In case you haven't noticed, I have been BAD about keeping up with my book reviews (the original point of this blog was to review birth-related books!). I have a whole bunch of book reviews stored on this blog, but I have been shockingly bad about keeping up with them. In fact, you may have noticed that my "current reading" list hasn't changed in.... maybe a year or so? In fact, I returned all those books so long ago that I can hardly remember them! Yikes!!! I do write book reviews in my head as I'm reading birth books, but right now they just don't have the time to make it onto paper.
ANYHOW, my blog-friend Kayce has written a two-part review on "The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy," and I wanted to link to it! Check it out!
The end-result? Ditch this book! Or at the very least, hide it behind other books whenever you see it in a bookstore. Yikes!
"The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" Book Review, Part I
"The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" Book Review, Part II
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Book Review: "Home Delivery" by Cara Muhlhahn
Home Delivery: A Midwife's Journey Through Motherhood and Other Miracles
Cara Muhlhahn
2008, 234 pages
For some reason I can't find this book on Amazon to link to - whenever I do find it, I'll include the link!
(Later note... An Anonymous commentor told me that the reason I can't find this book on Amazon is that it is the same book as Cara's book "Labor of Love" which can be found on Amazon. I have no idea why they would publish the same book under two different titles and covers, but the description of "Labor of Love" is exactly like "Home Delivery", and I can't imagine one midwife writing two almost identical books.)
This book immediately went on my "lifelong favorites" list. It is awesome!! I loved it and have read it twice already since I borrowed it from my midwife, both times in under 24 hours each. I can't recommend this book highly enough!
Being somewhat dense, I didn't realize until close to the end of this book that the author is the black-haired midwife featured in "The Business of Being Born," which I saw at a screening when it came out a year or so ago (and loved!!). That made an instant and fun connection with the author - I could immediately picture her vibrant personality and all of the fun shots we got to see of her in the movie.
"Home Delivery" covers Cara's life story, focusing on the paths that led her to become a homebirth midwife. It's a fascinating read. She begins in Oregon, apprenticing with a lay midwife, then moves on into nursing and then midwifery school, works in birthing centers and hospitals, and then opens her own private homebirth practice in New York. Quite a journey! I loved reading about it.
Other parts of the book include stories of her work, explanations of what she does and why she loves homebirth, problems in the modern maternity system, and introspection on all of the various facets of birth, including the reasons for homebirth and why it is as safe or safer than modern hospital birth (a fact that is repeatedly confirmed by statistics).
She also tells the story of her own pregnancy, labor and birth (a homebirth), and I loved how realistic she was about the experience. Birth is the biggest and most wonderful experience of a woman's life, but it is NOT easy, and it is (for most women) the biggest challenge we ever face. Here are some of her words:
"At that moment, the idea of a C-section seemed pretty good, or at least an epidural. I promised not to be one of those women whining at an ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) meeting about my unnecessary c-section. No, mine was justified. Too much pain!
".... I thank Miriam now for saving me from that, but in the moment, I wasn't exactly the picture of gratitude. She had blocked all of my escape routes, and the rest of the crew was banding with her....
"I got in the tub and just stared at the faucet. I don't know how long I looked at that focal point, but at some point it finally occurred to me: I couldn't get the section, and the pain of pushing was probably just as bad as the pain of staying right where I was, with the feeling of a rock covered in glass shards lodged in my a--. This was the epiphany I needed. I got up out of the tub, walked out of the bathroom and down the hall and got fully behind the idea of second stage labor, and the miserable pushing it required." (p. 100-101)
I was laughing out loud as I read this, because my experience was very, very similar. And so are our similes. I've been telling people ever since my own birth that it felt like trying to push out a bowling ball covered in broken glass shards.
This next quote cracked me up, because I had the exact same experience at my birth:
".... Miriam gently guided him into my arms. I wish I could say that I was overcome with bliss, overjoyed with the birth of my son. I'd love to paint a picture in which my face gracefully morphed from laboring Aztec birth goddess to beatific saint as I embraced my perfect child. I'd get there a few days later.
"But the truth is, right after birth, I was too completely traumatized by the pain and the whole ordeal. In fact, I think I might have called him a little bastard. He cried for twenty minutes after the birth, and I remember thinking, in my post traumatic stress disorder frame of mind, 'He's probably thinking his mother is a bitch.'" (p. 101-102)
(With apologies for the profanity.)
My goodness, I'm glad someone else had that experience other than myself! LOL
I also loved what she said about her own breastfeeding experience:
"When my delicious baby cried and needed to feed, I would have to put music on and ice my nipples to tolerate latch-on, and sometimes sip on a glass of wine or indulge in some ibuprofen. That lasted nine days. I knew I would get through that, and never considered stopping nursing, even though I now had a new understanding of how challenging it was and why so many women don't get past that stage if they're not deeply committed." (p. 104)
My friends, it is so true!!! Breastfeeding may be natural, as they say, but it ain't easy.
Anyhow, I simply loved this book. If you're interested in homebirth, this is a great resource. Even if you're not, it's still a great read - a wonderfully casual style, with lots of information and a great story. Check it out!
Cara Muhlhahn
2008, 234 pages
For some reason I can't find this book on Amazon to link to - whenever I do find it, I'll include the link!
(Later note... An Anonymous commentor told me that the reason I can't find this book on Amazon is that it is the same book as Cara's book "Labor of Love" which can be found on Amazon. I have no idea why they would publish the same book under two different titles and covers, but the description of "Labor of Love" is exactly like "Home Delivery", and I can't imagine one midwife writing two almost identical books.)
This book immediately went on my "lifelong favorites" list. It is awesome!! I loved it and have read it twice already since I borrowed it from my midwife, both times in under 24 hours each. I can't recommend this book highly enough!
Being somewhat dense, I didn't realize until close to the end of this book that the author is the black-haired midwife featured in "The Business of Being Born," which I saw at a screening when it came out a year or so ago (and loved!!). That made an instant and fun connection with the author - I could immediately picture her vibrant personality and all of the fun shots we got to see of her in the movie.
"Home Delivery" covers Cara's life story, focusing on the paths that led her to become a homebirth midwife. It's a fascinating read. She begins in Oregon, apprenticing with a lay midwife, then moves on into nursing and then midwifery school, works in birthing centers and hospitals, and then opens her own private homebirth practice in New York. Quite a journey! I loved reading about it.
Other parts of the book include stories of her work, explanations of what she does and why she loves homebirth, problems in the modern maternity system, and introspection on all of the various facets of birth, including the reasons for homebirth and why it is as safe or safer than modern hospital birth (a fact that is repeatedly confirmed by statistics).
She also tells the story of her own pregnancy, labor and birth (a homebirth), and I loved how realistic she was about the experience. Birth is the biggest and most wonderful experience of a woman's life, but it is NOT easy, and it is (for most women) the biggest challenge we ever face. Here are some of her words:
"At that moment, the idea of a C-section seemed pretty good, or at least an epidural. I promised not to be one of those women whining at an ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) meeting about my unnecessary c-section. No, mine was justified. Too much pain!
".... I thank Miriam now for saving me from that, but in the moment, I wasn't exactly the picture of gratitude. She had blocked all of my escape routes, and the rest of the crew was banding with her....
"I got in the tub and just stared at the faucet. I don't know how long I looked at that focal point, but at some point it finally occurred to me: I couldn't get the section, and the pain of pushing was probably just as bad as the pain of staying right where I was, with the feeling of a rock covered in glass shards lodged in my a--. This was the epiphany I needed. I got up out of the tub, walked out of the bathroom and down the hall and got fully behind the idea of second stage labor, and the miserable pushing it required." (p. 100-101)
I was laughing out loud as I read this, because my experience was very, very similar. And so are our similes. I've been telling people ever since my own birth that it felt like trying to push out a bowling ball covered in broken glass shards.
This next quote cracked me up, because I had the exact same experience at my birth:
".... Miriam gently guided him into my arms. I wish I could say that I was overcome with bliss, overjoyed with the birth of my son. I'd love to paint a picture in which my face gracefully morphed from laboring Aztec birth goddess to beatific saint as I embraced my perfect child. I'd get there a few days later.
"But the truth is, right after birth, I was too completely traumatized by the pain and the whole ordeal. In fact, I think I might have called him a little bastard. He cried for twenty minutes after the birth, and I remember thinking, in my post traumatic stress disorder frame of mind, 'He's probably thinking his mother is a bitch.'" (p. 101-102)
(With apologies for the profanity.)
My goodness, I'm glad someone else had that experience other than myself! LOL
I also loved what she said about her own breastfeeding experience:
"When my delicious baby cried and needed to feed, I would have to put music on and ice my nipples to tolerate latch-on, and sometimes sip on a glass of wine or indulge in some ibuprofen. That lasted nine days. I knew I would get through that, and never considered stopping nursing, even though I now had a new understanding of how challenging it was and why so many women don't get past that stage if they're not deeply committed." (p. 104)
My friends, it is so true!!! Breastfeeding may be natural, as they say, but it ain't easy.
Anyhow, I simply loved this book. If you're interested in homebirth, this is a great resource. Even if you're not, it's still a great read - a wonderfully casual style, with lots of information and a great story. Check it out!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Book Review: "Playing Catch: A Midwife's Memoirs" by Sally Urang
"Playing Catch: A Midwife's Memoirs"
Sally Urang
2005, 407 pages
I was actually three quarters of the way through this book before I realized, quite accidentally, that it was a novel rather than an autobiographical work - which is a compliment to the author, as it was written realistically in autobiographical style - like Peggy Vincent's "Babycatcher." I did lose a lot of interest when I learned it was a novel, though - I'm just not interested in reading novels about midwives. I love reading midwives' autobiographies. However, I'm glad that this was a novel because I'm hoping there aren't too many midwives out there like this. God help us all if there are.
I finished reading this book in less than 24 hours. I'd like to say that it was because the book was riveting (and it was well-written), but the truth is that I read like the wind because I was in a battle with my conscience, which was nudging me constantly and saying, "Should you really be reading this?" I won out over my conscience in that I finished the book (an accomplishment definitely not worth bragging about).
I ended up having a love-hate relationship with this work, or rather, a like-disgust relationship. The reason for all of the above is simply that this book, as well as being a novel about hospital midwifery, is also a personal tale that involves a highly detailed saga of the heroine's trashy sex life, in extremely crude and vulgar detail, which an abundance of extremely foul language. I was really put off by this, and it is one of the reasons that this book will not be making my "highly recommended" list. I know that other people would not have the least problem with this, so I wanted to mention my bias so that it was known.
Aside from the detailed sexual exploits of this novel, it is the story of a hospital-based CNM and the midwifery work she does as a hospital midwife. It is, as I said, pretty well-written and interesting to read. I love the fact that when she uses clinical midwifery terms, she will immediately include a paragraph in parenthesis explaining the terminology in layman's terms so the reader can both follow the story and learn. I picked up a few that I didn't know myself! That was really great. However, I have read from other reviewers that there are a lot of inaccuracies in her midwifery knowledge as stated. I was reading so quickly that I didn't notice too much of that, although I did question the midwife's methods in a lot of the scenarios portrayed.
The author is herself an experienced CNM (certified nurse-midwife), so one suspects that much of the work is autobiographical - not in the specific details, but in the overall experience. Urang is obviously an experienced and knowledgable midwife, and it was great to have her knowledge so well-displayed in this work.
For me this was an interesting work in that it spoke of a different type of midwifery than the midwifery community with which I am familiar, that is, the homebirth midwifery community. The main character is a university-trained, hospital-practicing midwife, who I suspect would be termed by the natural birth community as a "med-wife." There's a lot of hospital protocol, pitocin, epidurals, and c-sections, and while the main character does advocate on the part of her patients, it is a much more medicalized atmosphere than the midwifery community I know. In fact, if a few sentences had been changed around and the book called "Memoirs of an OB/GYN," I never would have batted an eye, because in a lot of circumstances she seems to be more of an OB than a midwife. From what I have heard of hospital midwifery and nurse-midwifery, it is a common scenario for nurse-midwives to be caught in the middle in these working environments, both philosphically and practically. It's hard to practice the midwives' model of care in-hospital.
Don't get me wrong. We need hospital midwives - need them badly. They care for women who want midwifery care but aren't ready for (or desirous at all of) homebirth. They work to humanize the hospital maternity system and do amazing work. Here in Phoenix we have some great hospital midwives who do great work at some of our local hospitals. But oftentimes, hospital protocol succeeds in chipping away at true midwifery care, and midwifery in its purest form is often (though not always) only found in the homebirth community.
In a lot of ways, this book is an attack on true midwifery. The author, through the heroine, speaks scornfully and disdainfully of doulas, of self-educated patients, and of patients who don't want to accept her interventions or who question her advice in any way. There is one entire chapter which she spends attacking the author of a natural childbirth book, which seems (to me) to be a thinly veiled attack on Henci Goer (the fictitious author's name is "Harriet Ganci").
Do I recommend this book? Mmmmm.... No. For the crudeness, vulgarity and explicit sexuality, I could never recommend it. Other than that, it's a good book - I guess. I wish she had kept her heroine's sex life to herself (or just stopped outside the bedroom door) and focussed on midwifery. But this book is not a glimpse into "real" midwifery - that is, the holistic, woman-centered, evidence-based midwifery model of maternity care. Anyone reading this book without good background knowledge of true midwifery would come out with a really warped view of midwifery. I won't be reading the book again, and I definitely won't be recommending it personally. As one reviewer on Amazon said, "The good, decent, informative parts of the book were so surrounded by the sewage that I could never recommend this book to anyone." Too bad. Try "Baby Catcher" by Vincent instead.
Sally Urang
2005, 407 pages
I was actually three quarters of the way through this book before I realized, quite accidentally, that it was a novel rather than an autobiographical work - which is a compliment to the author, as it was written realistically in autobiographical style - like Peggy Vincent's "Babycatcher." I did lose a lot of interest when I learned it was a novel, though - I'm just not interested in reading novels about midwives. I love reading midwives' autobiographies. However, I'm glad that this was a novel because I'm hoping there aren't too many midwives out there like this. God help us all if there are.
I finished reading this book in less than 24 hours. I'd like to say that it was because the book was riveting (and it was well-written), but the truth is that I read like the wind because I was in a battle with my conscience, which was nudging me constantly and saying, "Should you really be reading this?" I won out over my conscience in that I finished the book (an accomplishment definitely not worth bragging about).
I ended up having a love-hate relationship with this work, or rather, a like-disgust relationship. The reason for all of the above is simply that this book, as well as being a novel about hospital midwifery, is also a personal tale that involves a highly detailed saga of the heroine's trashy sex life, in extremely crude and vulgar detail, which an abundance of extremely foul language. I was really put off by this, and it is one of the reasons that this book will not be making my "highly recommended" list. I know that other people would not have the least problem with this, so I wanted to mention my bias so that it was known.
Aside from the detailed sexual exploits of this novel, it is the story of a hospital-based CNM and the midwifery work she does as a hospital midwife. It is, as I said, pretty well-written and interesting to read. I love the fact that when she uses clinical midwifery terms, she will immediately include a paragraph in parenthesis explaining the terminology in layman's terms so the reader can both follow the story and learn. I picked up a few that I didn't know myself! That was really great. However, I have read from other reviewers that there are a lot of inaccuracies in her midwifery knowledge as stated. I was reading so quickly that I didn't notice too much of that, although I did question the midwife's methods in a lot of the scenarios portrayed.
The author is herself an experienced CNM (certified nurse-midwife), so one suspects that much of the work is autobiographical - not in the specific details, but in the overall experience. Urang is obviously an experienced and knowledgable midwife, and it was great to have her knowledge so well-displayed in this work.
For me this was an interesting work in that it spoke of a different type of midwifery than the midwifery community with which I am familiar, that is, the homebirth midwifery community. The main character is a university-trained, hospital-practicing midwife, who I suspect would be termed by the natural birth community as a "med-wife." There's a lot of hospital protocol, pitocin, epidurals, and c-sections, and while the main character does advocate on the part of her patients, it is a much more medicalized atmosphere than the midwifery community I know. In fact, if a few sentences had been changed around and the book called "Memoirs of an OB/GYN," I never would have batted an eye, because in a lot of circumstances she seems to be more of an OB than a midwife. From what I have heard of hospital midwifery and nurse-midwifery, it is a common scenario for nurse-midwives to be caught in the middle in these working environments, both philosphically and practically. It's hard to practice the midwives' model of care in-hospital.
