Rating: 
Summary: Awful, Awful book!
Review: I am begging all pregnant women-DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! I made the mistake of doing so when I was about seven months along, and it brought me to tears.I don't know what country this woman had her baby in, but the nurses and doctors at my hosptial were caring, trained professionals. I was pampered and waited on the whole time I was there,it was a wonderful experience. Also, ladies, take heart, my husband adjusted just fine to fatherhood, and he treated me like a queen after our son was born. So, please skip this book, and read What to Expect When You're Expecting, it's much better!
Rating:
Summary: AWFUL AWFUL BOOK!!!
Review: This is one of the worst books a woman could read if she's pregnant. I have never read anything so negative and depressing about pregnancy and birth. I was seven months when I read it, and it brought me to tears. I am happy to report that my experience in the hospital was NOTHING like hers, or the other women who contributed their stories. I was treated very well by a staff of trained, caring professionals. My husband has been nothing but supportive and caring since the baby's been born. All and all its been a postive experience, and I'm pretty sure it's that way for most women. Don't read this book if you are pregnant!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: But I want a cozy childbirth too!
Review: I don't know what made me read Naomi Wolf's book. Truth is, though I am a woman, I don't subscribe to about 98% of feminist ideals. I have read Naomi Wolf in the past and cannot stand her typically man hating, feminazi views... but because I am feeling the pang of wanting a child of my own, I thought I'd give this tome a try. And it was, in true Naomi fashion, one of the most annoying books I've ever read. As others who have reviewed this book here have stated, she does have some strong valid points regarding the treatment or lack there of, of the pregnant woman, but because her tone is so incredibly whiny these point come off with much less weight than she'd like. A great deal of the time, she almost sounds like she is a pranoid conspiracy theorist, and yes, she blames al of her dissapointments regarding birth on the MALE doctors she chose. I found myself asking why, if she was so disheartened with the care she was getting before the actual birth, did she stay? She kept referring to the doctor "He did this, he laughed at me, whine whine whine..." well sweetie... Maybe switch doctors and go to a woman... I have not gone through childbirth yet, but when I do, I have no intention of going to a male OB, how can someone who does not have the same internal organs as me really empathize with me, or listen to what I want. What does he know?! She does appropriately skewer "What to Expect" as the purile rag that it is, she talks with her well educated and supposedly strong women friends who only whine along with her. I understand and find the amount of c-sections done in this country to be alarming (just watch TLC's "A Baby Story")but if you don't want someone sticking catheters, and fetal monitors and iv's in every orafice you have... tell them from the get go NO! I found it hard to believe that someone, who is a staunch feminist had such an easy time giving over to everything her MALE doctor said. Where's her balls? Where the fight? It doesn't add up. Was it worth reading? Absolutely, there were nuggets in the regarding Birthing Centers, views on extreme natural childbirth... but sweetie... toughen up, your makin s all look bad!
Rating: 
Summary: The Facts Outweigh the Pessimism (Preventive Measures)
Review: Admittedly, this title has a clear tone of pessimism, skepticism, and dispare concerning childbirth in America. Wolf's own childbirth experience has a lot to do with her shaken viewpoint about the ever-growing, male-oriented, profit-making business of delivering babies in our country. She then continues to describe the typical life of a married woman after her child has been born, and this too isn't delivered with naivety. I think that above all, Wolf's depiction of a down-right, hardcore and natural birthing experience from an old-school midwive's perspective is the best reason to read this book. She gives vivid details about a core group of women in a positive birthing atmosphere (on a bus, or at a birthing center) that allows an open-minded reader to embrace birth for its true potential. This book is not pretty, so certain individuals would do better if they didn't read it. If you go into the book expecting to be reassured, than you will no doubt be disappointed. However, I don't believe Wolf is relying on pathos alone to get her points across since she makes clear illustrations with statistics and factual information. Currently, I am seven months pregnant with my first child, and while it may not have been the most happy book to read at this time, it has allowed me to question my personal situation concerning how to proceed with my own childbirth. I have made, based on factual evidence from this book, educated decisions about my birth and labor, rather than facing the situation clueless. I have taken steps to prevent a bad experience by switching to a CNM from my previous Physician who epitomised intervention. (I got the whole monologue from my physician about why episiotome's are needed, for example). Am I a bit paranoid now to deliver at a hospital? Am I a bit paranoid in general? Yes, but I know which questions to ask if intervention should arise, and I know what precautions I am able to take in order to prevent an overall bad birthing experience. Thank you Naomi Wolf.
