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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Medical content
As soon as she started describing the contractions as "rushes" I was done. Having experienced two natural labors I can tell you that contractions feel a heck of a lot more painful than "rushes". I'm convinced that there was pretty liberal illicit drug use that was not acknowledged in this book. I think that's unfair to women who are considering unmedicated birth in the hospital setting because it sets them up with unrealistic expectations of how labor will feel.
emotional
hopeful
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
At the very start of the book, I felt so emotional reading it. I think it was page 7 that made me tear up by her story of connecting with a monkey. I also really enjoyed the personal birthing stories, to hear a new narrative that wasn't fear driven (for the most part). I will say though, it did feel like most of the stories were within one mindset, that birthing is "psychedelic".
It did take longer than anticipated to get through the book and had to skip over the technical portions of pre/post natal care as the library couldn't renew it any longer haha but otherwise will definitely reread it when it is more applicable to my life.
It did take longer than anticipated to get through the book and had to skip over the technical portions of pre/post natal care as the library couldn't renew it any longer haha but otherwise will definitely reread it when it is more applicable to my life.
I imagine that if I considered myself "spiritual" in any way, I'd be another 5-star reviewer. But I am a skeptic, a scientist, and an atheist -- basically, the opposite of spiritual.
My Kindle notes turned from "ugh" (the Buddhist monk rolling around in the pink baby blanket... a photo of a wise older man in a white coat and stethoscope punctuating a story about God helping out midwives) to curses when one mother says that she, her husband, and Ina May "prayed" over a blue, motionless baby while someone ran to get Ina May's husband, who did some goddamned CPR to finally start saving that kid's brain function.
My midwife recommended I read this to prepare for my second birth, citing positive birth stories. But I must read too much between the lines. Gaskin's own extremely premature baby died, apparently never seen by medical professionals, as Gaskin diagnosed him with "probably" something or other.
Having given birth once, I straight up don't believe another gal who says she didn't feel any pain and was thrilled to have 30 people watching. Even if that was really her experience (sure it was), no amount of spiritual midwifery could make it mine.
I do appreciate that Ina May Gaskin has helped improve the way childbirth can happen in America. The ongoing theme that childbirth takes the time it takes is extremely resonant to me, after a doctor rushed my first birth (she complained so I could hear it twice that my 20-hour labor, precisely on my due date, was making her late for other appointments, before deciding I "needed" a vacuum extraction). And as a woman-centered story of Vietnam-era counter-culture, I suspect I could enjoy this book immensely.
But the "spiritual" part of this book has nearly scared me off the midwifery part. My midwife seems like a very responsible person who would send me for a C-section if I really needed one. But this book, instead of being frank about when surgery and advanced medical care result in a much healthier baby, seems to gloss over the long-term outcomes for babies born not breathing in the hands of people who consider prayer an important part of the solution.
My Kindle notes turned from "ugh" (the Buddhist monk rolling around in the pink baby blanket... a photo of a wise older man in a white coat and stethoscope punctuating a story about God helping out midwives) to curses when one mother says that she, her husband, and Ina May "prayed" over a blue, motionless baby while someone ran to get Ina May's husband, who did some goddamned CPR to finally start saving that kid's brain function.
My midwife recommended I read this to prepare for my second birth, citing positive birth stories. But I must read too much between the lines. Gaskin's own extremely premature baby died, apparently never seen by medical professionals, as Gaskin diagnosed him with "probably" something or other.
Having given birth once, I straight up don't believe another gal who says she didn't feel any pain and was thrilled to have 30 people watching. Even if that was really her experience (sure it was), no amount of spiritual midwifery could make it mine.
I do appreciate that Ina May Gaskin has helped improve the way childbirth can happen in America. The ongoing theme that childbirth takes the time it takes is extremely resonant to me, after a doctor rushed my first birth (she complained so I could hear it twice that my 20-hour labor, precisely on my due date, was making her late for other appointments, before deciding I "needed" a vacuum extraction). And as a woman-centered story of Vietnam-era counter-culture, I suspect I could enjoy this book immensely.
But the "spiritual" part of this book has nearly scared me off the midwifery part. My midwife seems like a very responsible person who would send me for a C-section if I really needed one. But this book, instead of being frank about when surgery and advanced medical care result in a much healthier baby, seems to gloss over the long-term outcomes for babies born not breathing in the hands of people who consider prayer an important part of the solution.
This book helped me immensely in my journey of preparing to give birth naturally with no drugs.
First things first, all women and birth professionals need to read this book!!!!!!!!!!
I think that in the modern world of medicalised birth and pregnancy it is so important that books like this are read by as many people as possible. Birth is a feminist issue and now more than ever women are being forced to have medicalised, heartless births where professionals simply don’t care about the mental well-being of the woman!
The birth stories at the beginning are really inspiring and show how birth isn’t just a painful obstacle but an empowering journey and the information later in the book is useful for making informed decisions especially considering how biased many medical professionals can be.
Some people might find the hippy language a bit confusing and off putting, but I really enjoyed it. One note is that this book was published a while ago so some information may be a little out of date.
Follow @amythebookworm for more insightful reviews
I think that in the modern world of medicalised birth and pregnancy it is so important that books like this are read by as many people as possible. Birth is a feminist issue and now more than ever women are being forced to have medicalised, heartless births where professionals simply don’t care about the mental well-being of the woman!
The birth stories at the beginning are really inspiring and show how birth isn’t just a painful obstacle but an empowering journey and the information later in the book is useful for making informed decisions especially considering how biased many medical professionals can be.
Some people might find the hippy language a bit confusing and off putting, but I really enjoyed it. One note is that this book was published a while ago so some information may be a little out of date.
Follow @amythebookworm for more insightful reviews
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I swore by Ina May's Guide to Childbirth during my first pregnancy so to say this book was a disappointment would be a vast understatement. The first third was birth stories from the Farm that discussed the spiritual nature of childbirth. Despite some silly, hippie-dippie colloquial language, I enjoyed it. The rest of the book was written for midwives as almost a how-to. I got bored with all the scientific language and reading about diseases, birth defects, etc that were not relevant to me.
My biggest complaint, however, was the organization of the book, it didn't feel like one cohesive text, but a few different childbirth-related books that had been chopped up and forced together against their will. Ina May then ended the book on a super negative note sharing two particularly horrible hospital birth stories illustrating the uncompassionate nature of doctors. It was altogether bizarre.
My biggest complaint, however, was the organization of the book, it didn't feel like one cohesive text, but a few different childbirth-related books that had been chopped up and forced together against their will. Ina May then ended the book on a super negative note sharing two particularly horrible hospital birth stories illustrating the uncompassionate nature of doctors. It was altogether bizarre.
Couldn't get very far through this book - I'm sure it's helpful to some people, but after being told to read it for 4 years during my midwifery degree, I was very underwhelmed and couldn't get past the hippy language.