Don't get me wrong. We need hospital midwives - need them badly. They care for women who want midwifery care but aren't ready for (or desirous at all of) homebirth. They work to humanize the hospital maternity system and do amazing work. Here in Phoenix we have some great hospital midwives who do great work at some of our local hospitals. But oftentimes, hospital protocol succeeds in chipping away at true midwifery care, and midwifery in its purest form is often (though not always) only found in the homebirth community.
In a lot of ways, this book is an attack on true midwifery. The author, through the heroine, speaks scornfully and disdainfully of doulas, of self-educated patients, and of patients who don't want to accept her interventions or who question her advice in any way. There is one entire chapter which she spends attacking the author of a natural childbirth book, which seems (to me) to be a thinly veiled attack on Henci Goer (the fictitious author's name is "Harriet Ganci").
Do I recommend this book? Mmmmm.... No. For the crudeness, vulgarity and explicit sexuality, I could never recommend it. Other than that, it's a good book - I guess. I wish she had kept her heroine's sex life to herself (or just stopped outside the bedroom door) and focussed on midwifery. But this book is not a glimpse into "real" midwifery - that is, the holistic, woman-centered, evidence-based midwifery model of maternity care. Anyone reading this book without good background knowledge of true midwifery would come out with a really warped view of midwifery. I won't be reading the book again, and I definitely won't be recommending it personally. As one reviewer on Amazon said, "The good, decent, informative parts of the book were so surrounded by the sewage that I could never recommend this book to anyone." Too bad. Try "Baby Catcher" by Vincent instead.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Book Review: "The Natural Pregnancy Book" by Aviva Jill Romm
"The Natural Pregnancy Book"
Aviva Jill Romm
2003, 318 pages
This is going to be another short book review, because I loved this book and have nothing to criticize! This book easily goes down as one of my all-time favorites and merits a place on my "buy soon" list.
I have read several other Romm books and loved them all, so I was expecting great things from this book - and I was right! This is truly an excellent book.
Part II of the book, "Common Concerns during Pregnancy," is an alphabetical compendium of the various complications and concerns that occur during pregnancy (morning sickness, heartburn, etc.), with Romm's recommendations and comments on each. This section is excellent. She gives general/dietary recommendations and also herbal recommendations (complete with dosage instructions and lots of herbal formulas), and they look absolutely fabulous in terms of usefulness and thoroughness. I wouldn't want to go through another pregnancy without this book.
Part I of the book covers many of the usual pregnancy topics (prenatal care, nutrition, baby's development, exercise, physical changes, preparing for birth, etc.), but with a twist - not only is Romm in favor of natural birth and midwifery care, but she also has incredible respect for women's bodies, women's birthing rights, women's spirituality, the sacredness of birth, and women's wisdom. Rather than saying, "Do whatever the doctor says," (as oh-so-many pregnancy books do), Romm says, "Educate yourself. Listen to your body. Listen to your baby. Your body knows how to do this, so trust yourself." In today's fear-mongering birth world, where pregnant mothers are treated like time bombs waiting to go off, this book is extremely refreshing. Romm works consistently to bolster and build a mother's confidence in herself and her abilities, and that is a great asset of this book.
Romm also has a great understanding of the understanding of the birth experience as a pivotal event in a woman's life - the fact that birth is truly a rite of passage for a woman. Most pregnancy books, and Western culture in general, dismiss the importance of the birth experience to women. Most view birth as "something really unpleasant that you endure in order to get a baby." After the birth, culture will dote on the baby but give little to no attention to the woman who has experienced a unique and earth-shattering transformation in her rite of passage to motherhood, and who also deserves honor and attention. (Although I believe that motherhood begins with conception, there is something especially transformative about birth in terms of the "becoming" process.)
I experienced this above-mentioned phenomenon very much with my birth experience. After my birth I wanted to shout from the rooftops how proud I was of myself and my abilities, and how I had experienced this amazing transformation, and I could have told my birth story to every passerby who came within ear's reach. However, I found that in general, all eyes were on the baby. (In fact, one of the times I was asked about my birth, I had to go into the back room to nurse the baby and came out just in time to hear my husband finishing up telling my birth story! What a bummer!!!)
Romm really focuses on the importance of the birth experience and gives great examples of how to honor your experience - and for others, how to honor the mother and make her birth the acknowledged rite of passage that it should be.
I love how Romm describes communicating with unborn children as something that can and should be done, and as something that is possible. As a Westerner, I tended to think of my baby as someone who was unreachable, on another planet, etc. - i.e. "I know you're there, and we'll talk when you get here." She emphasizes the importance of prenatal communication and giving love to pre-birth babies, and I really love that.
I also love how life-affirming Romm is. Something that can absolutely drive me up a wall is a pregnancy book that refers to the baby as a "fetus." While "fetus" does literally mean "unborn child," it is used (consciously or unconsciously) to dehumanize the infant, to make it seem less than human (this is especially true when talking of abortion, when the baby is dehumanized further into "fetal tissue" or "products of conception"). Romm consistently refers to the unborn child as a "baby," something that I try to do as well, and I love that. Here's a quote from her:
"From the onset, this was my child, not an embryo or a fetus with potential defects or a pregnancy with potential complications, but my child. I truly believe that it is partially this attitude that has nurtured health in each child. But had one of my babies not been perfectly healthy, that baby would still have felt loved and accepted from the beginning.
"Later in this book you will find a discussion of the various prenatal diagnostic tests that are commonly offered to pregnant women. There are times when these tests are medically warranted; however, routine use of such testing can prevent a woman from developing and trusting her connection with her baby. The real connection between a mother and her baby exists before the connection that is fostered by seeing the baby on a screen, knowing whether the baby is a boy or a girl, or hearing the baby's hearbeat by electronic amplification."
(Romm, 2003:20)
I love that.
This book has a great emphasis on natural health, herbal treatments and non-invasive methods for handling pregnancy concerns. It is a great compendium of wisdom and knowledge.
I highly recommend this book to all new mothers. If I get pregnant before I manage to get my hands on a copy, my fingers will be marching straight to Amazon to order it! Highly, highly recommended.
Aviva Jill Romm
2003, 318 pages
This is going to be another short book review, because I loved this book and have nothing to criticize! This book easily goes down as one of my all-time favorites and merits a place on my "buy soon" list.
I have read several other Romm books and loved them all, so I was expecting great things from this book - and I was right! This is truly an excellent book.
Part II of the book, "Common Concerns during Pregnancy," is an alphabetical compendium of the various complications and concerns that occur during pregnancy (morning sickness, heartburn, etc.), with Romm's recommendations and comments on each. This section is excellent. She gives general/dietary recommendations and also herbal recommendations (complete with dosage instructions and lots of herbal formulas), and they look absolutely fabulous in terms of usefulness and thoroughness. I wouldn't want to go through another pregnancy without this book.
Part I of the book covers many of the usual pregnancy topics (prenatal care, nutrition, baby's development, exercise, physical changes, preparing for birth, etc.), but with a twist - not only is Romm in favor of natural birth and midwifery care, but she also has incredible respect for women's bodies, women's birthing rights, women's spirituality, the sacredness of birth, and women's wisdom. Rather than saying, "Do whatever the doctor says," (as oh-so-many pregnancy books do), Romm says, "Educate yourself. Listen to your body. Listen to your baby. Your body knows how to do this, so trust yourself." In today's fear-mongering birth world, where pregnant mothers are treated like time bombs waiting to go off, this book is extremely refreshing. Romm works consistently to bolster and build a mother's confidence in herself and her abilities, and that is a great asset of this book.
Romm also has a great understanding of the understanding of the birth experience as a pivotal event in a woman's life - the fact that birth is truly a rite of passage for a woman. Most pregnancy books, and Western culture in general, dismiss the importance of the birth experience to women. Most view birth as "something really unpleasant that you endure in order to get a baby." After the birth, culture will dote on the baby but give little to no attention to the woman who has experienced a unique and earth-shattering transformation in her rite of passage to motherhood, and who also deserves honor and attention. (Although I believe that motherhood begins with conception, there is something especially transformative about birth in terms of the "becoming" process.)
I experienced this above-mentioned phenomenon very much with my birth experience. After my birth I wanted to shout from the rooftops how proud I was of myself and my abilities, and how I had experienced this amazing transformation, and I could have told my birth story to every passerby who came within ear's reach. However, I found that in general, all eyes were on the baby. (In fact, one of the times I was asked about my birth, I had to go into the back room to nurse the baby and came out just in time to hear my husband finishing up telling my birth story! What a bummer!!!)
Romm really focuses on the importance of the birth experience and gives great examples of how to honor your experience - and for others, how to honor the mother and make her birth the acknowledged rite of passage that it should be.
I love how Romm describes communicating with unborn children as something that can and should be done, and as something that is possible. As a Westerner, I tended to think of my baby as someone who was unreachable, on another planet, etc. - i.e. "I know you're there, and we'll talk when you get here." She emphasizes the importance of prenatal communication and giving love to pre-birth babies, and I really love that.
I also love how life-affirming Romm is. Something that can absolutely drive me up a wall is a pregnancy book that refers to the baby as a "fetus." While "fetus" does literally mean "unborn child," it is used (consciously or unconsciously) to dehumanize the infant, to make it seem less than human (this is especially true when talking of abortion, when the baby is dehumanized further into "fetal tissue" or "products of conception"). Romm consistently refers to the unborn child as a "baby," something that I try to do as well, and I love that. Here's a quote from her:
"From the onset, this was my child, not an embryo or a fetus with potential defects or a pregnancy with potential complications, but my child. I truly believe that it is partially this attitude that has nurtured health in each child. But had one of my babies not been perfectly healthy, that baby would still have felt loved and accepted from the beginning.
"Later in this book you will find a discussion of the various prenatal diagnostic tests that are commonly offered to pregnant women. There are times when these tests are medically warranted; however, routine use of such testing can prevent a woman from developing and trusting her connection with her baby. The real connection between a mother and her baby exists before the connection that is fostered by seeing the baby on a screen, knowing whether the baby is a boy or a girl, or hearing the baby's hearbeat by electronic amplification."
(Romm, 2003:20)
I love that.
This book has a great emphasis on natural health, herbal treatments and non-invasive methods for handling pregnancy concerns. It is a great compendium of wisdom and knowledge.
I highly recommend this book to all new mothers. If I get pregnant before I manage to get my hands on a copy, my fingers will be marching straight to Amazon to order it! Highly, highly recommended.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Book Review: "Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth"
"Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth"
Boston Women's Health Book Collective
2008, 370 pages
I'm on a roll! That stack of to-be-reviewed pregnancy/birth books on my dresser WILL decrease, if I have to review one book a day!!!
Having gotten the notice from my library that I can't renew my loan of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" for the fifth time (I don't know why!!!), this book has now moved to the forefront, as it has to be back at the library today.
I have found, rather surprisingly, that the best books get the shortest reviews from me. Why? Well, what's there to say? "I loved it - I loved it - I loved it!" Bad books get longer reviews because of all the anger I need to vent after reading them (See "From Here to Maternity" book review, for example).
With that in mind, I don't have an overwhelming amount to say about this book other than - I LOVED IT!!! It gets the highest review from me. It is a book of almost unequaled excellence, absolutely thorough in its coverage of pregnancy/birth issues, and utterly and completely evidence-based. Basically, if you are pregnant or interested in pregnancy/birth, this book is a must-have. It's definitely going on my "want" list.
Looking through the book, I remember again why I loved this book - it's just SO thorough! Anything and everything to do with pregnancy, birth, baby and postpartum is covered.
The book is supportive of natural birth while remaining balanced - it is not fanatically anti-hospital or anti-homebirth. I'd say that it would be a good book for anyone, regardless of whether one is planning a hospital or home birth.
I have two complaints about this book:
#1 - This book is supportive of all women's choices, which in my opinion is great as far as birthing options go. But as a Christian and thus someone who affirms the sanctity of human life, I am NOT okay with a mother's decision to have her in-utero baby killed because it is not perfectly healthy. This book is supportive of that decision, and I found the chapter covering that to be heart-rending. Basically, the book's attitude is "Decide to keep your non-perfect baby? Great! Decide to kill your non-perfect baby? Great!" I believe that this is irresponsible and unethical. After skipping ahead to read that chapter (which I usually do with all books, to catch the moral and ethical tone of the book), I was so sickened and saddened by the book's support for the killing of non-perfect babies that I almost didn't finish the book. I'm glad I did, because the book on the whole is excellent. But the authors need to seriously rethink their ethics on the issue of abortion. What does it say about a society which gladly sanctions the killing of all less-than-healthy babies?
#2 - After addressing the issue of the multiple social issues facing pregnant and postpartum mothers (the birth situation, single parent epidemic, etc.), the authors present their idea of what should be done to remedy the situation. I found myself disagreeing sharply with most of this chapter. Their ideas, which are mostly political in nature, involve massive governmental programs and welfare assistance, and seem to be somewhat socialist in nature. I think that we could do women a big favor not by focusing on increased governmental control and involvement in family life, but by focusing on moral reform. Having a society in which men marry women before making babies and stay married to them for life will do a lot more for women and children than funneling governmental funding into social programs to try to fix the irreparable harm done to mothers, children and families by fatherless homes or dysfunctional families.
I don't mean to get off too much on politics, but the final chapter was fairly irritating. I'll stop now, though, before I turn this into a political blog.
Barring the above two issues, I loved this book and recommend it strongly to all.
Boston Women's Health Book Collective
2008, 370 pages
I'm on a roll! That stack of to-be-reviewed pregnancy/birth books on my dresser WILL decrease, if I have to review one book a day!!!
Having gotten the notice from my library that I can't renew my loan of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" for the fifth time (I don't know why!!!), this book has now moved to the forefront, as it has to be back at the library today.
I have found, rather surprisingly, that the best books get the shortest reviews from me. Why? Well, what's there to say? "I loved it - I loved it - I loved it!" Bad books get longer reviews because of all the anger I need to vent after reading them (See "From Here to Maternity" book review, for example).
With that in mind, I don't have an overwhelming amount to say about this book other than - I LOVED IT!!! It gets the highest review from me. It is a book of almost unequaled excellence, absolutely thorough in its coverage of pregnancy/birth issues, and utterly and completely evidence-based. Basically, if you are pregnant or interested in pregnancy/birth, this book is a must-have. It's definitely going on my "want" list.
Looking through the book, I remember again why I loved this book - it's just SO thorough! Anything and everything to do with pregnancy, birth, baby and postpartum is covered.
The book is supportive of natural birth while remaining balanced - it is not fanatically anti-hospital or anti-homebirth. I'd say that it would be a good book for anyone, regardless of whether one is planning a hospital or home birth.
I have two complaints about this book:
#1 - This book is supportive of all women's choices, which in my opinion is great as far as birthing options go. But as a Christian and thus someone who affirms the sanctity of human life, I am NOT okay with a mother's decision to have her in-utero baby killed because it is not perfectly healthy. This book is supportive of that decision, and I found the chapter covering that to be heart-rending. Basically, the book's attitude is "Decide to keep your non-perfect baby? Great! Decide to kill your non-perfect baby? Great!" I believe that this is irresponsible and unethical. After skipping ahead to read that chapter (which I usually do with all books, to catch the moral and ethical tone of the book), I was so sickened and saddened by the book's support for the killing of non-perfect babies that I almost didn't finish the book. I'm glad I did, because the book on the whole is excellent. But the authors need to seriously rethink their ethics on the issue of abortion. What does it say about a society which gladly sanctions the killing of all less-than-healthy babies?
