Birth Stories: Mystery, Power, and Creation

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From her vantage point as a birth attendant, the author recounts the birth experiences of 20 different women. The reader learns that there are no "right" or "wrong" ways to give birth. In fact, the author shows how satisfying it can be for women to exercise their own power of choice in the birth process instead of yielding to unnecessary technological and medical interventions. Birth, she says, is a process of wellness, not illness. Hence, most women don't need medication to help them deal with normal birth pains if they yield to the strength within their own bodies, and if they have the proper support during labour. When women give birth in a comfortable setting of their choice, the medical wrongs against them, committed in hospitals in the name of safety and technology, are prevented. In the face of opposition from an entrenched segment of the medical establishment, Dwinell dares the view that hospital care should not be routine but should be given only with good reason and the women's permission. For pregnant women and their partners, "Birth Stories" makes a convincing argument that under normal circumstances each woman's intuitive knowledge and individual resources can help her to labour and give birth successfully in her own way. Nurses, midwives, doctors, and birth educators will find it useful to realise that there are many ways to give birth ...that it is important for the family to be together and make their own choices ...and that pregnant women can have safe births without excessive medical intervention. Finally, "Birth Stories" also serves as a guide to those professionals who are seeking a woman-centred birth model for their institutions.

Reviews

"Birth Stories is opening a new era in childbirth education: Each birth story is the occasion for sensible comments by an experienced midwife. One cannot imagine a more attractive and effective way to satisfy the curiosity of pregnant women."-Michel Odent Author of The Nature of Birth and Breastfeeding
"Dwinell is a rare and precious soul who trained, worked, and taught in American maternity units--and yet managed to maintain sensitivity, insight and awareness into the true nature of pregnancy and childbirth . . . a conscious work of vision, empowerment, and hope."-Nancy Wainer Cohen Author of Open Season: A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and VBAC in the 90s
Birth Stories compels medical professionals to retouch the miracle, the basic essence of birth that is not taught from the medical model of childbirth. Birth Stories empowers the expectant woman to believe in herself and in her ability to give birth. Labor support people can also benefit from this book. Coaching tips are interspersed throughout the stories and the discussions that follow.-Nursingworld Journal
It will be of interest to women who are planning to have children or are already pregnant, of course, but Jane also suggests that it would interest teenagers who are thinking of becoming nurses or midwives.-Growing Without Schooling
"It will be of interest to women who are planning to have children or are already pregnant, of course, but Jane also suggests that it would interest teenagers who are thinking of becoming nurses or midwives."-Growing Without Schooling
"Birth Stories compels medical professionals to retouch the miracle, the basic essence of birth that is not taught from the medical model of childbirth. Birth Stories empowers the expectant woman to believe in herself and in her ability to give birth. Labor support people can also benefit from this book. Coaching tips are interspersed throughout the stories and the discussions that follow."-Nursingworld Journal

Author Bio

JANE DWINELL, R.N., a registered nurse for the past 15 years, has attended over 1500 labors and 1000 births at home, in the hospital, and at a birthing center. She has been published widely in prominent periodicals concerned with women's issues, health care and country living skills.