Birth Matters: A Midwife's Manifesta [Paperback]

Ina May Gaskin (Author), Ani DiFranco (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: March 22, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1583229272 | ISBN-13: 978-1583229279 | Edition: 1

Renowned for her practice's exemplary results and low intervention rates, Ina May Gaskin has gained international notoriety for promoting natural birth. She is a much-beloved leader of a movement that seeks to stop the hyper-medicalization of birth—which has lead to nearly a third of hospital births in America to be cesarean sections—and renew confidence in a woman's natural ability to birth.
Upbeat and informative, Gaskin asserts that the way in which women become mothers is a women's rights issue, and it is perhaps the act that most powerfully exhibits what it is to be instinctually human. Birth Matters is a spirited manifesta showing us how to trust women, value birth, and reconcile modern life with a process as old as our species.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A stand-out by Ina May Gaskin...elegantly covers the normalcy and power of birth, includes birth stories, and makes sound arguments for more support and less intervention. An essential acquisition."—Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Ina May Gaskin is such an important figure in the effort to bring a more kind birthing process back into the mainstream, so check out her book if you'd like to learn more about having a blissful, powerful birthing experience." —Alicia Silverstone, The Kind Life

About the Author

Called "the mother of authentic midwifery," INA MAY GASKIN has practiced for nearly forty years at The Farm Midwifery Center, which is noted for its low rates of intervention, morbidity and mortality. She is the only midwife for whom an obstetric maneuver has been named (the Gaskin maneuver). She lives in Tennessee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press; 1 edition (March 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583229272
• ISBN-13: 978-1583229279
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Medical Books > Nursing > Issues, Trends & Roles
  • #28 in Books > Medical Books > Nursing > Women's Health, Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • #86 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Women's Health > Pregnancy & Childbirth

More About the Author

Ina May Gaskin is founder and director of the Farm Midwifery Center, located near Summertown, Tennessee. She has lectured all over the world at midwifery conferences and at medical schools, both to students and to faculty. The Farm is noted for its low rates of intervention, morbidity and mortality. Recently selected as a Visiting Fellow at Morse College of Yale University, Ina May also teaches midwifery, writes books and articles for medical journals and edits her quarterly journal, The Birth Gazette.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 90 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Birth March 9, 2011

By Chloe

Format:Paperback

I had my baby at the Farm Midwifery Center in August 2010 and my story is included in this amazing book.
My husband, our daughter and I went to Ina May's book signing in Brooklyn on Sunday. It was wonderful. Since we came home, I have not been able to put the book down and it opened my eyes to the beautiful reality that I was privileged enough to live and conversely to the horror that I managed to escape....
When I decided to give birth at The Farm I did not have any knowledge about birth. The pregnancy had not been planned and I always thought that I would have children much later. I knew nothing of the typical birth experience of todays moms in America. What I did know was that I was not very comfortable with my OBGYN nor with the hospital where most of my prenatal care took place.
My OBGYN seemed to me at the time like she was bored by "normality" and was only excited when abnormalities came up. When a blood test came back positive for toxoplasmosis I saw a flash of excitement in her eyes where I would have wanted to see compassion. This did not sit well with me. Topped with a lot of pressure to have sonograms and tests of all sorts (I reluctantly had the nuchal translucency but stubbornly refused the Quad test which infuriated the doctor). At the end of the day I was also confronted with huge medical bills which I was paying out of pocket because no insurance would cover me for cause of "preexisting condition". I was utterly shocked. Was pregnancy an illness?
I quit the OBGYN and had the rest of my prenatal care at the hospital for $15 a visit (this fee was based on my income). I really disliked everything at the hospital but at least I could afford it. However, I knew that I would never be able to give birth there and that if forced to, I would probably be bitter about it for the rest of my life.
I have always been wary of hospitals for a number of reasons but the most important one is that hospital staff never look healthy. Also, I always associated hospitals with illness.

I thought that these circumstances were unique to me. I thought that my OBGYN was sadistic but that this surely must be an exception to the rule and that the majority of doctors were compassionate and grateful to have the wonderful job of bringing babies into the world. I thought that the hospital was scary but that no doubt all other hospitals would be much more appealing. I thought that not being insured was the cause of my not having the choice of care I wanted.