#2 - After addressing the issue of the multiple social issues facing pregnant and postpartum mothers (the birth situation, single parent epidemic, etc.), the authors present their idea of what should be done to remedy the situation. I found myself disagreeing sharply with most of this chapter. Their ideas, which are mostly political in nature, involve massive governmental programs and welfare assistance, and seem to be somewhat socialist in nature. I think that we could do women a big favor not by focusing on increased governmental control and involvement in family life, but by focusing on moral reform. Having a society in which men marry women before making babies and stay married to them for life will do a lot more for women and children than funneling governmental funding into social programs to try to fix the irreparable harm done to mothers, children and families by fatherless homes or dysfunctional families.
I don't mean to get off too much on politics, but the final chapter was fairly irritating. I'll stop now, though, before I turn this into a political blog.
Barring the above two issues, I loved this book and recommend it strongly to all.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Book Review: "From Here to Maternity"
"From Here to Maternity"
Connie Marshall, RN
1994, rev. 2002, 291 pages
I found this book randomly at Goodwill a couple of months ago (along with four other pregnancy books - someone was cleaning house, hurray!) and picked it up to read.
This is a nice little book. Really, I found myself with mixed feelings over it. It's great on the one hand and not so great on the other. The good part is that it is (except for various biases and inaccuracies) a great source of material. The bad part is that it is not a book that leans toward either natural pregnancy or natural birth. If you are already educated about natural birth, then it is probably a great book to read for information. If you're just starting out, make sure that you include a good selection of naturally-minded books along with this one.
I found a surprising number of inaccuracies in this book, along with some obvious bias for the medical (as opposed to holistic/midwifery) model of care. Let's look at some of these areas to start:
Let's start with the worst of the worst. This statement BLEW ME AWAY in its blatant falsehood:
"An epidural does not increase your chances of having a cesarean." (p. 86)
What???? People have the right to be in favor of epidurals (I sure was when I was in labor!), but they do not have the right to lie about them. Here is the truth of the issue: A laboring woman who has an epidural is roughly four times more likely to have a c-section than a woman laboring without one. Don't believe it? Here's the study:
Association of epidural analgesia with cesarean delivery in nulliparas
Why is this so? Many reasons. Hormone disruption, laboring on one's back, cascade of interventions (including pitocin augmentation to replace the uterine activity usually lost with an epidural, leading to fetal distress, etc.) - there are a number of reasons why things start to go wrong once a mother accepts an epidural. This is especially true of mothers who get epidurals early in labor - the earlier you get an epidural, the higher your chance of a c-section (see section in "Hey! Who's Having This Baby, Anyway?" by Breck Hawk for more information on this subject).
So anyway, that statement made me upset. It is blatant disinformation and should not be present in a well-researched pregnancy book.
Here's the second mind-blowing statement in this book (talk about unsubstantiated bias!):
"The decision for a home birth transcends economic and safety considerations because of a deep emotional commitment to a home birth experience." (p. 83)
Basically, "If you are having a home birth, you're a mindless fanatic who doesn't care about your safety or your baby's safety because of your illogical devotion to a cause." This is in spite of the fact that numerous reputable studies have repeatedly shown homebirth to be as safe or safer than hospital birth, with overwhelmingly more positive birth experiences for the mother and more gentle treatment for both mother and baby. Hmmm. Interesting.
However, following that degrading statement, Marshall does give some good guidelines on choosing a homebirth midwife. Kind of weird, but at least it's there!
Here are a couple more...
"If you and your doctor opt for inducing labor, skip to the induction section - your prayers have been answered." (p. 122)
Considering the myriad of problems for both mom and baby that are started by unnecessary labor induction (and with our induction rate at about 40%, you can bet that most of them are unnecessary), a good pregnancy book should never encourage or make light of this subject.
The following is another mind-blower - it is filled with so much falsehood that it was hard to read:
"Before electronic fetal monitoring, the labor nurse listened to the baby's heartbeat once an hour for 15 seconds; it didn't provide a wealth of information. As a result, some cesareans were done for fetal distress that wasn't there. Some babies who were distressed were missed because a stethoscope couldn't pick up subtle clues the electronic monitor can. More than a few cesareans have been avoided because the heart rate pattern was reassuring. Overall, the fetal monitor has had little impact on the cesarean birthrate... In many cases, fetal monitoring heads off disaster by detecting early signs of fetal distress." (p. 146)
Now, for the actual truth of the matter:
- Intermittent monitoring with a fetoscope, stethoscope or handheld Doppler has been proven to be as effective in monitoring fetal well-being as is continuous electronic monitoring.
Why Are We Using Electronic Fetal Monitoring?
- Continuous electronic monitoring has had absolutely no positive effect on the fetal mortality rate or on rates of birth-related damages to babies. On the contrary, it has been linked to an astronomical increase in the rate of cesarean births.
Association of electronic fetal monitoring during labor with cesarean section rate and with neonatal morbidity and mortality.
- Continuous electronic monitoring is infamous for both false positive readings (looks like something's wrong when it's not) and false negatives (everything looks fine when it's not)
- Continuous electronic monitoring is also a tool used by many unscrupulous caregivers to influence reluctant mothers into unnecessary cesareans
Moving on....
On episiotomy:
"It all boils down to being flexible and trusting your doctor to make the appropriate decision at the time. Most women who have a regular midline episiotomy agree that it's no big deal. The incision heals rapidly and the discomfort is minimal - you don't need pillows to sit." (p. 174)
Point #1 - I think there might possibly be some women out there who would disagree with that. Just possibly.
Point #2 - If I make it clear to my care provider that I do not want an episiotomy, then I expect my wishes to be honored. If an episiotomy is really necessary, then he/she can ask for and receive my permission. But I'm certainly not going to sit there and say, "Do whatever! I don't need to know, just feel free to cut without consulting me!"
Regarding internal fetal monitoring, in which an electrode is screwed into the baby's scalp:
"The procedure is probably no more uncomfortable for the baby than the contractions." (p. 177)
Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm.
No one is going to deny that internal fetal monitoring is sometimes necessary and beneficial. But to write off the baby's pain from the procedure (which is a highly unnatural pain) by comparing it to pain from contractions (which may or may not exist for the baby!) really seems like a cop-out.
Those are just a few of the inaccuracies I found.... But I won't go on.
Despite having started with the negative, I really did like this book. The author has a clear, concise writing style, a well-organized text, and a great sense of humor. Here's a great one:
"The herpes virus is the Greta Garbo of sexually transmitted diseases - elusive and mysterious." (p. 108)
This book is thorough (not too detailed, but still thorough) and covers all the usual topics very well.
One thing I love about this book is the diagrams, illustrations and charts - they are super-informative and very helpful.
This book also covers a surprising amount of alternative health care options - therapeutic touch, herbs, reflexology, pressure points, and more. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know!
I really liked this book. The only thing that keeps me from giving it unqualified recommendation is the fact that it is definitely within the medical model (rather than holistic), and is hostile to homebirth, midwifery care models and anything that swerves from mainstream pregnancy care. Thus, although I can't recommend it completely, I do recommend it - just make sure that you are reading other good-quality natural childbirth books at the same time.
Connie Marshall, RN
1994, rev. 2002, 291 pages
I found this book randomly at Goodwill a couple of months ago (along with four other pregnancy books - someone was cleaning house, hurray!) and picked it up to read.
This is a nice little book. Really, I found myself with mixed feelings over it. It's great on the one hand and not so great on the other. The good part is that it is (except for various biases and inaccuracies) a great source of material. The bad part is that it is not a book that leans toward either natural pregnancy or natural birth. If you are already educated about natural birth, then it is probably a great book to read for information. If you're just starting out, make sure that you include a good selection of naturally-minded books along with this one.
I found a surprising number of inaccuracies in this book, along with some obvious bias for the medical (as opposed to holistic/midwifery) model of care. Let's look at some of these areas to start:
Let's start with the worst of the worst. This statement BLEW ME AWAY in its blatant falsehood:
"An epidural does not increase your chances of having a cesarean." (p. 86)
What???? People have the right to be in favor of epidurals (I sure was when I was in labor!), but they do not have the right to lie about them. Here is the truth of the issue: A laboring woman who has an epidural is roughly four times more likely to have a c-section than a woman laboring without one. Don't believe it? Here's the study:
Association of epidural analgesia with cesarean delivery in nulliparas
Why is this so? Many reasons. Hormone disruption, laboring on one's back, cascade of interventions (including pitocin augmentation to replace the uterine activity usually lost with an epidural, leading to fetal distress, etc.) - there are a number of reasons why things start to go wrong once a mother accepts an epidural. This is especially true of mothers who get epidurals early in labor - the earlier you get an epidural, the higher your chance of a c-section (see section in "Hey! Who's Having This Baby, Anyway?" by Breck Hawk for more information on this subject).
So anyway, that statement made me upset. It is blatant disinformation and should not be present in a well-researched pregnancy book.
Here's the second mind-blowing statement in this book (talk about unsubstantiated bias!):
"The decision for a home birth transcends economic and safety considerations because of a deep emotional commitment to a home birth experience." (p. 83)
Basically, "If you are having a home birth, you're a mindless fanatic who doesn't care about your safety or your baby's safety because of your illogical devotion to a cause." This is in spite of the fact that numerous reputable studies have repeatedly shown homebirth to be as safe or safer than hospital birth, with overwhelmingly more positive birth experiences for the mother and more gentle treatment for both mother and baby. Hmmm. Interesting.
However, following that degrading statement, Marshall does give some good guidelines on choosing a homebirth midwife. Kind of weird, but at least it's there!
Here are a couple more...
"If you and your doctor opt for inducing labor, skip to the induction section - your prayers have been answered." (p. 122)
Considering the myriad of problems for both mom and baby that are started by unnecessary labor induction (and with our induction rate at about 40%, you can bet that most of them are unnecessary), a good pregnancy book should never encourage or make light of this subject.
The following is another mind-blower - it is filled with so much falsehood that it was hard to read:
"Before electronic fetal monitoring, the labor nurse listened to the baby's heartbeat once an hour for 15 seconds; it didn't provide a wealth of information. As a result, some cesareans were done for fetal distress that wasn't there. Some babies who were distressed were missed because a stethoscope couldn't pick up subtle clues the electronic monitor can. More than a few cesareans have been avoided because the heart rate pattern was reassuring. Overall, the fetal monitor has had little impact on the cesarean birthrate... In many cases, fetal monitoring heads off disaster by detecting early signs of fetal distress." (p. 146)
Now, for the actual truth of the matter:
- Intermittent monitoring with a fetoscope, stethoscope or handheld Doppler has been proven to be as effective in monitoring fetal well-being as is continuous electronic monitoring.
Why Are We Using Electronic Fetal Monitoring?
- Continuous electronic monitoring has had absolutely no positive effect on the fetal mortality rate or on rates of birth-related damages to babies. On the contrary, it has been linked to an astronomical increase in the rate of cesarean births.
Association of electronic fetal monitoring during labor with cesarean section rate and with neonatal morbidity and mortality.
- Continuous electronic monitoring is infamous for both false positive readings (looks like something's wrong when it's not) and false negatives (everything looks fine when it's not)
- Continuous electronic monitoring is also a tool used by many unscrupulous caregivers to influence reluctant mothers into unnecessary cesareans
Moving on....
On episiotomy:
"It all boils down to being flexible and trusting your doctor to make the appropriate decision at the time. Most women who have a regular midline episiotomy agree that it's no big deal. The incision heals rapidly and the discomfort is minimal - you don't need pillows to sit." (p. 174)
Point #1 - I think there might possibly be some women out there who would disagree with that. Just possibly.
Point #2 - If I make it clear to my care provider that I do not want an episiotomy, then I expect my wishes to be honored. If an episiotomy is really necessary, then he/she can ask for and receive my permission. But I'm certainly not going to sit there and say, "Do whatever! I don't need to know, just feel free to cut without consulting me!"
Regarding internal fetal monitoring, in which an electrode is screwed into the baby's scalp:
"The procedure is probably no more uncomfortable for the baby than the contractions." (p. 177)
Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm.
No one is going to deny that internal fetal monitoring is sometimes necessary and beneficial. But to write off the baby's pain from the procedure (which is a highly unnatural pain) by comparing it to pain from contractions (which may or may not exist for the baby!) really seems like a cop-out.
Those are just a few of the inaccuracies I found.... But I won't go on.
Despite having started with the negative, I really did like this book. The author has a clear, concise writing style, a well-organized text, and a great sense of humor. Here's a great one:
"The herpes virus is the Greta Garbo of sexually transmitted diseases - elusive and mysterious." (p. 108)
This book is thorough (not too detailed, but still thorough) and covers all the usual topics very well.
One thing I love about this book is the diagrams, illustrations and charts - they are super-informative and very helpful.
This book also covers a surprising amount of alternative health care options - therapeutic touch, herbs, reflexology, pressure points, and more. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know!
I really liked this book. The only thing that keeps me from giving it unqualified recommendation is the fact that it is definitely within the medical model (rather than holistic), and is hostile to homebirth, midwifery care models and anything that swerves from mainstream pregnancy care. Thus, although I can't recommend it completely, I do recommend it - just make sure that you are reading other good-quality natural childbirth books at the same time.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Book Review: "Managing Morning Sickness" by Miriam Erick
The following is a cross-post from my other blog, "The Whining Puker":
"Managing Morning Sickness"
Miriam Erick
2004, 412 pages
After reading this book, I felt.... confused. Yes, definitely confused. And also irritated.
I liked the book better upon rereading it. It definitely has good information. So I guess that my review is mixed!
I want to start off with three big complaints.
First - This is not a book about hyperemesis. This is a book about morning sickness - ALL morning sickness - from the slightest queasiness to the severest case of HG. I am not sure that the choice to lump all forms of MS/HG together was a wise choice. What works for one will not work for the other, and what applies to one will not apply to the other. I found it confusing to wade through oodles of advice, only some of which applied to me.
Of course, I realize the quandary. Hyperemesis is not a well-defined condition, just because morning sickness is a spectrum/continuum condition. It progresses from mild to life-threatening, and the exact dividing point between garden-variety MS and HG is not well-defined - or rather, it is an artificial division that doesn't really exist! So it would be hard to separate the conditions for separate books! Still, it was confusing.
Which brings me to my second complaint - Miriam's definition of HG. First of all, she gives several different definitions of HG:
"The technical name for moderate-to-severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)." p. 5
Although she admits that "Currently, there is no set of criteria that can delinate this spectrum," (p. 5) she later states that "On occasion a hospital stay to correct dehydration is necessary. If this happens, morning sickness becomes known as hyperemesis gravidarum." (p. 245)
She seems to stick with this definition, for the most part - she repeats it several times throughout the book. So, if you end up in the hospital, you had hyperemesis; if you don't, you didn't.
Speaking from a somewhat scientifically-trained background, this is the WORST possible way to define a condition - to define it based on the clinical action taken. Frankly, I don't know how she could even contemplate this methodology! Let's take some analogous situations to see how ludicrous this appears:
- "You only have pneumonia if you go to see a doctor. Otherwise it's just a bad cold."
- "You only have cancer once the doctors decide to do chemotherapy. Otherwise it's just your imagination."
- "You only have a broken bone if the doctor gives you a cast. Otherwise it's a strain."
- "You only have a bad cut if you get stitches. Otherwise it's just a scratch."
Conditions need to be defined symptomatically; not by end-results.
My own case is a good example. I know, by personal experience and symptom-matching, that I had a (mild) case of HG. If I had known then what I knew now, I would have gone to the hospital (and thus I would have "had HG"). However, we did not have insurance and I believed (falsely) that there was no medication to give to pregnant mamas for fear of harming the baby. Thus, we stayed home even though I was dehydrated and wanting to die. But if we had gone in, like we should have, then I would (by Miriam's estimate) have had HG! Since I didn't, I obviously didn't!!
A couple more examples....
- What about the woman in a third world country who doesn't have access to medical care? Well, obviously she doesn't have HG because she wasn't hospitalized!
- What about women who check themselves into a hospital unnecessarily? I once heard a doula describe an unbalanced, hysterical-type client of hers who constantly checked herself into the hospital for imaginary or minor complaints (including nausea and vomiting, which didn't exist). Well, obviously she had HG - because she was hospitalized!
- What about the woman who isn't hospitalized because her doctor is ignorant or insensitive and refuses to hospitalize her even though she needs it? Well, obviously she didn't have HG!