Rating: 
Summary: An enlightning book
Review: I bought this book while I was expecting my first child. I never really thought of myself as a "feminist" although I believed that I am in charge of my life. This book opened my eyes to a world that I had not realize existed. It traveled from conception to months after a child was born. Not only did it make me more aware of the medical field and the way that they treat women, but it then moved to discuss relationships and the pressures women have. It opened my mind and helped me establish what I was really having issues with.
This book was absolutely wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone, especially those expecting children.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Over The Top
Review: Just so that you are aware, I am not a woman. Now that this fact is out of the way I can tell you that this book was a gift to my wife who is expecting. I also read parts of the book, but could not complete it all. I think that if you have ever read any of her other books they are all probably about the same. What this book gives you is a very negative view of the medical process in giving birth in American. I think what was so interesting is that we live in Europe and a close relative of ours is also expecting in American so we get to see and compare the two different systems at work. The European system is more family friendly, but is not the utopia the author describes, just like the American system is no medieval house of tortures she professes it be. I came away from the book thinking that the author has got to be one of the most spoiled brats ever to become unselfish enough to give birth. I would think the best use of this book would be that of birth control given the extremely negative view she presents. Unless you like to look for the worst in every situation or just like to blame all the worlds' ills on big business then I would stay away from this book. There is enough stress involved with giving birth; you do not need this reactionary diatribe to add to your stress
Rating:
Summary: Food for thought
Review: This is a book I'll be thinking about for a while. The section about how marriages change after the birth of a child was both profoundly depressing and also startling, particularly because it so closely reflects what I have seen in suburbia as an at-home mom. People may not agree with what Ms. Wolf has to say about all the various aspects of pregnancy/childbirth/becoming new parents, but it certainly provides food for thought -- and, I hope, stimulus for action.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all women approaching motherhood
Review: This book tells it like it is for many women. Our culture leads women to believe they should just lie down and allow the medical establishment determine their fate and that of their child. This book reveals some little known facts about that commonly accepted line. Naomi's experience is much like many of the women I have encountered as a labor doula. Many come to me during their second pregnancy to avoid the situations they were put in the first time. I agree with most of what Naomi writes and found her change of political views during the course of her pregnancy to be fascinating. I disagree with the comments made about La Leche League since most chapters are supportive and have helped a great many women breastfeed. I couldn't put this book down and will recommend it to anyone who wants the real story on maternity care in America.
Rating:
Summary: For my Daughters
Review: Although I am 56 years old with two daughters in their 20's, this is the first time I have read a totally honest account of the road through pregnancy and childbirth to motherhood in North America in our time. I recognized so many of my own experiences, ones that had never been given voice even to my best friends, and I was amazed at how little has changed in a generation. MisConceptions contains everything I would tell my daughters about this passage if we had time to share endless Saturday afternoons over coffee. I have always felt conflicted about what expectations I should give my daughters in a still unequal world. Will they do best if they go boldly ahead without fearing the inevitable set-backs, or will they do better if they are forewarned? Holding this book in my hand, I am once again presented with this dilemma. I am profoundly grateful it has been written. I found in it validation of my own experiences. I desperately want my girls to be aware of all the aspects of motherhood when they plan for their futures, yet I don't want to frighten or discourage them. And this is not an entirely optimistic book. It is disturbing and honest. Thank you, Naomi Wolf, for writing it.
Rating:
Summary: Waaaahhh!
Review: What started out with promise and noble intentions (a real alternative to the airbrushed portrait of pregnancy and childbirth that is still being peddled)degenerated into a spoiled pitty party held for and by a wealthy self-proclaimed feminist who ignores and minimizes the ecconomic and racial disparities that still govern women's health care in the United states. While she is whining about doctors versus midwives and drooling over glowing descriptions of yuppie America's deccorating style, it is overlooked that there are women for whom a Doula remains an ecconomic luxury that they simply cannot afford.
In an era of rapidly skyrocketing health care, the directives she put into her plan do not echo the concerns of everywoman who simply wants to find affordable health care, competent and respectful healthcare personnel in that order. Wolf is commonly touted as a feminist voice for my generation, but the blatant lack of attention to the interconnected nature of oppressions (racism, classism, ageism, ableism) that govern the treatment of pregnant women in society is frankly embarassing. The experiences of a few rich Washington DC women are not adequate representation of the complexity of the female experience--either nationally or internationally. No doubt that other women would also like a liberated birthing experience (after all low income women are more likely to end up in public hospitals with much less leverage to insist on their own preferences), but for Wolf's purpose they remain faceless anoynomous entities and the central focus is always on her own neeeds, her own concerns. Additionally, she has either forgotten or does not care that Doris Haire and the Boston Women's Health Collective, among other sources produced early work on women's health and human reproduction that--suprise, found the very biases in the system she now claims to discover. The thoughts expressed in this book are neither original, nor progressive.
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