Friday, November 30, 2007
book report: Baby Catcher
Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
by Peggy Vincent
I enjoyed this book so, so much! One of my classmates recommended it to me while we were in our labor & delivery clinicals in nursing school. I was fascinated and moved by the author's description of her work as a nurse-midwife. I had several realizations while reading this book: I am not cut out to be a labor & delivery nurse; it's a shame that the medical establishment is reabsorbing the homebirth movement; I really don't want to have a medicalized birth when I have my own child; and I feel like my labor & delivery clinical experience was a freakin' joke.
I'm not cut out to be an L&D nurse because I feel too inexperienced. I know that the author of this book went into the field without having birthed her own children yet, but I really don't feel I could do that. I'm also not sure that I want to become such a specialized sort of nurse, especially considering my anti-medicalized birth rant that is forthcoming.
Part of what Vincent writes about in this book is her experience with being an L&D nurse in San Francisco during the 1970s, where she met women who wanted to take charge of their own birth experiences and refused drugs, IVs, and confinement to bed. She was frustrated with (mostly male) doctors who imposed their concepts of how labor "should" progress on women in labor. Most memorably, one of the doctors told Vincent that a normal birth was always a retrospective diagnosis, and that he considered birth to be complicated and unsafe until proven otherwise. Inspired by these women, Vincent went to midwifery school and started her own business as a midwife and delivered thousands of babies at home.
But as medical malpractice cases increased and insurance carriers refused to insure nurse-midwives, practitioners like Vincent found themselves unable to continue their businesses. Vincent is upfront about the fact that she continued to deliver babies for friends and previous clients, but informed them that she was uninsured ("going bare"). There are still midwives available in some places, such as here in Seattle, but medical insurers are making it more and more difficult.
Which brings me to my personal preferences... I am well aware that I have never given birth, so all of this is basically a**talk. But it's well-educated a**talk. When I think "hospital birth," I think IV, continuous fetal monitoring, contraction monitor, limited ability to get up and move around, doctors wanting to deliver the baby in a certain timeframe and on a certain schedule, encouragement to use narcotics or an epidural, nothing to eat or drink throughout the entire labor, episitomy, 30% or higher rate of caesarean section, and delivery flat on my back with my feet in the air. When I think "midwife birth," (and let's be clear, I have no intention of giving birth at home, I would much prefer to go to a birth center) I think eating & drinking what I want, intermittment fetal heart monitoring, no drugs, no IVs, ability to move around, get in the shower or tub, get down on the floor if it feels right (knowing what I know, I would NEVER get down on the floor in the hospital!), and laboring at my own pace in the positions of my choice. This sounds way more comfortable to me. I fundamentally trust that my body will know what to do and do it well, and I don't need a hospital for that. If something were to go wrong, there are more hospitals in Seattle than you can shake a stick at, and I could be transferred by ambulance in a very short time.
Finally, I feel really let down by my clinical experience after reading about Vincent's student nurse experiences. I did witness one baby's arrival during my clinicals, but it was a c-section and the mother was not in hard labor at the time the decision was made. I didn't see any women in serious labor. I didn't see any vaginal births. I didn't even care for any postpartum women who had had vaginal births, so I didn't even get to see what stiches that repair lacerations look like. I thought it was going to be a really educational, uplifting quarter and it just wasn't. All I learned in the hands-on way was that I really don't want to give birth in a hospital.
My nurse opinions aside, this is an excellent book and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to read honest and open descriptions of lots of different births, including a few that didn't go well. Plus there's a bonus recipe in the back of the book for caramels that sounds really yummy. And there's a lot of resources for additional information - articles, websites, and other books.
by Peggy Vincent
I enjoyed this book so, so much! One of my classmates recommended it to me while we were in our labor & delivery clinicals in nursing school. I was fascinated and moved by the author's description of her work as a nurse-midwife. I had several realizations while reading this book: I am not cut out to be a labor & delivery nurse; it's a shame that the medical establishment is reabsorbing the homebirth movement; I really don't want to have a medicalized birth when I have my own child; and I feel like my labor & delivery clinical experience was a freakin' joke.
