Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives [Paperback]

Catherine Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2002

Catherine Taylor, a doula (birth assistant) and mother, has written an evocative narrative in which she offers insightful observations of the working lives of midwives and the women who have depended on their skills and strength to help bring their children into the world. This is the perfect companion for parents-to-be and all professionals who are engaged in and witness to the miracle of birth.

"One of the most important books on childbirth...A colorful, anecdotal, and research-supported journey from both the mothers' and midwives' perspectives...A classic." (Pam England, nurse-midwife and author of Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Examining midwife-attended childbirth in contemporary America, Taylor approaches the subject as both a creative journalistic investigator (her articles have appeared in Premiere, Rolling Stone, and Every Baby) and a consumer of the system she reports on (while writing the book, she became pregnant and gave birth). The result is a delightfully readable blend of scholarship, expos‚, and storytelling that is likely to become a classic. An important aspect of this book is Taylor's exploration of the economic and social factors that keep maternity healthcare locked into costly structural problems, block consumer access to appropriate care, and threaten the profession of midwifery. Peggy Vincent's Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife also addresses these issues and comes to similar conclusions. However, since Vincent writes from the perspective of a single midwife, her book offers primarily personal recollection rather than research and investigation and is thus narrower in scope though no less worthy. Taylor's book is essential reading for prospective parents and anyone interested in maternity care or the politics of contemporary healthcare systems. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. Noemie Maxwell, King Cty. Lib. Syst., Issaquah, WA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Catherine Taylor has written for Premiere, Rolling Stone, and Every Baby. Educated at Cornell, Oxford, and Duke universities, she has taught at the University of New Mexico, and is currently the editor of The Harwood Review, a literary magazine based in New Mexico. She is the mother of two, both of whom were born with the assistant of midwives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1st edition (August 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399527885
• ISBN-13: 978-0399527883
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars behind-the-scenes look at the practice of midwifery, May 24, 2003

By 

Carol C. "ccjello" (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives (Paperback)

If you are part of the 99% of American women who choose to give birth in a hospital, attended by a physician, because you think that is the safest way to go, this book may well change your mind, or at least get you thinking about the possible benefits of a more natural, midwife-attended delivery. The author is decidedly pro-midwife; she weaves numerous statistics and stories into the text that underscore the decline of healthy delivery commensurate with the "medicalization" of delivery. For example, the US has the highest rate of hospital/medical deliveries but ranks 22nd in the world in maternal health / infant mortality -- well behind other countries, primarily western European, where home delivery and birth center deliveries are much more common. Other surprises -- according to the author, the World Health Organization recommends home deliveries and birthing center deliveries over hospital deliveries. The rates of C-sections and episiotomies are much, much lower for midwife-attended deliveries. Midwifes generally treat childbirth as something the female body is fully capable of doing on its own, rather than as a medical condition or disability to be treated. And the midwifes interviewed for the book seem to be very respectful of their clients -- assisting the client in her own birth experience rather than making the birth something the midwife choreographs & directs. The author writes about the history of childbirth & delivery and the practice of midwifery, interviews numerous midwifes, and even participates in home births attended by midwifes. At the same time, she discusses her own pregnancy (that is progressing while she is conducting the research for the book) and she trains to become a doula, or birth assistant. The book is gripping and easy to read; it reads fast like a novel -- and the discussions of home births she has attended are page-turners -- but it is also full of factual information and would serve to help prepare a woman for childbirth. In her interviews with midwifes, she discusses the risks to the profession -- insurance company's reluctance to cover home births and midwife fees, even though they're statisfically safer and less expensive than OB-attended hospital births, midwife's difficulty in getting insurance coverage for their practices, pressure on midwifes working in hospital settings to spend less & less time with their clients and to introduce more medications (Pitocin) -- to conform more to the medical model.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best childbirth books, October 3, 2004

By 

Nissa (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives (Paperback)

I read this book when I was about 4 months pregnant for the first time. After reading this book I had a much better idea of what I was looking for.

This book was wonderful to read, helped me really examine what I wanted for my own pregnancy and birth, and gave me insight if I ever decide to go into the childbirth field as a doula or childbirth educator.

This book illustrates the incredible knowledge that midwives have of the female, birthing body.

I had a beautiful, empowering, healing first birth that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

For my second birth I gave birth at home and it was a life changing experience. I would definitely recommend finding a way to have a home birth with a trained midwife.

I recommend this thoughtful, empowering book to all women and people working in pregnancy, labor and childbirth.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real information in a very readable story, August 19, 2002

By 

Jennifer L. West, LM,CPM (Albuquerque, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives (Paperback)

I'm a practicing homebirth midwife, so went right to the 'homebirth' chapter, thinking, "I'll just read this one chapter and then go the beginning of the book and read it 'properly'".
Well, I just kept on reading-did not put the book down! Read to the end and then started at the beginning and read thru to where I started in the middle! Loved the insight, the attention to detail, introduced accurate statistical information in a way that didn't make my brain glaze over and included all the other issues that face a pregnant woman today. Catherine Taylor covers a lot of the concerns, real and fleeting, that most woman have, but never really get to verbalize or talk to anyone about, or at least anyone with unbiased answers! This book helps balance all the fear-mongering, mis-communications and half-truths that surround birthing, will change your presective on how birth is now and what is truly possible; for yourself and in the 'bigger picture'.
Get a copy for yourself and one to give away-you'll grin and nod throughout the whole book.