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Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care
 
 
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Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: artificial oxytocin, physiological childbirth, rising cesarean rate, New York, United States, New Jersey (more...)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to writer and editor Block (Our Bodies, Ourselves), "the United States has the most intense and widespread medical management of birth" in the world, and yet "ranks near the bottom among industrialized countries in maternal and infant mortality." Block shows how, in transforming childbirth into a business, hospitals have turned "procedures and devices developed for the treatment of abnormality" into routine practice, performed for no reason than "speeding up and ordering an unpredictable...process"; for instance, the U.S. cesarean section rate tripled in the 1970s, and has doubled since then. Block looks into a growing contingent of parents-to-be exploring alternatives to the hospital-and the attendant likelihood of medical intervention-by seeking out birthing centers and options for home-birth. Unfortunately, obstacles to these alternatives remain considerable-laws across the U.S. criminalizing or severely restricting the practice of midwifery have led the trained care providers to practice underground in many states-while tort reform has done next to nothing to lower malpractice insurance rates or improve hospital birthing policies. This provocative, highly readable expose raises questions of great consequence for anyone planning to have a baby in U.S., as well as those interested or involved in women's health care.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A gripping expose... Provocative and hotly controversial analysis of a side of reproductive rights feminism seems to have forgot." -- Kirkus Reviews, (Starred Review) 5/15/07

"A stirring discussion of reproductive rights, informed consent, and the rights of the mother vs. the fetus... Recommended." -- Library Journal, 5/15/07

"The book is loaded with interviews, statistics and...some quietly deft storytelling." -- Chicago Reader, 6/29/07

"This is a worthwhile book for anyone who cares about reforming our health-care system--right from the start." -- Kansas City Star, 10/02/07

"[Block] really gets that maternity care is a woman's issue that all people should care about, not just mothers, and she has no agenda through a birth experience or professional work in maternity care. Pushed shines a spotlight on maternity care and asks important questions about the standard practices in America." -- BOLD Book Club, October 2007
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books (June 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0738210730
  • ISBN-13: 978-0738210735
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #461,308 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Jennifer Block
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Jennifer Block Page
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
artificial oxytocin, physiological childbirth, rising cesarean rate, vaginal breech birth, certified professional midwives, physiological birth, maternal request, unassisted birth, breech trial, planned vaginal delivery, planned home births, vaginal breech delivery, vaginal birth, final autopsy report, surgical birth, synthetic oxytocin, repeat cesareans, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, natural childbirth movement, elective cesarean, other midwives, labor induction, breech babies, one obstetrician, primary cesareans
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, New Jersey, World Health Organization, Julia Peters, Claire Peters, New Mexico, Effective Care, Florida Hospital, Childbirth Connection, Ina May Gaskin, North America, Gary Hankins, North Carolina, The Farm, Williams Obstetrics, Angela Carder, Christine Morton, Judith Lothian, Public Citizen, Richard Fain, Andrew Garber, Ashley Dees, Barbara Stratton, Benson Harer
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Customer Reviews

76 Reviews
5 star:
 (66)
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 (6)
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (76 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
167 of 169 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I wish this book came out 3 years ago, September 8, 2007
By Dana R (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
Exactly 3 years ago I walked into one of the finest maternity hospitals in NJ to deliver my first baby. I was low risk - under 30, no complications - and was expected to have a smooth delivery.

11 hours later I was laying in a bed by myself staring at a ceiling, completely shell shocked, and without my baby, husband or family, I was immobilized in a recovery room with a gaping wound in my belly while my new daughter was off in the nursery. I had no idea what went wrong. It seemed that I had simply stopped dilating or "failed to progress."

As I read Jennifer Block's book, I just nodded as it all became very clear - the insistence by the staff that we would just hurry things up a little by performing an amniotomy (breaking my water) when I was still in early labor. That was followed by pitocin (to "really" get things moving), stadol (a narcotic pain reliever), an epidural and finally, a c-section. My labor was simply one of many completely over-managed and over controlled labors in American hospitals. They finally decided that a c-section was the only way to end my labor. I was lead to believe my labor was a "problem" and a "complication" and surgery was the only answer.