Now that I am reading "Birth Matters" I finally understand that being insured or not has nothing to do with the type of care you get. I understood that most OBGYN are just like the one I went to, and that most hospitals are indeed scary. I understood that not even money or insurance protects you from being a guinea pig.

I was unaware of all of this when I came to visit Carol Nelson at the Farm. All I knew was that I liked her immediately, I liked the Farm and the idea of being surrounded by nature (as opposed to being in NYC) and even better: I could afford it. It seemed like the perfect, logical thing to do. I had no idea how incredibly lucky I was.

The birth of my daughter was everything I had hoped for, but I took it for granted. A female giving birth goes without saying. What could be more normal? It hit me as I was reading other women's birth stories in "Birth Matters" that some women chose a natural birth because of a previous bad experience or after conducting extensive research on the matter. They were thorough and critical and made a deliberate choice. I in comparison feel like I got lucky and followed my gut. I expected a wonderful birth. I did not realize that it was an exception in this country.

Today, after reading "Birth Matters", I am absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude. Today I know I had more than a wonderful birth, I had a perfect birth. I thought Carol was a great midwife doing a great job, but today I know she is an angel operating against extraordinary odds.

I would like to say thank you to Carol, Ina May and all of the Midwives of the Farm doing what you are doing. May you be blessed with a long and healthy lives. I know that the babies whose first vision are your face and whose first touch are your touch are blessed.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Discussion. Birth Does Matter March 21, 2011

By mlp

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have enjoyed reading all of Ina May's books over the last few years, but this one is by far her best. It is an excellent and up to date (2010) discussion of the current issues related to women's health and birthing. I appreciate her succinct and scientific discourse on the topic and it is quite evident through her writing that she is an expert in her field. Having read the majority of her works in the past, there was some repeat information. This, however, is necessary for those that have never read her material in the past and is presented with some new insights. My first reaction was that this book should be used as a text in Women's Studies courses. I highly recommend this book for every man, woman, and experts in the field of obstetrics/midwifery. A very empowering book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good read for anyone April 29, 2011

By C. Qori

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is very interesting reading, even if you're not expecting a baby. Gaskin gives a little of her own history as a midwife and goes into some detail about the history of midwifery, especially in the United States. As an RN, mother, and childbirth educator, I thought I knew more about midwifery and obstetrics than I did. Gaskin's book gave me a whole new perspective. Mainly, physicians/obstetricians are trained as surgeons to deal with birth problems. Most of them never have a chance during training to observe a natural, un-medicated childbirth, so they go out into practice expecting the worst, that most deliveries will require medical intervention. Common sense would tell us this couldn't be the case or the human race would have died out long before the development of modern science, but I and many of my peers have bought into the belief that hospital births are the "safest." Gaskin makes a good case that for healthy mothers and babies this may not be true. Although her opinion is admittedly biased, she presents plenty of facts and published evidence to support her position and is pretty convincing.
Another reason this book would be of interest to a general adult audience is that Gaskin examines the politics of childbirth. Even though I grew up during the women's movement of the 70s, I was not aware of how negatively pregnancy and birth were viewed by many of the movement's early leaders nor how this negativity may have influenced a generation of young women. As a business person in the 80s and 90s, I did watch childbirth become an important loss-leader and/or profit center for many hospitals and saw the rise and fall of all the birth centers in my community, as well as the opening and closing of the nurse midwife program at the state university. I understood the profit/loss and cost containment principles at work, but not the larger societal impacts these changes would cause. Gaskin makes a strong case for continued consumer support for midwives and birth centers, for the good of women and society, for better health and stronger communities. Perhaps healthcare reform will provide some momentum for this trend.
The women's stories included in the book are inspirational. I only wish there were more, or an entire volume of just the birth stories. The personal accounts of joyful, painless or almost painless births were truly eye opening and made the strongest case for natural childbirth. So many women I teach are really terrified of giving birth, even or especially those with prior experience; I wish they all would read some of Gaskin's mothers' stories to learn how empowering and wonderful childbirth can be. I wish I had read them before having children. In fact, Gaskin makes the whole childbirth experience sound so wonderful, it almost makes me want to run out and have a few more babies.
I would highly recommend this book as good reading for anyone, an inspiration for anyone who's pregnant, and a requirement for anyone working in obstetrics, labor and delivery. It only presents one point of view, so it's not the only reading I would recommend, but it should be on every reading list.