Rebounding from Childbirth

Rating:
Summary: someone should write this book, but....
Review: (...) I think there is a desperate need for a treatment of this topic, and this book isn't that bad in many ways. The author knows her subject, it is interesting to read, and ways to deal with anger and dissapointment are found throughout.

But I finally threw this book away after a couple of months because I found so many things annoying. I'm sorry, but it is the attitude of the author. We all work through things in our own way, but her talk about chewing out her husband as a release for anger (with minimal apology), telling him at one point that she really didn't miss him yet (after about a week away from him and baby)...the overall impression I got was "wow, this is one incredibly selfish woman." Some would say "oh, people always say that about women when they pay attention to themselves instead of someone else." True. But there is a difference between nurturing self-confidence/being at peace with yourself among others, and saying all the time "but what about ME?" without considering others' feelings. I'm sorry, but all the stories about her personal relationships really turned me off.

Rating:
Summary: The Only Book of its Kind
Review: I had a very difficult childbirth (back labor, young inexperienced doctor AND nurse, long, LONG labor, botched epidural led to general anesthesia for my emergency c-section, etc.).

For months I looked and looked to find something that would address my lingering feelings of loss and trauma. This book is the only one that addresses post traumatic stress after an especially difficult childbirth.

I guess the biggest thing it did for me is showed me I wasn't alone, and I wasn't crazy!

I can't say it "cured" me, but definitely worth the read if you're struggling with your birth experience.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I thought this was a great book for those of us with negative feelings of our birth experiences. Some real truths are dealt with here and I felt better reading about situations and emotions like my own. The book helped me realize that what I was feeling and people's reactions to my feelings were not at all uncommon. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to recover from a negative experience and feels that no one understands. I am so glad I found it!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I thought this was a great book for those of us with negative feelings of our birth experiences. Some real truths are dealt with here and I felt better reading about situations and emotions like my own. The book helped me realize that what I was feeling and people's reactions to my feelings were not at all uncommon. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to recover from a negative experience and feels that no one understands. I am so glad I found it!

Rating:
Summary: Not very well written or helpful
Review: Perhaps if I read this book after my first birth, I might look at it differently, but I read it after my last birth and I felt left with the thought afterwards of "now what". After 3 difficult births, I had already gone through a lot of grief, research, and personal thought before we had our 4th child nearly a year ago. Despite doing everything I could do to have a good birth experience, it was an extremely difficult one. I do not plan on more children (nor did I before my last birth). This book, along with other books of this subject (related to cesarean trauma/birth trauma/VBAC issues) puts a lot of emphasis of planning for a "next birth". For many people who grieve because of a birth trauma (i.e. excess pain and suffering whether cesarean or vaginal, prolonged separation from baby due to health issues, a loss of child), it may be our last birth and while I'm pleased the author's second birth was a good experience, not all of us will have that option. What I needed was a book to help me come to terms with my experiences and integrate it into who I am, not something that seemed to gear so much toward a future birth. Traumatic births are life-altering experiences, but some of us do not get another chance. This book is necessary and I would recommend to anyone who is planning more children with a past difficult birth or loss, but I wouldn't recommend to anyone who knows that their traumatic experience will be their last birth experience.

Rating:
Summary: A need for this book, but will not serve all
Review: Perhaps if I read this book after my first birth, I might look at it differently, but I read it after my last birth and I felt left with the thought afterwards of "now what". After 3 difficult births, I had already gone through a lot of grief, research, and personal thought before we had our 4th child nearly a year ago. Despite doing everything I could do to have a good birth experience, it was an extremely difficult one. I do not plan on more children (nor did I before my last birth). This book, along with other books of this subject (related to cesarean trauma/birth trauma/VBAC issues) puts a lot of emphasis of planning for a "next birth". For many people who grieve because of a birth trauma (i.e. excess pain and suffering whether cesarean or vaginal, prolonged separation from baby due to health issues, a loss of child), it may be our last birth and while I'm pleased the author's second birth was a good experience, not all of us will have that option. What I needed was a book to help me come to terms with my experiences and integrate it into who I am, not something that seemed to gear so much toward a future birth. Traumatic births are life-altering experiences, but some of us do not get another chance. This book is necessary and I would recommend to anyone who is planning more children with a past difficult birth or loss, but I wouldn't recommend to anyone who knows that their traumatic experience will be their last birth experience.

Rating:
Summary: Not very well written or helpful
Review: This book confronts the reality that a difficult childbirth can impact a woman but it fails to help in any other way. The author focuses too much on the specifics of the difficult births featured in the book without doing a good job of looking at the bigger goal of helping any woman who had a difficult childbirth overcome the experience. I found it too hard to relate to the women featured - everyone's experience is different, even traumatic experiences. A better approach would be to take the focus off personal stories as anyone reading this book likely has replayed her own traumatic experience over and over and is seeking to overcome it rather than read a play by play of yet another bad time giving birth. I think a book about common reactions to a difficult delivery (such as anxiety) and how to deal with them would be more helpful.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, sensitive, kind treatment of birth trauma
Review: This book represents one-of-a-kind treatment of the emotional havoc that a traumatic birth can have on a mother, and in turn her partner and baby. It is particularly effective in utilizing the birth stories of three women (including the author herself), which come from a spectrum of birth-traumatic experiences: the unnecessary cesearean, the absolutely necessary cesearean, and the highly manipulated vaginal birth. Through the accounts of these three women, a pathway is shown for many to follow in coming to terms with their own birth trauma. Perhaps the most commendable aspect of Madsen's treatment of the subject is that she choses to acknowledge birth trauma and the possible depression that follows as something other than "just hormonal," and even makes a good case for birth trauma being a particular instance of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Besides the much-appreciated acknowledgment (to this reader, at any rate) that birth trauma is not merely unjustified self-pity, Madsen provides very concrete ways of coming to terms with what has happened and pushing on with life. Each chapter has "journal topics" for women to think, write or talk about. She also includes an entire chapter, "Creative Tools for Recovery," which details several more pathways, including art, writing, storytelling, dreams, bodywork, among others.

Not only is this book a must-read for any woman who has had a less than ideal birth, it would be highly recommended to people who have contact with new moms, including partners (who may have their own birth stress as well), doctors, nurses, midwives, doulas, counselors, and so forth.