I wish this book could become mandatory reading for all women who are planning a hospital delivery. Contrary to recent reports (as discussed in this book), very few women are actually requesting a c-section on a completely voluntary basis. Years ago I was "pushed" by the obstetrical community into an unwanted delivery experience.

Today I am pregnant with my second child. And I am pushing back.
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64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A wake-up call for Americans, June 5, 2007
By Liberty (Liberty, ME United States) - See all my reviews
This engaging journalistic expose was a real eye-opener, and a must-read not just for women, but for anyone considering becoming a parent, or really anyone concerned with the direction health care in the U.S. is headed. The cesarean rate in our country is over 30%, nearly three times that of some European countries. Are our bodies really that different? Somehow, I doubt it. Ms. Block explores the troubling trends that push doctors to perform often uncalled-for major abdominal surgery, and shows how this is harmful both to mothers and babies. With stylish, riveting prose, an exciting first-hand account of traveling "underground" with an illegal midwife, and tales from the operating table, Block skillfully takes stock of the current state of birth in America. Not to be missed.
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48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-read For Any Woman Contemplating Childbirth, July 14, 2007
Not only was this an amazing book packed full of easy-to-understand statistics and little-known information on what hospital birth is like in the US, but it is an absolute page-turner with plenty of gripping real-life stories from all types of people (physicians, nurses, midwives, mothers, lawyers, activists, etc.) with experience in this system.

I used to have a vague idea, before this book, of some of the interventions I would absolutely not allow if I were to give birth in a hospital, but since reading this book and doing some additional research (via other books and internet) my eyes have really been opened. I could never watch TLC's "A Baby Story" the same way again!

I think this book is a must-read for any woman contemplating childbirth. It is such a shame that SO FEW women know that there are options OUTSIDE of the hospital, and that they don't have to be forced by physicians to submit to procedures and interventions (e.g., episiotomies, continuous fetal monitors, cesareans) to which they DO NOT consent.

Read this book (and others) to prepare yourself.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read
I too was one of the many who naively couldn't wait to rush off to hospital as soon as my water broke with my first baby. Read more
Published 8 days ago by A. Pedic

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Reading
Pushed is critical reading for expectant couples (and hopefully a few doctor's will read it too). Too often these days new mothers get pushed down a certain path by the medical... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Mark Spellun

2.0 out of 5 stars Reasearch all birth options and in the end... Choose a healthy baby !
I have to agree with some other reviewers in part. How many people routinely tell their OB/GYN's honest answers about their sexual history? Read more
Published 23 days ago by C. Johnson

5.0 out of 5 stars Every pregnant woman and obstetrician should read this book
While this book does contain the odd credibility-reducing statement (one about burning herbs having turned breech babies particularly made me cringe) the vast majority of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sarah

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading for everyone who cares about women (and babies)
As a long-time labor nurse, I've been terribly alarmed at the climbing rates of interventions and Cesarean births I've witnessed being carried out more and more frequently... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lisa Pontious

5.0 out of 5 stars Just finished reading "Pushed"
I just finished reading this book, and really wish that I would have read it when I was pregnant. I've read about twenty books about childbirth, and this is definitely the best... Read more
Published 2 months ago by monika

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm placing this here to combat the other 1 star reviews
First, as far as the safety of Homebirths, you can find your own data supporting home birth safety over hospital. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ruth Phy

4.0 out of 5 stars Biased and strident, but still a must-read
I hesitated on how many stars to give this book. In terms of the importance of this info for anyone involved in a pregnancy (mother, father, doctors, nurses, etc. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. E. Berigtold

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I had read this one sooner
Although I am unable to have #2, I wish I had read this book before delivering my one and only baby. Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Talalay

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for a Healthy Birth
I read this book after the birth of my first child. I had a highly medical birth that luckily did not end in a C-section, but boy was I close. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mariah Sweet

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