Forgive the sarcasm - but her definition did make me angry. You simply cannot classify a disease condition by what the medical community decides to do about it. It must be symptom-based.
My third complaint:
I realized about two-thirds of the way through the book that this book didn't have the same "feel" as other HG books I have read. It took me a minute to realize what it was, and then I realized that this book (as far as I could tell) was not written from personal experience. Miriam has not been through HG herself. How do I conclude that? #1 - She has no "my story" part of the book, something that will never be missing from an HG-mama's writings. #2 - She has a statement in the beginning of the book that pretty much clinches it (more on that later).
Hyperemesis is what I can only describe as a "path of darkness." It is an experience with the deepest physical agony and mental suffering - an encounter with deep, deep darkness. A friend of mine described it as "sliding into the Pit," and I highly concur. Writings of HG women (such as McCall and Schmitt) deeply reflect this experience with darkness. This book had no such reflection - it was mostly bright and cheerful. I found myself thinking, "Gosh, I was making a fuss over nothing! This is just a normal condition that can be treated sensibly like anything else."
This statement made me laugh, and it made me a bit mad at the same time. Here it is:
"Believe me I know exactly what you are going through - because I take care of women just like you every day of the year." (p. xxiv, italics in original)
Oh, my goodness! Miriam, don't write things like that! If you have not been through HG, you do NOT know what HG-mothers are going through. You may know about the condition, how to treat it, have empathy with HG-mamas - but until you've been there you will not know anything about "what you are going through" - and it is presumptuous to say that you do. If you have had HG, you need to state it. If you have not had HG, then I suggest the following rewording: "Believe me, I have a lot of experience working with severe morning sickness - because I take care of women just like you every day of the year."
Let's take an example: Imagine a male obstetrician leaning over a woman in transition (the hardest part of labor) and saying, "Believe me I know exactly what you are going through - because I take care of women just like you every day of the year." What would we do? We'd laugh him out to the parking lot!!!
For major life changes, disease conditions, suffering and crises, not one of us can say that "I know just what you're going through" until he/she has been there. I cannot truly know the hurt of infertility, the hurt of deepest grief, the hurt of losing a child (much as I may sympathize) because I have not been down those paths in my own life.
There's no reason why people shouldn't study or write about conditions that they haven't experienced. Counselors and pastors counsel people all the time who are going through disasters that the counselors themselves haven't experienced. Men can make great obstetricians. And I'm sure Miriam is a great dietition helping out HG mothers. But she should not say that she "knows exactly what we're going through."
Enough complaints (for the moment).... Let's move on to a survey of this book.
The first chapter deals with the question "what is morning sickness?" There are so many facets to this condition that it is actually a pretty hard question! Miriam lists some of the different facets of morning sickness:
- Nausea, vomiting, retching
- Aversion to odors
- Aversion to bright lights
- Aversion to noises
- Aversion to tight-fitting clothes
- Low-level claustrophobia
- Sensitivity to visual motion from computer screens/televisions
I personally experienced the first two, and I have no idea about the rest - I was too sick to notice!!
She then goes on to give some of the differences between MS and HG (which, again, is hard to do). She mentions some of the other facets of morning sickness - that it's not generally "morning" sickness, that it doesn't always (or even usually) dissipate by the end of the first trimester, and that it is a condition unfortunately prone to relapse.
Miriam then writes a chapter about how morning sickness affects women's careers and families/relationships. Very important! I know that with my experience, social relationships suffered greatly (from neglect). If I had had a career, it would have been over, and if I had had a less than perfectly-patient DH, my marital relationship would have suffered as well. I got off easy - but many women don't, especially when they have careers or small children.
Chapter three is really interesting - it presents the different theories as to WHY women get morning sickness. Oddly enough, no one really knows for sure!! Here are some of the theories:
- Lowered blood sodium
- Adjustment of the brain's chemical sensors
- Metabolism of pregnancy hormones
- Slower emptying of the stomach
- Rising hormone levels
- Left vs. right ovary theory (women, for some reason, have more MS when the egg is released from the right ovary)
- Protection from sexual activity (which might conceivably harm the baby)
- Placental enzymes and low blood sugar
- Protection from food toxins
- Heightened stress
- Your diet 1 year before pregnancy (diets higher in saturated fats result in more morning sickness)
- Baby girls (has been pretty much disproven)
- Altered ratio of t-helper cells
- Lowered levels of B vitamins
When it all comes down to it, no one really knows! But it's a great education to read about it.
Chapter 4 is a study of "morning sickness through history" - it describes, in some detail, the remedies for morning sickness used throughout history and in other cultures. When I first read this chapter, I was really annoyed - because this is a chapter that is utterly useless to me as an HG mother. However, upon rereading I realized that this book is a book about morning sickness - and thus, any information known about morning sickness should be included in order to form an exhaustive text. Anyone doing research on morning sickness from an academic perspective will find this chapter very interesting - it's just not useful to here-and-now morning sickness sufferers.
After a chapter on odors (where they are, how to avoid them, etc.), Miriam writes about the technique of dealing with morning sickness "triggers." In other words, for MS/HG women, various things (noises, sights, odors, tastes) set off vomiting. Miriam writes that one should practice extreme vigilance to notice what triggers nausea and strictly avoid that. She also writes that one should think deeply about what one wants at a given moment (ice cream? soup?) and pursue that. She gives a chart which women can use daily to chart their nausea level, food preferences, climate (which can cause shifts in nausea levels) and various environmental stimuli so that they are able to track patterns and make shifts accordingly.
This all sounds great in theory. In practice? Well, she claims it works. But when I think back to my own experience, it doesn't sound very practical. I was too sick to be charting anything, all food sounded repulsive, and the least bit of solid food would cause uncontrollable vomiting. There is no way on earth I would have been able to sit there and say, "Okay, it's ten o'clock and I'm craving pickles. I see by the weather that the storm front caused an increase in nausea, so I'll wait to take my prenatal." No way!!
But I'm willing to give it a try. Hey, I'd stand on my head for an hour a day if it would work! So I'm definitely willing to give this a try.
And I should say that this book got great reviews on Amazon, with five HG mothers saying that Erick's techniques helped them greatly. So despite my skepticism, I'm not writing off this advice - it just sounds impossible from the outside.
Miriam's next chapter is on morning sickness and emotions. This covers a myriad of topics, most of which are helpful. However, there was one section in here which was so funny (unintentionally, I'm afraid) that I have to mention it. It is called "boredom and morning sickness" - a list of things to do when one is kept at home by morning sickness - things such as "make beaded barrettes or belts with a kit," "writing a child's storybook for the baby's third or fourth birthday, complete with pictures," "Knitting or embroidering," "Organizing a photo album," etc. What on earth??? If, like I was, you are in bed with morning sickness, you are in NO condition to even think about activities! That is just about as practical as giving a list of "things to do when you're home with severe food poisoning." When I was at home in bed, I was either throwing up or sleeping. Period. Origami never crossed my mind. If you're feeling well enough to do these things, I don't think you need to be in bed!! Of course, every case could be different. Who knows? I only have my experience from which to judge.
The next part is the part I find the most puzzling. As a nutritionist (registered dietitian), Erick's main focus is on "helping morning sickness with food." She (as mentioned above) asks mothers to think, for example, "Would something salty reduce or aggravate the queasy feelings at this very minute? What food or drink comes to mind at this very moment?" (p. 171) and "What food or beverage would ease your nausea? Something salty, sour, bitter, tart, sweet, crunchy/lumpy, soft/smooth, mushy, hard, fruity, wet, dry, bland, spicy, aromatic, earthy, hot, cold, thin or thick?" She then gives lists of foods for each category and asks mothers to focus on finding what they really want to eat or drink and to pursue that thing.
I can't but be puzzled by this. Erick claims to have helped cure hundreds of women with hyperemesis with this method... But even with my own mild HG, I can't imagine this helping! When all food sounds horrible beyond belief and you're retching at the first bite of solid food (and some of my severe-HG friends have been unable to even tolerate liquids), I can't really think that satisfying cravings (which I didn't have) would be the least bit helpful.
She then gives "sick day meal plans" according to the various flavors mentioned above (crunchy, salty, etc.). Again, I am puzzled. Let's look at this one, from p. 204
Sick-day meal plan (bland)
7 am - 4 unsalted oyster crackers
8 am - 1/2 egg matzo cracker
9 am - 1/2 cup instant cream of wheat
10 am - 1/2 ripe banana blended with 1/2 cup milk to make a milkshake
etc.
How does that help when you're throwing up so hard you can't even leave the bathroom? How does that help when you're so sick you can't even handle food? I remember being annoyed with my poor mother when she suggested making milkshakes, because getting out to the kitchen and getting out food and equipment to make a milkshake was simply impossible due to exhaustion and food aversions. In a later chapter, Erick gives recipes as well. They look great, but again, how is a woman with HG (whose hubbie is generally at work) going to get out to the kitchen to start cooking? I couldn't even manage to make the cheesecake for my friend's baby shower, let alone get out into the kitchen to cook for myself!!! The average hubbie is not going to be spending his entire evening cooking up various from-scratch recipes (not to mention that even if he did, that wouldn't help day-time cravings). Especially since HG-hubbies generally have a TON to do in the evenings with childcare, basic meal prep, shopping and housework - they don't have time to be whipping up various recipes.
Erick then gives a very helpful chapter on hospitalization, with all the procedures and policies to expect. This is not as indepth as McCall's treatment, but still very good.
She writes sections also on pharmaceuticals for HG, and also a bit about alternative treatments - her main focus is on acupuncture, with a wee bit on herbs and homeopathy. Her sections on herbs/homeopathy need a bit of formatting help for clarity, as she just incorporates the remedies into the text rather than putting them in bold or bullet-format - they're very hard to locate.
She closes with a chapter on the rarer complications of HG, and then gives a list of resources for HG women. Very, very helpful.
Side note: I do not like Erick's treatment of the subject of abortion. She is remarkably complacent and blase about the fact that many HG pregnancies end in abortion. It was kind of like, "So-and-so couldn't handle the nausea, so she aborted. Okay! Moving on to our next subject..." There is sympathy, but that's it.
Abortion is an inextricable part of HG. It's kind of inevitable in a country where abortion is available on demand. When you're in the midst of unbearable suffering and relief is either nine months away (basically an eternity) or one short doctor's appointment away, many women choose abortion. While I don't condemn these women, as I know what they went through, I am still 100% pro-life and believe that any abortion is a tragedy and a deep violation of human rights on the part of the unborn baby who was denied life. Any book on HG needs to contain in-depth material on abortion - at the very least, encouragement for abortion-minded women, telling them strongly that HG WILL PASS and that their beautiful baby will be in their arms. When HG is over, it is over. But when an abortion is over - the HG is gone, but the baby is dead. And most post-abortive HG women feel compelled to try again for a baby - meaning that their journey through HG will be considerably longer than if they didn't abort in the first place.
Ashli McCall's book "Beyond Morning Sickness" covers this in depth. McCall suffered severe HG four times, the first time ending in a second-trimester abortion which left her deeply scarred and grieving for life. She devotes a large part of her book to dealing with abortion and encouraging HG mothers to stick it out. There is no such encouragement in this book, and it is a big hole that needs to be filled.
On the whole? Well, I recommend this book for the information. There's a lot of information here. Even if the nutritional stuff doesn't help, there's a lot of helpful information. For myself, as a post-HG mother contemplating another pregnancy, I want to know everything about morning sickness and HG before going into another pregnancy. In the middle of HG is NOT the time to be flipping through reference books! I want to know all facets of morning sickness, drugs, alternative therapies, hospital procedures, coping strategies, nutrition, complications - knowledge is power, and I want as much of it as possible before facing another pregnancy.
In terms of the nutritional coping strategies Erick outlines, I do not possibly see how they could be helpful (although for any morning sickness short of HG, I am sure they would be GREAT - don't get me wrong). However, this woman has years and years of experience with treating HG mothers, so I'm not going to write her off. I'll give her methods a try. And I'll let you know if any of it works!
So.... Buy this book. Read it, and let me know what you think of it. If you use or have used any of her techniques in the past, let me know about it and I'll post it here. I'm quite willing to eat crow if they work!
Signing off,
Diana
"Managing Morning Sickness"
Miriam Erick
2004, 412 pages
After reading this book, I felt.... confused. Yes, definitely confused. And also irritated.
I liked the book better upon rereading it. It definitely has good information. So I guess that my review is mixed!
I want to start off with three big complaints.
First - This is not a book about hyperemesis. This is a book about morning sickness - ALL morning sickness - from the slightest queasiness to the severest case of HG. I am not sure that the choice to lump all forms of MS/HG together was a wise choice. What works for one will not work for the other, and what applies to one will not apply to the other. I found it confusing to wade through oodles of advice, only some of which applied to me.
Of course, I realize the quandary. Hyperemesis is not a well-defined condition, just because morning sickness is a spectrum/continuum condition. It progresses from mild to life-threatening, and the exact dividing point between garden-variety MS and HG is not well-defined - or rather, it is an artificial division that doesn't really exist! So it would be hard to separate the conditions for separate books! Still, it was confusing.
Which brings me to my second complaint - Miriam's definition of HG. First of all, she gives several different definitions of HG:
"The technical name for moderate-to-severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)." p. 5
Although she admits that "Currently, there is no set of criteria that can delinate this spectrum," (p. 5) she later states that "On occasion a hospital stay to correct dehydration is necessary. If this happens, morning sickness becomes known as hyperemesis gravidarum." (p. 245)
She seems to stick with this definition, for the most part - she repeats it several times throughout the book. So, if you end up in the hospital, you had hyperemesis; if you don't, you didn't.
Speaking from a somewhat scientifically-trained background, this is the WORST possible way to define a condition - to define it based on the clinical action taken. Frankly, I don't know how she could even contemplate this methodology! Let's take some analogous situations to see how ludicrous this appears:
- "You only have pneumonia if you go to see a doctor. Otherwise it's just a bad cold."
- "You only have cancer once the doctors decide to do chemotherapy. Otherwise it's just your imagination."
- "You only have a broken bone if the doctor gives you a cast. Otherwise it's a strain."
- "You only have a bad cut if you get stitches. Otherwise it's just a scratch."
Conditions need to be defined symptomatically; not by end-results.
My own case is a good example. I know, by personal experience and symptom-matching, that I had a (mild) case of HG. If I had known then what I knew now, I would have gone to the hospital (and thus I would have "had HG"). However, we did not have insurance and I believed (falsely) that there was no medication to give to pregnant mamas for fear of harming the baby. Thus, we stayed home even though I was dehydrated and wanting to die. But if we had gone in, like we should have, then I would (by Miriam's estimate) have had HG! Since I didn't, I obviously didn't!!
A couple more examples....
- What about the woman in a third world country who doesn't have access to medical care? Well, obviously she doesn't have HG because she wasn't hospitalized!
- What about women who check themselves into a hospital unnecessarily? I once heard a doula describe an unbalanced, hysterical-type client of hers who constantly checked herself into the hospital for imaginary or minor complaints (including nausea and vomiting, which didn't exist). Well, obviously she had HG - because she was hospitalized!
- What about the woman who isn't hospitalized because her doctor is ignorant or insensitive and refuses to hospitalize her even though she needs it? Well, obviously she didn't have HG!
Forgive the sarcasm - but her definition did make me angry. You simply cannot classify a disease condition by what the medical community decides to do about it. It must be symptom-based.
My third complaint:
I realized about two-thirds of the way through the book that this book didn't have the same "feel" as other HG books I have read. It took me a minute to realize what it was, and then I realized that this book (as far as I could tell) was not written from personal experience. Miriam has not been through HG herself. How do I conclude that? #1 - She has no "my story" part of the book, something that will never be missing from an HG-mama's writings. #2 - She has a statement in the beginning of the book that pretty much clinches it (more on that later).
Hyperemesis is what I can only describe as a "path of darkness." It is an experience with the deepest physical agony and mental suffering - an encounter with deep, deep darkness. A friend of mine described it as "sliding into the Pit," and I highly concur. Writings of HG women (such as McCall and Schmitt) deeply reflect this experience with darkness. This book had no such reflection - it was mostly bright and cheerful. I found myself thinking, "Gosh, I was making a fuss over nothing! This is just a normal condition that can be treated sensibly like anything else."
