Open Season: A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and VBAC in the 90s (Critical Studies in Education & Culture) [Paperback]

Nancy Wainer Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Critical Studies in Education & Culture | Publication Date: September 30, 1991

For childbirth activist and birth counselor Nancy Wainer Cohen, this book is the "sibling" to Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention & Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (Bergin & Garvey 1983) her critically-acclaimed expose on America's growing reliance on cesarean sections. Open Season provides fresh insights and new information on the subject, offering guidance to childbearing couples, educators, health professionals and scholars who value the natural path of childbirth. Readers will find this book timely, informative, funny irreverent, and extremely readable. Cohen's intimate writing style presents a compendium of knowledge on childbirth in the fashion of a "personal letter". Her aim: to lower America's shockingly high cesarean section rate, to increase the number of VBACs, and most importantly, to re-awaken women to the positive nature of pregnancy and childbirth. To help the reader gain a full understanding of the disparity between what childbirth has been turned into vs. what it truly is, Cohen not only discusses the most obvious violation--cesarean section--but also shares her knowledge about other unnecessary interventions, such as fetal monitoring, intravenous feeding, and drug administration. Happily, the reality of hospital birth is contrasted to the beauty of natural childbirth. Despite its critical look at the medical establishment, Open Season is a hopeful book. It is valuable to the general reader because it is informative and enlightening, and indispensable to women because it instills confidence in their ability to birth naturally, and reminds them that birth is a positive, empowering experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With her first book, Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention and Vaginal Birth After Cesarean ( LJ 3/15/83), Cohen and Lois J. Estner raised important questions about American childbirth practices, particularly the heavy reliance on cesarean sections. Unfortunately, Open Season falls short of Silent Knife 's standards and adds little new information. It lacks substance, but is full of what Cohen calls "bursts of anger and more than a few irreverent or 'uncalled for' remarks." Too often, Cohen states statistics or "facts" without referencing. She weakens her credibility by stating she did not need to consult medical literature, as "I had been pregnant and I had given birth. I was already an expert." She pushes emotional analogies too far, likening American obstetrics to hunting animals. Acquisition dollars are better spent replacing worn copies of Silent Knife .
- KellyJo Houtz Parish, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City Sch. of Medicine Lib.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Obstetricians would be wise to read this book before their patients get their hands on it. The rate of unnecessary cesarean sections would be significantly reduced if Open Season were required reading for everyone taking childbirth education classes. Nancy Cohen's witty handling of a very serious subject may well be a turning point in American obstetric care.”–Doris Haire, Chair Committee on Maternal & Child Health Former Chair, National Women's Health Network

“Just as Immaculate Deception was the expose of birth in the 70s, and Silent Knife in the 80s, Open Season will be the wake-up call and rallying point for women in the 90s . . . Women pregnant for the first time, experienced mothers, childbirth educators, midwives, nurses and doctors--no one can read this book and remain the same. Thank goodness!”–Rahima Baldwin Author of Special Delivery and Founder of Informed Homebirth

“As an obstetrician, I am frequently called upon to make, or influence, decisions that will help to insure the health and well-being of both mother and baby. With Silent Knife, and now with Open Season, you cause me to continually reevaluate my preconceived ideas, and I am grateful to you for the opportunity.”–Leo Sorger, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

“After Silent Knife, after my own two VBACs, after years of spearheading the Canadian VBAC movement, I honestly thought I had no more tears to shed over cesarean section and VBAC. Nancy, you've done it again. With Open Season, you have helped me discover new depths and soar to new heights. Don't ever stop writing!”–Caroline Sufrin Disler Founder and Director, VBAC/AVAC Canada and Cesarean Birth Committee, Ontario Ministry of Health

“Oh, Nancy. What a profound message to women! . . . You have given us back our voices so we can own our own births and know the depths of our selves.”–Heather Laier Midwife, homebirth after two cesareans

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 438 pages
• Publisher: Bergin & Garvey Trade; 1 edition (September 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897892720
• ISBN-13: 978-0897892728
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,869,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars C-sections Rise to 22 percent in the States, June 26, 2001

By 

Robbin Whachell (Miami, Fl. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open Season: A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and VBAC in the 90s (Critical Studies in Education & Culture) (Paperback)

In the May, 2001 issue of "Parent" magazine, an article states that the c-section rate has risen to 22 percent. Why do ob's prefer to do sections? This is an alarming rate that cannot be ignored. This book helped me. I had a cesarean my first birth and this book helped give me courage to birth my next 3 children as VBAC's in my home, along with a good midwife. I've met the author when she visited our city on a speaking engagement and she is the salt of the earth. Although she may come across angry at times, she comes from her heart. AND for gosh sakes...these women are being cut up and having their God given rights stripped from them! By the current statistics, we still have a problem here people!! I had hoped this book would be out of date by now, but in reference again to the May article, not much has changed. Read the book. Be informed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book, Wonderful Woman, November 13, 2002

By 

Jenn Thomas "Eclectic freak" (DFW Area, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Season: A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and VBAC in the 90s (Critical Studies in Education & Culture) (Paperback)

Nancy Wainer Cohen is THE pioneer of VBAC in the United States. Thanks to her activism in this area, Once a c-section, always a c-section no longer applies.

This book is a marvelous collection of thoughts, insights, experiences, and tools for helping women avoid cesarean, either primary or secondary, and is well worth the reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Thoughtful, March 2, 2003

By 

Mary Miner "mbminer" (Boxford, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Season: A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and VBAC in the 90s (Critical Studies in Education & Culture) (Paperback)

I know Nancy, and this is an example of how seriously she takes her support of women through the birthing process. She is wise, bright, clever, strong, and tells the truth, just as this book does. She will give you that same support if you are one of the lucky people she "midwives" through labor, delivery, and the life that comes after.