into a hospital-based practice, and the practices and techniques used by modern midwives. The book illustrates a wide range of midwives, from the earthy, groovy, herbal mama to the suited-up, no-nonsense, "medicalized" nurse-midwife. She shows that there is not one typical midwife, but they all generally share the same goal: a healthy, fulfilled mother and a happy, healthy baby.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in midwifery care, every pregnant woman, and maybe some day, every obstetrician.

Rating:
Summary: Crucial for Anyone Having a Baby
Review: I loved this book. I read it straight through, then turned to the beginning and started again. Catherine Taylor has a very flowing and readable style. She weaves hard facts with storytelling in a way that is interesting and entertaining.

I also really connected with Taylor's personality and experiences. I felt that "this could be me". She states that, since she was pregnant, she conducted her research looking for her "perfect birth". I bought and read this book with an eye towards my next birth. I came to the same conclusion Taylor did - if possible, I will have my next baby at home.

I truly believe that if every pregnant woman in America reads this book we will encounter a serious midwife shortage. I have nothing against obstetricians, they have a very important place in medicine. However, after reading this and other books and doing a lot of research on the internet, I don't think they have any place in a normal low risk pregnancy.

I cannot recommend "Giving Birth" enough. I will ask anyone that questions my decision to have a home birth to read this exceptionally well researched book so that we can have an intelligent conversation on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Crucial for Anyone Having a Baby
Review: I loved this book. I read it straight through, then turned to the beginning and started again. Catherine Taylor has a very flowing and readable style. She weaves hard facts with storytelling in a way that is interesting and entertaining.

I also really connected with Taylor's personality and experiences. I felt that "this could be me". She states that, since she was pregnant, she conducted her research looking for her "perfect birth". I bought and read this book with an eye towards my next birth. I came to the same conclusion Taylor did - if possible, I will have my next baby at home.

I truly believe that if every pregnant woman in America reads this book we will encounter a serious midwife shortage. I have nothing against obstetricians, they have a very important place in medicine. However, after reading this and other books and doing a lot of research on the internet, I don't think they have any place in a normal low risk pregnancy.

I cannot recommend "Giving Birth" enough. I will ask anyone that questions my decision to have a home birth to read this exceptionally well researched book so that we can have an intelligent conversation on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best childbirth books
Review: I read this book when I was about 4 months pregnant. Before I became pregnant I had been very interested in birthing and I knew I wanted a natural birth. During my early weeks of pregnancy, while I was overcome by intense nausea and vomiting, I had so much difficulty setting up appointments and birthplaces between my insurance and medical groups that I ended up settling with an OB that was not my first choice. I spent the next months of my pregnancy researching what my options were in my area and my insurance options.

After reading this book I had a much better idea of what I was looking for and within a month my search was complete and the changes had been made. I went to a midwife/OB practice that ran a natural, free-standing birth center, I took Bradley natural childbirth classes along with my husband, and I hired a wonderful doula who worked at the birth center. I chose, for insurance reasons, to labor at home for as long as possible with my doula and then continued my natural birth in a birthing room with the OB that supports natural birthing. Because I arrived at the hospital (with my birthing ball) far along in labor, coping beautifully and had such a supportive doctor, the nurses read my birth plan and immediately respected all my wishes. I labored, moving about the room, and occasionally a nurse would put a dopp-tone to my belly to hear my baby's heart beat while I stayed in focus. Pain medication was never offered and I was asked before even being touched. I felt that I was laboring in a room full of friends.

This book was wonderful to read, helped me really examine what I wanted for my own pregnancy and birth, and gave me insight if I ever decide to go into the childbirth field as a doula or childbirth educator.

I had a beautiful, empowering, healing birth that I will cherish for the rest of my life. When I think about what could have happened in the throes of labor, when rational thought is suspended, if I had not chosen such a supportive birthing team, my heart aches. I am so thankful I read this book and gathered the information I needed to make the best decision for myself. I do not have a lot of money, but the amount I spent on a doula and natural childbirth classes was more than worth it (as Catherine Taylor encouraged). Next time I will save up and I am looking forward to giving birth my second time at the birthing center and laboring at home with my doula or having a home birth. It is really worth all the work to create the birthing atmosphere that most supports you.

I recommend this thoughtful, empowering book to all women and people working in pregnancy, labor and childbirth. I also highly recommend natural birth if that is what you desire. Giving birth was a deeply spiritual experience, and no one can take that from you.