This statement made me laugh, and it made me a bit mad at the same time. Here it is:
"Believe me I know exactly what you are going through - because I take care of women just like you every day of the year." (p. xxiv, italics in original)
Oh, my goodness! Miriam, don't write things like that! If you have not been through HG, you do NOT know what HG-mothers are going through. You may know about the condition, how to treat it, have empathy with HG-mamas - but until you've been there you will not know anything about "what you are going through" - and it is presumptuous to say that you do. If you have had HG, you need to state it. If you have not had HG, then I suggest the following rewording: "Believe me, I have a lot of experience working with severe morning sickness - because I take care of women just like you every day of the year."
Let's take an example: Imagine a male obstetrician leaning over a woman in transition (the hardest part of labor) and saying, "Believe me I know exactly what you are going through - because I take care of women just like you every day of the year." What would we do? We'd laugh him out to the parking lot!!!
For major life changes, disease conditions, suffering and crises, not one of us can say that "I know just what you're going through" until he/she has been there. I cannot truly know the hurt of infertility, the hurt of deepest grief, the hurt of losing a child (much as I may sympathize) because I have not been down those paths in my own life.
There's no reason why people shouldn't study or write about conditions that they haven't experienced. Counselors and pastors counsel people all the time who are going through disasters that the counselors themselves haven't experienced. Men can make great obstetricians. And I'm sure Miriam is a great dietition helping out HG mothers. But she should not say that she "knows exactly what we're going through."
Enough complaints (for the moment).... Let's move on to a survey of this book.
The first chapter deals with the question "what is morning sickness?" There are so many facets to this condition that it is actually a pretty hard question! Miriam lists some of the different facets of morning sickness:
- Nausea, vomiting, retching
- Aversion to odors
- Aversion to bright lights
- Aversion to noises
- Aversion to tight-fitting clothes
- Low-level claustrophobia
- Sensitivity to visual motion from computer screens/televisions
I personally experienced the first two, and I have no idea about the rest - I was too sick to notice!!
She then goes on to give some of the differences between MS and HG (which, again, is hard to do). She mentions some of the other facets of morning sickness - that it's not generally "morning" sickness, that it doesn't always (or even usually) dissipate by the end of the first trimester, and that it is a condition unfortunately prone to relapse.
Miriam then writes a chapter about how morning sickness affects women's careers and families/relationships. Very important! I know that with my experience, social relationships suffered greatly (from neglect). If I had had a career, it would have been over, and if I had had a less than perfectly-patient DH, my marital relationship would have suffered as well. I got off easy - but many women don't, especially when they have careers or small children.
Chapter three is really interesting - it presents the different theories as to WHY women get morning sickness. Oddly enough, no one really knows for sure!! Here are some of the theories:
- Lowered blood sodium
- Adjustment of the brain's chemical sensors
- Metabolism of pregnancy hormones
- Slower emptying of the stomach
- Rising hormone levels
- Left vs. right ovary theory (women, for some reason, have more MS when the egg is released from the right ovary)
- Protection from sexual activity (which might conceivably harm the baby)
- Placental enzymes and low blood sugar
- Protection from food toxins
- Heightened stress
- Your diet 1 year before pregnancy (diets higher in saturated fats result in more morning sickness)
- Baby girls (has been pretty much disproven)
- Altered ratio of t-helper cells
- Lowered levels of B vitamins
When it all comes down to it, no one really knows! But it's a great education to read about it.
Chapter 4 is a study of "morning sickness through history" - it describes, in some detail, the remedies for morning sickness used throughout history and in other cultures. When I first read this chapter, I was really annoyed - because this is a chapter that is utterly useless to me as an HG mother. However, upon rereading I realized that this book is a book about morning sickness - and thus, any information known about morning sickness should be included in order to form an exhaustive text. Anyone doing research on morning sickness from an academic perspective will find this chapter very interesting - it's just not useful to here-and-now morning sickness sufferers.
After a chapter on odors (where they are, how to avoid them, etc.), Miriam writes about the technique of dealing with morning sickness "triggers." In other words, for MS/HG women, various things (noises, sights, odors, tastes) set off vomiting. Miriam writes that one should practice extreme vigilance to notice what triggers nausea and strictly avoid that. She also writes that one should think deeply about what one wants at a given moment (ice cream? soup?) and pursue that. She gives a chart which women can use daily to chart their nausea level, food preferences, climate (which can cause shifts in nausea levels) and various environmental stimuli so that they are able to track patterns and make shifts accordingly.
This all sounds great in theory. In practice? Well, she claims it works. But when I think back to my own experience, it doesn't sound very practical. I was too sick to be charting anything, all food sounded repulsive, and the least bit of solid food would cause uncontrollable vomiting. There is no way on earth I would have been able to sit there and say, "Okay, it's ten o'clock and I'm craving pickles. I see by the weather that the storm front caused an increase in nausea, so I'll wait to take my prenatal." No way!!
But I'm willing to give it a try. Hey, I'd stand on my head for an hour a day if it would work! So I'm definitely willing to give this a try.
And I should say that this book got great reviews on Amazon, with five HG mothers saying that Erick's techniques helped them greatly. So despite my skepticism, I'm not writing off this advice - it just sounds impossible from the outside.
Miriam's next chapter is on morning sickness and emotions. This covers a myriad of topics, most of which are helpful. However, there was one section in here which was so funny (unintentionally, I'm afraid) that I have to mention it. It is called "boredom and morning sickness" - a list of things to do when one is kept at home by morning sickness - things such as "make beaded barrettes or belts with a kit," "writing a child's storybook for the baby's third or fourth birthday, complete with pictures," "Knitting or embroidering," "Organizing a photo album," etc. What on earth??? If, like I was, you are in bed with morning sickness, you are in NO condition to even think about activities! That is just about as practical as giving a list of "things to do when you're home with severe food poisoning." When I was at home in bed, I was either throwing up or sleeping. Period. Origami never crossed my mind. If you're feeling well enough to do these things, I don't think you need to be in bed!! Of course, every case could be different. Who knows? I only have my experience from which to judge.
The next part is the part I find the most puzzling. As a nutritionist (registered dietitian), Erick's main focus is on "helping morning sickness with food." She (as mentioned above) asks mothers to think, for example, "Would something salty reduce or aggravate the queasy feelings at this very minute? What food or drink comes to mind at this very moment?" (p. 171) and "What food or beverage would ease your nausea? Something salty, sour, bitter, tart, sweet, crunchy/lumpy, soft/smooth, mushy, hard, fruity, wet, dry, bland, spicy, aromatic, earthy, hot, cold, thin or thick?" She then gives lists of foods for each category and asks mothers to focus on finding what they really want to eat or drink and to pursue that thing.
I can't but be puzzled by this. Erick claims to have helped cure hundreds of women with hyperemesis with this method... But even with my own mild HG, I can't imagine this helping! When all food sounds horrible beyond belief and you're retching at the first bite of solid food (and some of my severe-HG friends have been unable to even tolerate liquids), I can't really think that satisfying cravings (which I didn't have) would be the least bit helpful.
She then gives "sick day meal plans" according to the various flavors mentioned above (crunchy, salty, etc.). Again, I am puzzled. Let's look at this one, from p. 204
Sick-day meal plan (bland)
7 am - 4 unsalted oyster crackers
8 am - 1/2 egg matzo cracker
9 am - 1/2 cup instant cream of wheat
10 am - 1/2 ripe banana blended with 1/2 cup milk to make a milkshake
etc.
How does that help when you're throwing up so hard you can't even leave the bathroom? How does that help when you're so sick you can't even handle food? I remember being annoyed with my poor mother when she suggested making milkshakes, because getting out to the kitchen and getting out food and equipment to make a milkshake was simply impossible due to exhaustion and food aversions. In a later chapter, Erick gives recipes as well. They look great, but again, how is a woman with HG (whose hubbie is generally at work) going to get out to the kitchen to start cooking? I couldn't even manage to make the cheesecake for my friend's baby shower, let alone get out into the kitchen to cook for myself!!! The average hubbie is not going to be spending his entire evening cooking up various from-scratch recipes (not to mention that even if he did, that wouldn't help day-time cravings). Especially since HG-hubbies generally have a TON to do in the evenings with childcare, basic meal prep, shopping and housework - they don't have time to be whipping up various recipes.
Erick then gives a very helpful chapter on hospitalization, with all the procedures and policies to expect. This is not as indepth as McCall's treatment, but still very good.
She writes sections also on pharmaceuticals for HG, and also a bit about alternative treatments - her main focus is on acupuncture, with a wee bit on herbs and homeopathy. Her sections on herbs/homeopathy need a bit of formatting help for clarity, as she just incorporates the remedies into the text rather than putting them in bold or bullet-format - they're very hard to locate.
She closes with a chapter on the rarer complications of HG, and then gives a list of resources for HG women. Very, very helpful.
Side note: I do not like Erick's treatment of the subject of abortion. She is remarkably complacent and blase about the fact that many HG pregnancies end in abortion. It was kind of like, "So-and-so couldn't handle the nausea, so she aborted. Okay! Moving on to our next subject..." There is sympathy, but that's it.
Abortion is an inextricable part of HG. It's kind of inevitable in a country where abortion is available on demand. When you're in the midst of unbearable suffering and relief is either nine months away (basically an eternity) or one short doctor's appointment away, many women choose abortion. While I don't condemn these women, as I know what they went through, I am still 100% pro-life and believe that any abortion is a tragedy and a deep violation of human rights on the part of the unborn baby who was denied life. Any book on HG needs to contain in-depth material on abortion - at the very least, encouragement for abortion-minded women, telling them strongly that HG WILL PASS and that their beautiful baby will be in their arms. When HG is over, it is over. But when an abortion is over - the HG is gone, but the baby is dead. And most post-abortive HG women feel compelled to try again for a baby - meaning that their journey through HG will be considerably longer than if they didn't abort in the first place.
Ashli McCall's book "Beyond Morning Sickness" covers this in depth. McCall suffered severe HG four times, the first time ending in a second-trimester abortion which left her deeply scarred and grieving for life. She devotes a large part of her book to dealing with abortion and encouraging HG mothers to stick it out. There is no such encouragement in this book, and it is a big hole that needs to be filled.
On the whole? Well, I recommend this book for the information. There's a lot of information here. Even if the nutritional stuff doesn't help, there's a lot of helpful information. For myself, as a post-HG mother contemplating another pregnancy, I want to know everything about morning sickness and HG before going into another pregnancy. In the middle of HG is NOT the time to be flipping through reference books! I want to know all facets of morning sickness, drugs, alternative therapies, hospital procedures, coping strategies, nutrition, complications - knowledge is power, and I want as much of it as possible before facing another pregnancy.
In terms of the nutritional coping strategies Erick outlines, I do not possibly see how they could be helpful (although for any morning sickness short of HG, I am sure they would be GREAT - don't get me wrong). However, this woman has years and years of experience with treating HG mothers, so I'm not going to write her off. I'll give her methods a try. And I'll let you know if any of it works!
So.... Buy this book. Read it, and let me know what you think of it. If you use or have used any of her techniques in the past, let me know about it and I'll post it here. I'm quite willing to eat crow if they work!
Signing off,
Diana
Monday, August 25, 2008
Book Review: "Unassisted Childbirth" by Laura Shanley
"Unassisted Childbirth"
Laura Shanley
1994, 151 pages
Just when I think I've caught up with my book reviews, I finish another book!
Of course, I'm only fooling myself. I have 30+ books waiting to be reviewed that I read before I started this blog. I could review books 24/7 for the next week and not be done! And I know I'm not reviewing books as thoroughly as I could. My reviews are more "mini-reviews" - regrettable, but more fitted to the time constraints of the mother of a toddler.
And so, on to "Unassisted Childbirth"!
Unassisted Childbirth (UC) refers to homebirth at which there is no doctor or midwife present. The UC movement is a small subset within the homebirth/alternative birth movement. It is regarded by the alternative childbirth movement with mixed emotions - some love it as the ultimate free expression of birth, some rue it as that which gives homebirthers a bad reputation.
I should state that I am an unequivocal supporter of unassisted childbirth. A mother has the inalienable right to birth her children in any location and in any manner which she wishes. If she wants a hospital birth, she has the right to a hospital birth. If in a birth center, at a birth center. If at home with a midwife, then at home with a midwife. If at home with her husband, then at home with her husband. If alone under the moon in Yosemite, then alone under the moon in Yosemite!!!! This isn't too hard of a concept.
I have several friends and acquaintances who are unassisted birthers, and I respect their methods and philosophies highly.
Unassisted birthers are generally pretty underground, just because of the strong social disapproval which generally follows the announcement that one is planning an unassisted birth. So this movement is not a particularly visible movement.
I find unassisted birth intriguing, but it's not for me. When I'm in labor, I want to be surrounded by women. Lots of women. Lots and lots and lots of women - and I LOVE midwives. The more the merrier!
Anyhow...
I first met Laura Shanley last year at a birth conference and have been absolutely in love with her ever since. It was rather interesting how I met her. I had actually never heard of her up until the evening before the conference, when DH and I decided to watch a birth video I had picked up randomly from the library. Ta da! It was all about Laura Shanley. Me: "Hey, I think that's the woman who's speaking tomorrow!" And the next day, there she was in the flesh!
I got to speak to her for about ten minutes and absolutely loved her. Laura Shanley is a woman who is beautiful both in person and in spirit, and I have been an admirer of hers ever since.
You can see Laura's website "Born Free" here:
Born Free
(There are some great UC videos on this site).
You can see Laura's current blog here:
Letters from Laura
Laura is, somewhat unintentionally, the unofficial leader of the unassisted childbirth movement. The two phrases are inextricably linked together! If you read up on Laura Shanley, you're basically reading up on unassisted childbirth.
This book is not a "how-to" manual. I had rather hoped that it was, but it is not. If you're looking for a how-to guide, I suggest instead Elizabeth Davis's "Heart and Hands," which is not a UC guide but which is a beginning midwifery text written at the level of lay understanding.
Laura spends time in her opening chapters detailing the myriad problems with modern hospital birth: induction, insistence on the supine position during labor and delivery, IV, pubic hair shaving and enemas (less common now but still performed in about 10% of births), amniotomy, fetal monitors, drugs used in labor/delivery, directed pushing, artificial labor augmentation, frequent vaginal exams, episiotomy, instrumental delivery, cesarean section, suctioning, early cord clamping, insistence of immediate delivery of the placenta, vitamin K and eye drops and separation of mother and baby after birth. This section is clear and accurate and well-documented.
Laura includes a chapter of unassisted childbirth stories, some intentional and some accidental, and completes the book with the stories of her own unassisted births (all of her children were birthed unassisted).
Laura and her husband David have been put through the wringer over their beliefs. Besides all of the negative publicity they receive, they had the charming experience of having their firstborn baby taken from them by force by the police for almost a week for the crime of birthing outside of a hospital. They were harassed by law enforcement and attacked verbally. Problems also developed after one of the Shanley's babies died after birth due to birth defects, something which would have happened even if Laura had birthed in a hospital, but which was attributed in the media to her "irresponsible birth practices." One way or another, this family has had a tough time of it!
The rest of the book is devoted to an explanation of Laura's worldview and explanation of thought processes leading up to the decision to birth unassisted. It is complicated and definitely unorthodox. Do I agree with her? Hmmm... no, not really. As a conservative Christian, I cannot agree with many of her beliefs and views. However, I do agree with her in some aspects: Women do have the right to birth how they want to. Childbirth can be pain-free (usually isn't, but can be). Childbirth is not as dangerous as it is portrayed in the media. The mind is a powerful instrument over the body. And childbirth is an ultimate expression of love.
I recommend this book with some reservations. It's a great resource; I don't agree with it all, and I'm not sure that all the worldview material was necessary. But I love Laura Shanley and respect her greatly, and this is a good starter book toward understanding the UC movement.
Laura Shanley
1994, 151 pages
Just when I think I've caught up with my book reviews, I finish another book!