I'm not cut out to be an L&D nurse because I feel too inexperienced. I know that the author of this book went into the field without having birthed her own children yet, but I really don't feel I could do that. I'm also not sure that I want to become such a specialized sort of nurse, especially considering my anti-medicalized birth rant that is forthcoming.
Part of what Vincent writes about in this book is her experience with being an L&D nurse in San Francisco during the 1970s, where she met women who wanted to take charge of their own birth experiences and refused drugs, IVs, and confinement to bed. She was frustrated with (mostly male) doctors who imposed their concepts of how labor "should" progress on women in labor. Most memorably, one of the doctors told Vincent that a normal birth was always a retrospective diagnosis, and that he considered birth to be complicated and unsafe until proven otherwise. Inspired by these women, Vincent went to midwifery school and started her own business as a midwife and delivered thousands of babies at home.
But as medical malpractice cases increased and insurance carriers refused to insure nurse-midwives, practitioners like Vincent found themselves unable to continue their businesses. Vincent is upfront about the fact that she continued to deliver babies for friends and previous clients, but informed them that she was uninsured ("going bare"). There are still midwives available in some places, such as here in Seattle, but medical insurers are making it more and more difficult.
Which brings me to my personal preferences... I am well aware that I have never given birth, so all of this is basically a**talk. But it's well-educated a**talk. When I think "hospital birth," I think IV, continuous fetal monitoring, contraction monitor, limited ability to get up and move around, doctors wanting to deliver the baby in a certain timeframe and on a certain schedule, encouragement to use narcotics or an epidural, nothing to eat or drink throughout the entire labor, episitomy, 30% or higher rate of caesarean section, and delivery flat on my back with my feet in the air. When I think "midwife birth," (and let's be clear, I have no intention of giving birth at home, I would much prefer to go to a birth center) I think eating & drinking what I want, intermittment fetal heart monitoring, no drugs, no IVs, ability to move around, get in the shower or tub, get down on the floor if it feels right (knowing what I know, I would NEVER get down on the floor in the hospital!), and laboring at my own pace in the positions of my choice. This sounds way more comfortable to me. I fundamentally trust that my body will know what to do and do it well, and I don't need a hospital for that. If something were to go wrong, there are more hospitals in Seattle than you can shake a stick at, and I could be transferred by ambulance in a very short time.
Finally, I feel really let down by my clinical experience after reading about Vincent's student nurse experiences. I did witness one baby's arrival during my clinicals, but it was a c-section and the mother was not in hard labor at the time the decision was made. I didn't see any women in serious labor. I didn't see any vaginal births. I didn't even care for any postpartum women who had had vaginal births, so I didn't even get to see what stiches that repair lacerations look like. I thought it was going to be a really educational, uplifting quarter and it just wasn't. All I learned in the hands-on way was that I really don't want to give birth in a hospital.
My nurse opinions aside, this is an excellent book and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to read honest and open descriptions of lots of different births, including a few that didn't go well. Plus there's a bonus recipe in the back of the book for caramels that sounds really yummy. And there's a lot of resources for additional information - articles, websites, and other books.
Labels: book reports, nursing
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I have this book on my shelf, but seeing that I am on school break I am trying to also take a break from midwifery stuff.
I just wanted to comment on your thoughts about going into L&D without having had children yourself. I don't have children, and have been in OB nursing for over 7 years. I don't feel being childless (thus far) makes me less of an OB nurse. One of the best OB nurses I've worked with never had kids; she just retired after 31 years on my unit!
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I just wanted to comment on your thoughts about going into L&D without having had children yourself. I don't have children, and have been in OB nursing for over 7 years. I don't feel being childless (thus far) makes me less of an OB nurse. One of the best OB nurses I've worked with never had kids; she just retired after 31 years on my unit!
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