Rating: 
Summary: Excellent read for those interested in birth and midwifery
Review: I bought this book mainly because I'm a nursing student who plans to become a nurse-midwife. This book is absolutely excellent! The stories are essentially the same: Vincent recants her experiences as a midwife attending the births of many babies. What is special though is that every birth story is unique, and Vincent colors her stories with entertaining anecdotes and vivid imagery. As I neared the ending of the book, I wished for it to continue. Peggy Vincent shows that besides being a caring, knowledgeable midwife she is also a talented storyteller with a flair for the written word. She does an invaluable service for the practice of midwifery, demonstrating time and again how magical birth can be when allowed to proceed naturally and as the parents want it to. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in birth, midwifery, or just an engrossing read.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read
Review: Peggy Vincent is an amazing, couragous woman. Every woman needs to read Baby Catcher and rethink how America looks at childbirth. After reading this, I yearned for another baby in my life--this time, born at home.
Rating:
Summary: Birth at it's Best!
Review: I'm a doula(professional labor assistant)and all-around "birth junkie"! So I grab any and all reading materials related to pregnancy and birth. I was elated when I read an excerpt of "Baby Catcher" in Rosie Magazine-I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! I happened to purchase it at the airport while on a business trip and boo-hoo'd my way from Baltimore to Atlanta! I couldn't put it down! It is a collection of heartfelt birth stories experienced by Peggy Vincent. Her belief in women's ability to birth their babies is proven time and again in her client's birth experiences. Her contribution to midwifery, obstetrics and the women she served should be celebrated! Any woman who was(is)fortunate enough to have Peggy attend her birth is truly blessed! She is a hero to many of us in the birth community who work to preserve the dignity and mircle of birth. Every woman should read this book! Tell your friends!
Rating:
Summary: What an Awesome Book!
Review: I was hooked from the very first page! Peggy first shows us what is was like to be a nurse in a hospital that defined childbirth as a medical intervention, and not a truly natural experience. Her stories venturing into midwivery and becoming a well-established midwife are so capturing!The stories were uplifting, happy, sad, and all too interesting to put down! If only I didn't already have two kids, I could have read this book in one night! This book gave me hope and inspiration that we, as women, are WELL EQUIPPED to give birth, if we just give it time and effort. There should be no need for all the interventions in a normal birth. Most OBS just don't have the patience that midwives do! An excellent book, and Peggy should be proud of her accomplishments in midwivery!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for All Women Who Ever Had or Are Having a Baby!
Review: This is probably one of the most wonderful books I have ever read! I could not put it down! Any woman who has ever had, is going to have or wants to have a baby must read this book!!! Peggy has the BEST outlook on birth and makes you want to experience birth the way she lets her patients do it - naturally... I can't wait for Peggy Vincent to write more chronicles of her experiences!! She is a talented writer as well as a wonderful midwife!
Rating:
Summary: Baby Catcher
Review: This book is very timely, as midwifery again faces trials an tribulations with OB providers seeing rising malpractice issues, and the increased use of technology for birth. Many women feel they must give birth in the hospital with IVs and inductions and surgical procedures readily available. In many, manay cases, they are fearful of birth, and do not trust their bodies. Any wonder, as the media either portrays birth as very easy, or very difficult. In many cases, birth just happens, if allowed to happen, and women are very capable. Peggy presents birth from a very different perspective. She shares the intimate lives women and families who want to give birth in the privacy of their own home, with thier own family, in their own way. I call this the heart and soul of birth, and of midwifery. This modern day Chronicle follows the life of a woman who found midwifery and gave it her all. She has a wonderful story-like writing style, that makes you wonder if these things really happened to her, and to women. Perhaps this book will help give birth back to woman and their families.
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Summary: A wonderful celebration of birth
Review: This book makes me excited to be pregnant and helps to ease some of my fears about giving birth. I found the book to be inspiring and empowering and I will definitely be recommending it to other pregnant women I know.
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Summary: MARS OBSERVES VENUS GIVE BIRTH
Review: "Male readers may find this female-centered narrative off-putting," says PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, but that's only so if you're a man afraid of Woman. On the other hand, if you like women, if you cherish your mother and your wife, you will find a window into Woman's soul revealed in Vincent's narrative. Early on, I read a chapter or two, but it wasn't until I turned to the opening chapter and read through BABY CATCHER that I came to a truth forgotten: the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. And so it is here, a compelling narrative of a life lived passionately, a narrative weaving individual stories of women giving birth into a magical tapestry celebrating the joy of life. Buy it. Read it. Pass it along to a father-to-be.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Adventure
Review: I've never had children so you would think that this book would have not appealed to me. However you would be wrong! Each story is so skillfully told and fascinating, I haven't been able to put it down. Peggy Vincent is a remarkable storyteller, and the tales she weaves from her experiences as a midwife are unforgettable, exciting, uplifting, sad, funny, and awe-inspiring. I'm not sure what I envy more: her skill as a writer, her experiences as a midwife and helping a new life begin, or the incomparable gift of motherhood. She obviously had thousands of stories to draw from and this book doesn't cover nearly enough of them. I can't wait for a sequel. Thanks, Peggy, for sharing your amazing adventures with the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: Wow, are we lucky today!
Review: I'm pregnant right now with my first and even though I will deliver at a hospital, Peggy's book has filled me with confidence! The stories of women in this book cover the full course: from silent, meditative laborers to Zelda who races around on the bed and prays aloud during contractions. What I learned at the end is that we are really lucky to live in a time when our husbands can be by our sides and I don't get a gas mask slapped on my face the instant my baby is born. It's so much fun to watch the transformation in Peggy's life from student nurse to a teacher to us all. Read it first and then give a copy to every woman you know. =)
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