Of course, I'm only fooling myself. I have 30+ books waiting to be reviewed that I read before I started this blog. I could review books 24/7 for the next week and not be done! And I know I'm not reviewing books as thoroughly as I could. My reviews are more "mini-reviews" - regrettable, but more fitted to the time constraints of the mother of a toddler.
And so, on to "Unassisted Childbirth"!
Unassisted Childbirth (UC) refers to homebirth at which there is no doctor or midwife present. The UC movement is a small subset within the homebirth/alternative birth movement. It is regarded by the alternative childbirth movement with mixed emotions - some love it as the ultimate free expression of birth, some rue it as that which gives homebirthers a bad reputation.
I should state that I am an unequivocal supporter of unassisted childbirth. A mother has the inalienable right to birth her children in any location and in any manner which she wishes. If she wants a hospital birth, she has the right to a hospital birth. If in a birth center, at a birth center. If at home with a midwife, then at home with a midwife. If at home with her husband, then at home with her husband. If alone under the moon in Yosemite, then alone under the moon in Yosemite!!!! This isn't too hard of a concept.
I have several friends and acquaintances who are unassisted birthers, and I respect their methods and philosophies highly.
Unassisted birthers are generally pretty underground, just because of the strong social disapproval which generally follows the announcement that one is planning an unassisted birth. So this movement is not a particularly visible movement.
I find unassisted birth intriguing, but it's not for me. When I'm in labor, I want to be surrounded by women. Lots of women. Lots and lots and lots of women - and I LOVE midwives. The more the merrier!
Anyhow...
I first met Laura Shanley last year at a birth conference and have been absolutely in love with her ever since. It was rather interesting how I met her. I had actually never heard of her up until the evening before the conference, when DH and I decided to watch a birth video I had picked up randomly from the library. Ta da! It was all about Laura Shanley. Me: "Hey, I think that's the woman who's speaking tomorrow!" And the next day, there she was in the flesh!
I got to speak to her for about ten minutes and absolutely loved her. Laura Shanley is a woman who is beautiful both in person and in spirit, and I have been an admirer of hers ever since.
You can see Laura's website "Born Free" here:
Born Free
(There are some great UC videos on this site).
You can see Laura's current blog here:
Letters from Laura
Laura is, somewhat unintentionally, the unofficial leader of the unassisted childbirth movement. The two phrases are inextricably linked together! If you read up on Laura Shanley, you're basically reading up on unassisted childbirth.
This book is not a "how-to" manual. I had rather hoped that it was, but it is not. If you're looking for a how-to guide, I suggest instead Elizabeth Davis's "Heart and Hands," which is not a UC guide but which is a beginning midwifery text written at the level of lay understanding.
Laura spends time in her opening chapters detailing the myriad problems with modern hospital birth: induction, insistence on the supine position during labor and delivery, IV, pubic hair shaving and enemas (less common now but still performed in about 10% of births), amniotomy, fetal monitors, drugs used in labor/delivery, directed pushing, artificial labor augmentation, frequent vaginal exams, episiotomy, instrumental delivery, cesarean section, suctioning, early cord clamping, insistence of immediate delivery of the placenta, vitamin K and eye drops and separation of mother and baby after birth. This section is clear and accurate and well-documented.
Laura includes a chapter of unassisted childbirth stories, some intentional and some accidental, and completes the book with the stories of her own unassisted births (all of her children were birthed unassisted).
Laura and her husband David have been put through the wringer over their beliefs. Besides all of the negative publicity they receive, they had the charming experience of having their firstborn baby taken from them by force by the police for almost a week for the crime of birthing outside of a hospital. They were harassed by law enforcement and attacked verbally. Problems also developed after one of the Shanley's babies died after birth due to birth defects, something which would have happened even if Laura had birthed in a hospital, but which was attributed in the media to her "irresponsible birth practices." One way or another, this family has had a tough time of it!
The rest of the book is devoted to an explanation of Laura's worldview and explanation of thought processes leading up to the decision to birth unassisted. It is complicated and definitely unorthodox. Do I agree with her? Hmmm... no, not really. As a conservative Christian, I cannot agree with many of her beliefs and views. However, I do agree with her in some aspects: Women do have the right to birth how they want to. Childbirth can be pain-free (usually isn't, but can be). Childbirth is not as dangerous as it is portrayed in the media. The mind is a powerful instrument over the body. And childbirth is an ultimate expression of love.
I recommend this book with some reservations. It's a great resource; I don't agree with it all, and I'm not sure that all the worldview material was necessary. But I love Laura Shanley and respect her greatly, and this is a good starter book toward understanding the UC movement.
Book Review: "Gentle Birth Choices" by Barbara Harper
"Gentle Birth Choices"
Barbara Harper
1994, 268 pages
"Human birth is the most miraculous, transformational, and mysterious event of our lives.... A gentle birth begins by focusing on the mother's experience and by bringing together a woman's emotional dimensions and her physical and spiritual needs. A gentle birth respects the mother's pivotal role, acknowledging that she knows how to birth her child in her own time and in her own way, trusting her instincts and intuition." (Harper 1994: 7)
This book has a new edition, released in 2005. I would love to have read that edition, but my library only had the 1994 edition - still great!
This book is truly the classic among classics in the alternative childbirth arena. It will give you top-notch information that is meticulously well-documented and is a must-read for all prospective parents. I highly recommend this book. I'm actually surprised that it took me this long to get around to reading it, as it is such a timeless classic.
Barbara Harper does such a great job with this book that it is hard to know where to begin. Let's start with a basic overview.
The forward to this book is written by Robbie Davis-Floyd, an eminent anthropologist and specialist in birthing anthropology and politics (I am reading one of her books right now, "Mainstreaming Midwives," and it is already an all-time favorite). I learned a ton through her short forward! I never realized how important birth practices are from an anthropological point of view, and how important the study of anthropology is to a true understanding of the meaning behind cultural birth practices. Here's a great quote from Davis-Floyd:
"We in the United States live in a technocracy - a society organized around an ideology of technological progress. The core values of the technocracy center around science and technology and the institutions that control and disseminate them. In every society, core cultural beliefs and values are most highly visible in the rituals that accompany important life transitions like birth, puberty, marriage, initiation into a religious or occupational group, parenthood and death. Rituals at the most basic level are enactments of these core cultural values and beliefs. Thus it is not surprising that the core values of our technocratic society would be most visible in the rituals with which we surround the birth process.
"Basic to initiation rites across cultures is the removal of the initiate from normal social life. Once so removed, initiates are stripped of their individuality - their heads are often shaved or their hair clipped short; their clothes and adornments are taken away and they are dressed in identical gowns or robes. They are then subjected to hazing processes designed to break down their normal ways of thinking. Once this cognitive breakdown is well underway, the initiate is bombarded with messages about the core values of the culture. These messages are conveyed through powerful symbols.... These symbolic messages serve to rebuild the belief system of the initiates in accordance with the dominant beliefs and values of the group of society into which they are being initiated.
"It is not difficult to see striking parallels between this cross-cultural initiation process and hospital birth. Birthing women are removed from their social setting and taken into the hospital - a powerful institution organized around our culture's supervaluation of science and technology. Their clothes are taken away, they are dressed in hospital gowns, and their pubic hair is shaved or clipped, symbolically desexualizing the lower half of their body and marking it as institutional property. Labor itself is a natural hazing process - the pain of contractions leaves women disoriented and wide open to internalize the symbolic messages they are sent. The powerful cultural symbols that convey these messages are the intravenous (IV) line, the electronic fetal monitor, the Pitocin drip, and all other myriad technological procedures through which most birthing women in the United States must undergo during their rite of passages into motherhood. What messages do such procedures convey into the bodies and emotions of birthing women?"
(David-Floyd, "Gentle Birth Practices, xi-xii)
Wow! How interesting! And, I believe, how often accurate.
Harper begins her book with a list of "ingredients for gentle birth" - a list including preparation through education, a reassuring environment, freedom to move, quiet, low lighting, gentle first breaths and caresses and early breastfeeding and bonding - an excellent list with all ingredients well-explained.
Harper then goes on to give a history of childbirth, including a great explanation of how the United States got into the current mess with childbirth that we are currently still experiencing. She covers the witch hunt for midwives, the move of childbirth into the hospital, and the take-over of technology over the normal physiological process of birth.
Harper then has a great chapter in which she unpacks and dispels common medical myths, citing evidence proving these myths unfounded and showing how the opposite is actually true:
The hospital is the safest place to have a baby
Maternity care should be managed only by a physician
The electronic fetal monitor will save babies
Once a cesarean, always a cesarean
Birth needs to be sterile
Drugs for pain relief won't hurt the baby
An episiotomy heals better than a tear
It's better not to eat or drink during labor
Family and friends interfere during birth
The baby needs to be observed in a newborn nursery
If you are over thirty-five, your birth will be difficult
Here are some great quotes from that section:
"The results from this particular study (Mehl, 1976) show that the mortality statistics for hospital birth and homebirth were identical. Aside from mortality rates.. this study also dramatically revealed that complications and interventions during birth were far greater in births that took place in the hospital than in births that took place at home. Five percent of home-birth mothers received some form of pain medication, whereas 75 percent of hospitalized mothers received medication. There were three times as many cesarean sections in hospital births as there were in the planned homebirths with subsequent transfer to hospital. Hospital-born babies suffered more fetal distress, newborn infections, and birth injuries than home-birth babies. The episiotomy rate was ten times higher for mothers in the hospital, and they suffered twice as many severe perineal lacerations. The increased episiotomy rate and severity of perineal lacerations was most likely the result of the use of forceps and the lithotomy position for birth." (Harper 1994: 54)
Numbers which have remained constant in the years since this book was written. Wow.
"In addition to the medical competency of midwives, an important aspect to consider is the psychological support that midwives provide... Pregnant women are also less likely to be overly dependent on a midwife, who generally assists women in becoming educated about the birth process and encourages them to trust thier instincts. In comparison, it is common for pregnant women to see their doctors as authority figures and for doctors to readily assume that role. Even the language that most midwives use differentiates their views of childbirth from those of physicians. Physicians have patients but midwives have clients. A physician "delivers the baby," which implies control, while a midwife helps the woman "birth her baby."
I have noticed all of the above big-time in my interaction with the birth world, and it is extremely important. As a client of my midwife, I feel all the equality that the word implies. For my next pregnancy (assumed) I will also be under the care of an OB for help with hyperemesis, and am considered a "patient." After repeating the phrase a couple of times, I have rejected the terminology and the subservience it implies and now call myself a client of my OB - much better!
This is an AMAZING quote by Dr. Edward H. Hon, inventor of the electronic fetal monitor:
"Dr. Edward H. Hon, inventor of the EFM, asked his colleagues to consider the causes of the rising cesarean rate in the United States. He stated that he never intended the EFM to be used in routine obstetric management. 'If you mess around with a process [birth] that works well 98 percent of the time, there is a potential for much harm... The cesarean section is considered as a rescue mission of the baby by the white knight, but actually you've assaulted the mother.'"
A little-known fact about EFM is that the widespread introduction of EFM into normal labors has done absolutely NOTHING to reduce fetal mortality or morbidity - the rates have remained the same. What has changed is the c-section rate, which has skyrocketed. The EFM gives ridiculously high rates of both false positives and false negatives in terms of detecting fetal distress, causing physicians to perform vast numbers of unnecessary sections - and giving unethical physicians the opportunity to perform sections for personal convenience or simply to avoid lawsuits.
The process for many modern labors is described below (described verbatim by many of my friends):
"A typical hospital scenario during a slow labor [personal note: or oftentimes, a prematurely induced labor] is to administer the drug Pitocin, a synthetic version of oxytocin, which a laboring woman's body produces naturally. Pitocin is given in order to speed up and intensify contractions. Thus, when women are given Pitocin, they are often offered a painkiller as well. While the Pitocin works to quicken the labor, the drugs for pain relief have the opposite effect. In addition, the administration of Pitocin effectively restricts the movements of the laboring woman because she is required to have an intravenous (IV) line and an internal fetal monitor w. These restrictions can slow labor even further. If the Pitocin does not work within a certain time limit, a laboring woman will often hear statements like, 'We've tried everything' do you want to do this for another twelve hours?' or 'You just weren't meant to have this baby vaginally.'" (pp. 66-67)
I'd love to say that this was a thing of the past, but too many of my friends are coming home from the hospital with the exact same story.
Harper then gives great chapters on guidelines for gentle birth, including birth preparation techniques and a wonderful chapter on waterbirth, as well as chapter on the mind-body connection, homebirth and the creation of gentle birth. Here's one quote from a physician well-versed in waterbirth, which applies to all facets of gentle birth:
"'Waterbirth is a reasonable thing to do, and there is only one way it's going to happen. It will not come from universities; it will not come from doctors; it will come from consumers, that is, mothers and fathers who demand it. As more birthing places offer water birth as an option, women will walk away from doctors who say no. The establishment will be forced to change because the consumer demands it.'" (p. 146)
This is true of all gentle birth practices. Change only comes by consumer demand.
Rosenthal also notes that moving waterbirth into the hospital does not erase all of the problems of modern hospital birth.
"The beautiful new Jacuzzi tubs installed in the Santa Monica Hospital maternity unit in 1991 are a case in point. Women are 'not allowed' to enter the bath if their water has not broken and the baby's head has not descended into the pelvic cavity. They are also 'not allowed to enter the bath after their water has broken. Rosenthal does not think American hospitals will widely adopt water birth as an option: 'The problem is removing obstetricians from normal birth. The problem remains of educating doctors on how to surrender into this normal process. How can a doctor, traditionally trained, even conceive of any other way to give birth if he has only seen a thousand women on their backs, hooked to fetal monitors, with legs up in stirrups?'" (p. 165)
Along the same lines, here's a great quote from Marsden Wagner:
"'Change won't come easy. We have an incredibly obstinate obstetrical profession. It's all about territory. It's all about power. It's all about control. And at the end of the day, it's about money.'" (p. 215)
Personal note: Again, there are lots of great OBs out there who work toward gentle, respectful birth practices. This does not apply to you!!
Harper concludes her book with a great section of additional resources and questions to ask prospectives physicians and midwives.
I loved this book! It's a definite keeper and will be going in my library soon. I recommend it to all pregnant mamas and daddies and natural-childbirth aficionados. There is a wealth of knowledge contained in this book and I can't say enough about it!
Barbara Harper
1994, 268 pages
"Human birth is the most miraculous, transformational, and mysterious event of our lives.... A gentle birth begins by focusing on the mother's experience and by bringing together a woman's emotional dimensions and her physical and spiritual needs. A gentle birth respects the mother's pivotal role, acknowledging that she knows how to birth her child in her own time and in her own way, trusting her instincts and intuition." (Harper 1994: 7)
This book has a new edition, released in 2005. I would love to have read that edition, but my library only had the 1994 edition - still great!
This book is truly the classic among classics in the alternative childbirth arena. It will give you top-notch information that is meticulously well-documented and is a must-read for all prospective parents. I highly recommend this book. I'm actually surprised that it took me this long to get around to reading it, as it is such a timeless classic.
Barbara Harper does such a great job with this book that it is hard to know where to begin. Let's start with a basic overview.
The forward to this book is written by Robbie Davis-Floyd, an eminent anthropologist and specialist in birthing anthropology and politics (I am reading one of her books right now, "Mainstreaming Midwives," and it is already an all-time favorite). I learned a ton through her short forward! I never realized how important birth practices are from an anthropological point of view, and how important the study of anthropology is to a true understanding of the meaning behind cultural birth practices. Here's a great quote from Davis-Floyd:
"We in the United States live in a technocracy - a society organized around an ideology of technological progress. The core values of the technocracy center around science and technology and the institutions that control and disseminate them. In every society, core cultural beliefs and values are most highly visible in the rituals that accompany important life transitions like birth, puberty, marriage, initiation into a religious or occupational group, parenthood and death. Rituals at the most basic level are enactments of these core cultural values and beliefs. Thus it is not surprising that the core values of our technocratic society would be most visible in the rituals with which we surround the birth process.
