A friend at school handed me this book this morning. My first thought was that it was way too hippie dippy for me. It was originally written in the 1970's and the pictures in the book are all of women with long straight hair and men with dirty long hair and beards. The book is written Ina May Gaskin, one of the founders of modern midwifery, who started practicing with no experience as part of a traveling commune of school bus campers! They later settle in Tennessee and focus their community around the concept of Acts 2:44-45.
After closer reading however, I am hooked on their stories! It's fascinating to read about these women who are learning as they go and supporting each other through a process that is seen as a natural extension of being a woman. This first part of the book focuses on how birth can be a natural, non-medical, family centered experience. I love the idea of that!
I'm not sure I'll read the second part of the book, which is a guide for midwives with lots of gross illustrations, but the first part which gives detailed stories of many different births is fascinating. I'm feeling very empowered!
P.S. - Don't worry, I'm still planning to have the baby in a hospital. I'm just glad now that I'm going with a midwife! The book does talk about things that go wrong and at time they need doctors to help and even loose some mothers and babies. It's enough of a warning to make me glad that I'll have the NICU down the hall, but this too, is seen as part of the natural way of things.
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