"Basic to initiation rites across cultures is the removal of the initiate from normal social life. Once so removed, initiates are stripped of their individuality - their heads are often shaved or their hair clipped short; their clothes and adornments are taken away and they are dressed in identical gowns or robes. They are then subjected to hazing processes designed to break down their normal ways of thinking. Once this cognitive breakdown is well underway, the initiate is bombarded with messages about the core values of the culture. These messages are conveyed through powerful symbols.... These symbolic messages serve to rebuild the belief system of the initiates in accordance with the dominant beliefs and values of the group of society into which they are being initiated.
"It is not difficult to see striking parallels between this cross-cultural initiation process and hospital birth. Birthing women are removed from their social setting and taken into the hospital - a powerful institution organized around our culture's supervaluation of science and technology. Their clothes are taken away, they are dressed in hospital gowns, and their pubic hair is shaved or clipped, symbolically desexualizing the lower half of their body and marking it as institutional property. Labor itself is a natural hazing process - the pain of contractions leaves women disoriented and wide open to internalize the symbolic messages they are sent. The powerful cultural symbols that convey these messages are the intravenous (IV) line, the electronic fetal monitor, the Pitocin drip, and all other myriad technological procedures through which most birthing women in the United States must undergo during their rite of passages into motherhood. What messages do such procedures convey into the bodies and emotions of birthing women?"
(David-Floyd, "Gentle Birth Practices, xi-xii)
Wow! How interesting! And, I believe, how often accurate.
Harper begins her book with a list of "ingredients for gentle birth" - a list including preparation through education, a reassuring environment, freedom to move, quiet, low lighting, gentle first breaths and caresses and early breastfeeding and bonding - an excellent list with all ingredients well-explained.
Harper then goes on to give a history of childbirth, including a great explanation of how the United States got into the current mess with childbirth that we are currently still experiencing. She covers the witch hunt for midwives, the move of childbirth into the hospital, and the take-over of technology over the normal physiological process of birth.
Harper then has a great chapter in which she unpacks and dispels common medical myths, citing evidence proving these myths unfounded and showing how the opposite is actually true:
The hospital is the safest place to have a baby
Maternity care should be managed only by a physician
The electronic fetal monitor will save babies
Once a cesarean, always a cesarean
Birth needs to be sterile
Drugs for pain relief won't hurt the baby
An episiotomy heals better than a tear
It's better not to eat or drink during labor
Family and friends interfere during birth
The baby needs to be observed in a newborn nursery
If you are over thirty-five, your birth will be difficult
Here are some great quotes from that section:
"The results from this particular study (Mehl, 1976) show that the mortality statistics for hospital birth and homebirth were identical. Aside from mortality rates.. this study also dramatically revealed that complications and interventions during birth were far greater in births that took place in the hospital than in births that took place at home. Five percent of home-birth mothers received some form of pain medication, whereas 75 percent of hospitalized mothers received medication. There were three times as many cesarean sections in hospital births as there were in the planned homebirths with subsequent transfer to hospital. Hospital-born babies suffered more fetal distress, newborn infections, and birth injuries than home-birth babies. The episiotomy rate was ten times higher for mothers in the hospital, and they suffered twice as many severe perineal lacerations. The increased episiotomy rate and severity of perineal lacerations was most likely the result of the use of forceps and the lithotomy position for birth." (Harper 1994: 54)
Numbers which have remained constant in the years since this book was written. Wow.
"In addition to the medical competency of midwives, an important aspect to consider is the psychological support that midwives provide... Pregnant women are also less likely to be overly dependent on a midwife, who generally assists women in becoming educated about the birth process and encourages them to trust thier instincts. In comparison, it is common for pregnant women to see their doctors as authority figures and for doctors to readily assume that role. Even the language that most midwives use differentiates their views of childbirth from those of physicians. Physicians have patients but midwives have clients. A physician "delivers the baby," which implies control, while a midwife helps the woman "birth her baby."
I have noticed all of the above big-time in my interaction with the birth world, and it is extremely important. As a client of my midwife, I feel all the equality that the word implies. For my next pregnancy (assumed) I will also be under the care of an OB for help with hyperemesis, and am considered a "patient." After repeating the phrase a couple of times, I have rejected the terminology and the subservience it implies and now call myself a client of my OB - much better!
This is an AMAZING quote by Dr. Edward H. Hon, inventor of the electronic fetal monitor:
"Dr. Edward H. Hon, inventor of the EFM, asked his colleagues to consider the causes of the rising cesarean rate in the United States. He stated that he never intended the EFM to be used in routine obstetric management. 'If you mess around with a process [birth] that works well 98 percent of the time, there is a potential for much harm... The cesarean section is considered as a rescue mission of the baby by the white knight, but actually you've assaulted the mother.'"
A little-known fact about EFM is that the widespread introduction of EFM into normal labors has done absolutely NOTHING to reduce fetal mortality or morbidity - the rates have remained the same. What has changed is the c-section rate, which has skyrocketed. The EFM gives ridiculously high rates of both false positives and false negatives in terms of detecting fetal distress, causing physicians to perform vast numbers of unnecessary sections - and giving unethical physicians the opportunity to perform sections for personal convenience or simply to avoid lawsuits.
The process for many modern labors is described below (described verbatim by many of my friends):
"A typical hospital scenario during a slow labor [personal note: or oftentimes, a prematurely induced labor] is to administer the drug Pitocin, a synthetic version of oxytocin, which a laboring woman's body produces naturally. Pitocin is given in order to speed up and intensify contractions. Thus, when women are given Pitocin, they are often offered a painkiller as well. While the Pitocin works to quicken the labor, the drugs for pain relief have the opposite effect. In addition, the administration of Pitocin effectively restricts the movements of the laboring woman because she is required to have an intravenous (IV) line and an internal fetal monitor w. These restrictions can slow labor even further. If the Pitocin does not work within a certain time limit, a laboring woman will often hear statements like, 'We've tried everything' do you want to do this for another twelve hours?' or 'You just weren't meant to have this baby vaginally.'" (pp. 66-67)
I'd love to say that this was a thing of the past, but too many of my friends are coming home from the hospital with the exact same story.
Harper then gives great chapters on guidelines for gentle birth, including birth preparation techniques and a wonderful chapter on waterbirth, as well as chapter on the mind-body connection, homebirth and the creation of gentle birth. Here's one quote from a physician well-versed in waterbirth, which applies to all facets of gentle birth:
"'Waterbirth is a reasonable thing to do, and there is only one way it's going to happen. It will not come from universities; it will not come from doctors; it will come from consumers, that is, mothers and fathers who demand it. As more birthing places offer water birth as an option, women will walk away from doctors who say no. The establishment will be forced to change because the consumer demands it.'" (p. 146)
This is true of all gentle birth practices. Change only comes by consumer demand.
Rosenthal also notes that moving waterbirth into the hospital does not erase all of the problems of modern hospital birth.
"The beautiful new Jacuzzi tubs installed in the Santa Monica Hospital maternity unit in 1991 are a case in point. Women are 'not allowed' to enter the bath if their water has not broken and the baby's head has not descended into the pelvic cavity. They are also 'not allowed to enter the bath after their water has broken. Rosenthal does not think American hospitals will widely adopt water birth as an option: 'The problem is removing obstetricians from normal birth. The problem remains of educating doctors on how to surrender into this normal process. How can a doctor, traditionally trained, even conceive of any other way to give birth if he has only seen a thousand women on their backs, hooked to fetal monitors, with legs up in stirrups?'" (p. 165)
Along the same lines, here's a great quote from Marsden Wagner:
"'Change won't come easy. We have an incredibly obstinate obstetrical profession. It's all about territory. It's all about power. It's all about control. And at the end of the day, it's about money.'" (p. 215)
Personal note: Again, there are lots of great OBs out there who work toward gentle, respectful birth practices. This does not apply to you!!
Harper concludes her book with a great section of additional resources and questions to ask prospectives physicians and midwives.
I loved this book! It's a definite keeper and will be going in my library soon. I recommend it to all pregnant mamas and daddies and natural-childbirth aficionados. There is a wealth of knowledge contained in this book and I can't say enough about it!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Book Review: "The Natural Baby" by Janet Balaskas
"The Natural Baby"
Janet Balaskas
2002, 183 pages
This is a wonderful book!
This is the last book in my current Janet Balaskas reading-kick, and it is just great. It is formatted in the same manner as "New Natural Pregnancy" - a large page size with gorgeous color photos on each page. It is a very attractive, easy-to-read and well-formatted book.
Janet always has a very gracious approach to advice-giving. While she has her opinions, she is not militant, condescending, or demanding. She gives information graciously and then permits parents to make their own choices without feeling guilty.
I might have found her approach a little too extremist pre-baby, when I was all into Babywise and schedule-feeding, but since I had my baby and found that attachment parenting (in moderation) is just wonderful, I fall right in line with this book.
One of my favorite things in this book, as in "New Natural Pregnancy," is the index at the back listing common baby conditions (allergies, skin problems, respiratory problems, etc.) with information and suggestions for alternative therapies. I love that! So many times I want to try alternative therapies but am confused as to how to do it. This book gives you the resources you need! Janet lists therapies including homeopathy, herbal remedies, aromatherapy and cranial osteopathy, all of which are great for babies. The format is clear and easy to use - a real keeper!
One section I really loved was the chapter on Water Babies. Most people don't know about the dive reflex - the ability that newborn babies (up to 4 months) have to swim underwater completely safely. I was truly amazed when I saw this in a video a couple of years ago - newborn babies being tossed back and forth underwater by their parents in the Black Sea! It was amazing! I wish that our little guy had had swimming opportunities, but alas, he didn't get in a pool till he was two years old, at which point his dive reflex was long gone.
I think that there was a waterbabies movement quite a while back, when having newborns swim was quite popular, but it's definitely not "in" right now - must have faded out, like all fads. Too bad!
This is a wonderful resource, and I will definitely be on the lookout for one for my library!
Janet Balaskas
2002, 183 pages
This is a wonderful book!
This is the last book in my current Janet Balaskas reading-kick, and it is just great. It is formatted in the same manner as "New Natural Pregnancy" - a large page size with gorgeous color photos on each page. It is a very attractive, easy-to-read and well-formatted book.
Janet always has a very gracious approach to advice-giving. While she has her opinions, she is not militant, condescending, or demanding. She gives information graciously and then permits parents to make their own choices without feeling guilty.
I might have found her approach a little too extremist pre-baby, when I was all into Babywise and schedule-feeding, but since I had my baby and found that attachment parenting (in moderation) is just wonderful, I fall right in line with this book.
One of my favorite things in this book, as in "New Natural Pregnancy," is the index at the back listing common baby conditions (allergies, skin problems, respiratory problems, etc.) with information and suggestions for alternative therapies. I love that! So many times I want to try alternative therapies but am confused as to how to do it. This book gives you the resources you need! Janet lists therapies including homeopathy, herbal remedies, aromatherapy and cranial osteopathy, all of which are great for babies. The format is clear and easy to use - a real keeper!
One section I really loved was the chapter on Water Babies. Most people don't know about the dive reflex - the ability that newborn babies (up to 4 months) have to swim underwater completely safely. I was truly amazed when I saw this in a video a couple of years ago - newborn babies being tossed back and forth underwater by their parents in the Black Sea! It was amazing! I wish that our little guy had had swimming opportunities, but alas, he didn't get in a pool till he was two years old, at which point his dive reflex was long gone.
I think that there was a waterbabies movement quite a while back, when having newborns swim was quite popular, but it's definitely not "in" right now - must have faded out, like all fads. Too bad!
This is a wonderful resource, and I will definitely be on the lookout for one for my library!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Waterbirth and a Book Review: "The Water Birth Book"
I vacillated on how to write this entry - I wanted to write a review of this book, but doing so would lead me to writing of my own experiences with waterbirthing, which I had planned to save for another entry. For now, I am going to combine the two and see how it works.
The Water Birth Book
Janet Balaskas
2004, 294 pages
This book is definitely going on my "buy as soon as possible" list. It's a keeper! I loved it.
Water birth is one of the world's best-kept secrets. It is a low-cost and pretty much risk-free method of reducing labor pain and encouraging physiologic birth without the use of drugs or harmful obstetric interventions. The statistics on the success and safety of both laboring and birthing in water are absolutely phenomenal.
With all of the positives (and the lack of negatives) surrounding water birth (and by that I mean both the practice of laboring in water and the practice of birthing in water), one would logically conclude that most hospitals would be well-equipped with facilities for allowing birthing women to labor and birth in water, right?
Wrong.
Waterbirth is virtually unavailable in American hospitals. Although some hospitals are equipped for waterbirth, most are not. In our area, I know of only one midwife in one of all our local hospitals who does waterbirth, and as of last month the hospital was planning to revoke her waterbirth privileges. (Grrrr.....)
Unfortunately it isn't too hard to look for the answers to that...
Answer #1 is pride on the part of hospital administrators - "No one can tell us how to do our jobs, and this is the way we've always done it!"
Answer #2 is money. Waterbirth is virtually cost-free (fill a tub, and there you are!), unlike other costly methods of pain control (such as epidurals and other drugs, which are quite pricey). Taking it further, waterbirth then reduces the need for other obstetric procedures which are drug-induced, for example, caesareans due to "failure to progress" after an epidural, forceps and episiotomies due to a mum with an epidural laboring on her back with no urge to push, pitocin due to epidural-weakened contractions, etc. etc. etc. Furthermore, waterbirth virtually eliminates the need for obstetric procedures such as episiotomies or stitching tears (waterbirth mums almost never tear). So although waterbirth is absolutely wonderful for mothers and babies, it is not good for hospital incomes (hospitals usually make most of their money out of their maternity wards). Thus, hospitals have relatively little financial interest in installing waterbirth facilities.
Waterbirth is more commonly available in freestanding birth centers staffed by midwives. Unfortunately, our only valley birth center closed last year, and there are no plans to open a new one (although I don't know if that birth center offered waterbirth or not).
Most waterbirths in America are homebirths attended by midwives. That's pretty much the only way to get a waterbirth here. Thankfully I love birthing at home, but it makes it rather tough on women who want to birth in hospitals. I hope that someday the American medical system will wake up enough to make waterbirth facilities available to in-hospital birthing women.
My own experience with laboring in water was wonderful. My labor lasted from 4:28 am. till 10:35 p.m. I got into the shower sometime around midday and took a long shower, and it felt amazing. I don't know how it happens, but water has a remarkable effect in reducing labor pain. I had been really uncomfortable, and I felt great! When I got out of the shower, I started feeling yucky again.
When my midwife came to visit mid-afternoon, I asked if I could labor in the tub. She gave the okay, and I headed straight for the tub and stayed there for several hours. It was great! It sounds unbelievable, but all of my labor pain vanished when I entered the water. Unfortunately it started building again from there, but the relief factor was still amazing. (The quoted value is a reduction in pain of 40%.) From there I moved, sometime mid-evening, to the birthing pool which my hubbie and doula set up in our living room (our "birthing pool" was a large inflatable pool), and I stayed there until about 9:30 p.m. I did end up birthing on land due to being rather confused and needing the help of gravity to push (something our midwife said is quite common with first-time mums), but the majority of my active labor was spent in water. If we are ever blessed with another child, I hope to have a complete waterbirth for that baby.
I could not have done childbirth without laboring in water. Frankly, I don't know how anyone can. My friend labored for eighteen hours on land before getting an epidural, and I take my hat off to her - I could not have done it. Water is what made labor possible for me.
Waterbirth is unparalled in terms of safety. Although there are conditions that make waterbirth unadvisable, laboring in water is completely safe for most women and babies.
"The Water Birth Book" is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in waterbirth. Janet Balaskas, as usual, does a phenomenal job of telling the history and practice of waterbirth, and giving guidelines for safe waterbirth. Subjects include:
- History of waterbirth
- Benefits of water during labor and birth
- Preparing for birth
- Using water during the different stages of labor and birth
- Testimonials
- Complications that preclude waterbirth
- Other methods of pain relief
Janet gives in-depth thought and discussion to the safety of waterbirth, giving guidelines for safe waterbirth (temperatures, etc.) and describing the biological mechanisms which keep a baby safe during a waterbirth.
I love Janet's writing. She is thorough, balanced, clear, concise and well-organized. Despite how much I loved this book, I don't have too much to say! Just, "Buy this book!" If you are at all interested in having a waterbirth or learning more about waterbirth, this is a great book for your library. I highly recommend it! I am definitely going to add it to my growing library, and it will definitely be worth the time and money.
Highly recommended!
The Water Birth Book
Janet Balaskas
2004, 294 pages
This book is definitely going on my "buy as soon as possible" list. It's a keeper! I loved it.
Water birth is one of the world's best-kept secrets. It is a low-cost and pretty much risk-free method of reducing labor pain and encouraging physiologic birth without the use of drugs or harmful obstetric interventions. The statistics on the success and safety of both laboring and birthing in water are absolutely phenomenal.
With all of the positives (and the lack of negatives) surrounding water birth (and by that I mean both the practice of laboring in water and the practice of birthing in water), one would logically conclude that most hospitals would be well-equipped with facilities for allowing birthing women to labor and birth in water, right?
Wrong.
Waterbirth is virtually unavailable in American hospitals. Although some hospitals are equipped for waterbirth, most are not. In our area, I know of only one midwife in one of all our local hospitals who does waterbirth, and as of last month the hospital was planning to revoke her waterbirth privileges. (Grrrr.....)
Unfortunately it isn't too hard to look for the answers to that...
Answer #1 is pride on the part of hospital administrators - "No one can tell us how to do our jobs, and this is the way we've always done it!"
Answer #2 is money. Waterbirth is virtually cost-free (fill a tub, and there you are!), unlike other costly methods of pain control (such as epidurals and other drugs, which are quite pricey). Taking it further, waterbirth then reduces the need for other obstetric procedures which are drug-induced, for example, caesareans due to "failure to progress" after an epidural, forceps and episiotomies due to a mum with an epidural laboring on her back with no urge to push, pitocin due to epidural-weakened contractions, etc. etc. etc. Furthermore, waterbirth virtually eliminates the need for obstetric procedures such as episiotomies or stitching tears (waterbirth mums almost never tear). So although waterbirth is absolutely wonderful for mothers and babies, it is not good for hospital incomes (hospitals usually make most of their money out of their maternity wards). Thus, hospitals have relatively little financial interest in installing waterbirth facilities.
Waterbirth is more commonly available in freestanding birth centers staffed by midwives. Unfortunately, our only valley birth center closed last year, and there are no plans to open a new one (although I don't know if that birth center offered waterbirth or not).
Most waterbirths in America are homebirths attended by midwives. That's pretty much the only way to get a waterbirth here. Thankfully I love birthing at home, but it makes it rather tough on women who want to birth in hospitals. I hope that someday the American medical system will wake up enough to make waterbirth facilities available to in-hospital birthing women.
My own experience with laboring in water was wonderful. My labor lasted from 4:28 am. till 10:35 p.m. I got into the shower sometime around midday and took a long shower, and it felt amazing. I don't know how it happens, but water has a remarkable effect in reducing labor pain. I had been really uncomfortable, and I felt great! When I got out of the shower, I started feeling yucky again.
When my midwife came to visit mid-afternoon, I asked if I could labor in the tub. She gave the okay, and I headed straight for the tub and stayed there for several hours. It was great! It sounds unbelievable, but all of my labor pain vanished when I entered the water. Unfortunately it started building again from there, but the relief factor was still amazing. (The quoted value is a reduction in pain of 40%.) From there I moved, sometime mid-evening, to the birthing pool which my hubbie and doula set up in our living room (our "birthing pool" was a large inflatable pool), and I stayed there until about 9:30 p.m. I did end up birthing on land due to being rather confused and needing the help of gravity to push (something our midwife said is quite common with first-time mums), but the majority of my active labor was spent in water. If we are ever blessed with another child, I hope to have a complete waterbirth for that baby.
I could not have done childbirth without laboring in water. Frankly, I don't know how anyone can. My friend labored for eighteen hours on land before getting an epidural, and I take my hat off to her - I could not have done it. Water is what made labor possible for me.
Waterbirth is unparalled in terms of safety. Although there are conditions that make waterbirth unadvisable, laboring in water is completely safe for most women and babies.
"The Water Birth Book" is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in waterbirth. Janet Balaskas, as usual, does a phenomenal job of telling the history and practice of waterbirth, and giving guidelines for safe waterbirth. Subjects include:
- History of waterbirth
- Benefits of water during labor and birth
- Preparing for birth
- Using water during the different stages of labor and birth
- Testimonials
- Complications that preclude waterbirth
- Other methods of pain relief
Janet gives in-depth thought and discussion to the safety of waterbirth, giving guidelines for safe waterbirth (temperatures, etc.) and describing the biological mechanisms which keep a baby safe during a waterbirth.
I love Janet's writing. She is thorough, balanced, clear, concise and well-organized. Despite how much I loved this book, I don't have too much to say! Just, "Buy this book!" If you are at all interested in having a waterbirth or learning more about waterbirth, this is a great book for your library. I highly recommend it! I am definitely going to add it to my growing library, and it will definitely be worth the time and money.
Highly recommended!
Friday, August 1, 2008
Book Review: "New Natural Pregnancy" by Janet Balaskas
At the moment I am feeling rather overwhelmed with book reviews!! I have several books waiting to be reviewed for each blog, not to mention all the pregnancy/birth books I have read in the past, and combined with the busyness of life, it's quite a lot to wade through! Here goes with another one....
"New Natural Pregnancy"
Janet Balaskas
1990, 93 pages
I fell in love with Janet Balaskas when I read "Active Birth," and have been devouring all of her other books ever since. This book is also a good one, although "Active Birth" and "The Water Birth Book" remain my favorite books of hers.
One of the things that I like best about Janet's books is the beautiful pencil drawings (and, in this book, gorgeous photographs). A lot of pregnancy books will spend paragraphs and paragraphs describing things which can be much more easily communicated by a single picture. My knowledge of pregnancy anatomy, birthing positions, pregnancy massage, and childbirth exercises has grown by leaps and bounds in the month since I discovered Janet's books. I have finally been able to visualize many things which were a mystery to me before (such as the anatomy of the female pelvis, the human spine, etc.). If nothing else, read these books for the pictures! They are so helpful!
Especially helpful in this book was a little index at the back listing naturopathic remedies for various pregnancy ailments. She also gives descriptions of various naturopathic healing modalities, such as osteopathy, aromatherapy, shiatsu, hypnotherapy, massage, Bach flower remedies, and others. I learned quite a bit about those modalities which had been previously puzzling to me.
Janet is big on yoga during pregnancy, and her chapter on yoga exercises for pregnant women is superb (see also "Active Birth").
I wish that there had been more detail in this book. However, I am a self-confessed pregnancy/birth-junkie, and the books I tend to like best are those which are almost textbooks. For the average pregnant mama who wants basic information without being deluged with details, this is a great resource.
This book falls nicely in the middle, ideologically. It leans obviously toward the side of midwifery, natural pregnancy, etc., but it is not militaristic or judgmental. It's very balanced. I would recommend this book to any pregnant woman.
One note - There is absolutely nothing in this book regarding childbirth, natural or otherwise. The subject matter deals exclusively with pregnancy. In some ways I was disappointed, but I realize that since Janet has already published a book which is exclusively on childbirth and childbirth preparation ("Active Birth"), to put childbirth information in this book would be reduneant and overlapping. Just buy both books!
I really liked this book and would recommend it highly!
"New Natural Pregnancy"
Janet Balaskas
1990, 93 pages
I fell in love with Janet Balaskas when I read "Active Birth," and have been devouring all of her other books ever since. This book is also a good one, although "Active Birth" and "The Water Birth Book" remain my favorite books of hers.
One of the things that I like best about Janet's books is the beautiful pencil drawings (and, in this book, gorgeous photographs). A lot of pregnancy books will spend paragraphs and paragraphs describing things which can be much more easily communicated by a single picture. My knowledge of pregnancy anatomy, birthing positions, pregnancy massage, and childbirth exercises has grown by leaps and bounds in the month since I discovered Janet's books. I have finally been able to visualize many things which were a mystery to me before (such as the anatomy of the female pelvis, the human spine, etc.). If nothing else, read these books for the pictures! They are so helpful!
Especially helpful in this book was a little index at the back listing naturopathic remedies for various pregnancy ailments. She also gives descriptions of various naturopathic healing modalities, such as osteopathy, aromatherapy, shiatsu, hypnotherapy, massage, Bach flower remedies, and others. I learned quite a bit about those modalities which had been previously puzzling to me.
Janet is big on yoga during pregnancy, and her chapter on yoga exercises for pregnant women is superb (see also "Active Birth").
I wish that there had been more detail in this book. However, I am a self-confessed pregnancy/birth-junkie, and the books I tend to like best are those which are almost textbooks. For the average pregnant mama who wants basic information without being deluged with details, this is a great resource.
This book falls nicely in the middle, ideologically. It leans obviously toward the side of midwifery, natural pregnancy, etc., but it is not militaristic or judgmental. It's very balanced. I would recommend this book to any pregnant woman.
One note - There is absolutely nothing in this book regarding childbirth, natural or otherwise. The subject matter deals exclusively with pregnancy. In some ways I was disappointed, but I realize that since Janet has already published a book which is exclusively on childbirth and childbirth preparation ("Active Birth"), to put childbirth information in this book would be reduneant and overlapping. Just buy both books!
I really liked this book and would recommend it highly!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Book Review: "Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum"
I posted this on my hyperemesis-awareness blog some months ago, and wanted to just repost it here, as it is definitely about pregnancy and birth! Here it is....
This is the review as I have posted it on Amazon.com. I really cannot say enough in praise of this book! Here goes:
"Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is a severe form of “morning sickness” which is characterized by one or all of the following: unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting, dehydration and/or malnutrition, rapid weight loss, and the inability to keep food and/or liquids down (or even eat at all).
If you are reading this review, you are most likely suffering from HG, a past sufferer from HG, or the friend, relative or caregiver of someone suffering with HG.
If that is the case, here is my recommendation: Before you read any further, stop, go back to the top of the page (on Amazon), and order “Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum.” You need this book.
As a matter of fact, order a couple. One for you, one for your doctor or caregiver, and one for family members. If you’re exorbitantly rich, buy a small stack and hand them out to every person who says, through word or deed, “Oh come on. We all dealt with morning sickness. Stop whining and get over it.”
After my own relatively-minor bout of HG, I started looking for answers. Where does it come from? What can we do about it? Well, no one knows the answer to the first question (theories abound), and there are multiple answers to the second (although each person requires specialized treatment – what works for one may not work for another). This book deals in depth with treatment options for HG, from the minor to the life-saving, giving details, risks, procedure descriptions, drug information, and oodles of personal testimonies.
I first found Ashli McCall through her excellent blog, which details her fourth trip through this fiendish disease:
http://www.hyperemesisgravidarum.blogspot.com/
There is literally no experience having to do with HG that this amazing woman has not dealt with, from the amusing to the tragic. She is truly the be-all-end-all in terms of knowledge about this disease, because she has dealt with almost every drug, treatment and procedure for HG that currently exists. One of the best parts about this book is the realization that “Oh my gosh, someone understands!!” HG sufferers know firsthand the infuriating comments that we get by the handful:
“Oh yeah, I had bad morning sickness too. Couldn’t eat bacon for weeks.”
“Go outside and get some fresh air. You’ll be fine.”
“Stop thinking about yourself so much. You’re making yourself sick. Just snap out of it.”
“Eat crackers and drink ginger ale.”
Due to the rarity of this condition, most people have not heard of it. When you combine that with the fact that most women have dealt with some sort of morning sickness at one point or another, that adds up to a bad combination – and the result is that HG sufferers almost never get taken seriously, by friends/family/coworkers/general acquaintances or by doctors and caregivers. By outsiders, HG is seen as the subject of an amusing joke. “She’s really making a fuss over such a common thing. She needs to get over it.” etc. etc. etc. This book is incredibly validating in that it gives me something to give to people and say, “Here. Read this!” For myself as well, it was a very healing process to learn that there are other people out there who have been through this nightmare (and, let me say, with versions of HG that made mine look like a bad sneeze).
I recommend that one have this book in hand whenever one is dealing with the medical community. My husband and I are thinking of trying to get through a second pregnancy, and I will be taking this book with me everywhere I go.
Especially helpful are some of the appendices – There is an appendix of antiemetic drugs, with all of their classifications, alternate names, and information. There are also lists of books and websites that are of invaluable assistance to address the needs of HG women. This is the best book that I have read on the subject, and I HIGHLY recommend it. You cannot afford to be without this book. Thank you, Ashli!!!
This is the review as I have posted it on Amazon.com. I really cannot say enough in praise of this book! Here goes:
"Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is a severe form of “morning sickness” which is characterized by one or all of the following: unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting, dehydration and/or malnutrition, rapid weight loss, and the inability to keep food and/or liquids down (or even eat at all).
If you are reading this review, you are most likely suffering from HG, a past sufferer from HG, or the friend, relative or caregiver of someone suffering with HG.
If that is the case, here is my recommendation: Before you read any further, stop, go back to the top of the page (on Amazon), and order “Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum.” You need this book.
As a matter of fact, order a couple. One for you, one for your doctor or caregiver, and one for family members. If you’re exorbitantly rich, buy a small stack and hand them out to every person who says, through word or deed, “Oh come on. We all dealt with morning sickness. Stop whining and get over it.”
After my own relatively-minor bout of HG, I started looking for answers. Where does it come from? What can we do about it? Well, no one knows the answer to the first question (theories abound), and there are multiple answers to the second (although each person requires specialized treatment – what works for one may not work for another). This book deals in depth with treatment options for HG, from the minor to the life-saving, giving details, risks, procedure descriptions, drug information, and oodles of personal testimonies.
I first found Ashli McCall through her excellent blog, which details her fourth trip through this fiendish disease:
http://www.hyperemesisgravidarum.blogspot.com/
There is literally no experience having to do with HG that this amazing woman has not dealt with, from the amusing to the tragic. She is truly the be-all-end-all in terms of knowledge about this disease, because she has dealt with almost every drug, treatment and procedure for HG that currently exists. One of the best parts about this book is the realization that “Oh my gosh, someone understands!!” HG sufferers know firsthand the infuriating comments that we get by the handful:
“Oh yeah, I had bad morning sickness too. Couldn’t eat bacon for weeks.”
“Go outside and get some fresh air. You’ll be fine.”
“Stop thinking about yourself so much. You’re making yourself sick. Just snap out of it.”
“Eat crackers and drink ginger ale.”
Due to the rarity of this condition, most people have not heard of it. When you combine that with the fact that most women have dealt with some sort of morning sickness at one point or another, that adds up to a bad combination – and the result is that HG sufferers almost never get taken seriously, by friends/family/coworkers/general acquaintances or by doctors and caregivers. By outsiders, HG is seen as the subject of an amusing joke. “She’s really making a fuss over such a common thing. She needs to get over it.” etc. etc. etc. This book is incredibly validating in that it gives me something to give to people and say, “Here. Read this!” For myself as well, it was a very healing process to learn that there are other people out there who have been through this nightmare (and, let me say, with versions of HG that made mine look like a bad sneeze).
I recommend that one have this book in hand whenever one is dealing with the medical community. My husband and I are thinking of trying to get through a second pregnancy, and I will be taking this book with me everywhere I go.
Especially helpful are some of the appendices – There is an appendix of antiemetic drugs, with all of their classifications, alternate names, and information. There are also lists of books and websites that are of invaluable assistance to address the needs of HG women. This is the best book that I have read on the subject, and I HIGHLY recommend it. You cannot afford to be without this book. Thank you, Ashli!!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Book Review: "Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali"
"Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali"
Kris Holloway
2007, 208 pages
I loved this book. Despite time constraints, I finished it within 48 hours and was utterly fascinated throughout. Before going any further, I highly recommend this book!
This book was written by a Peace Corps volunteer who travelled to Mali and lived and worked with a young Malian midwife (Monique) for two years, beginning in 1989. She kept in touch with Monique after her trip until Monique's tragic death in childbirth eight years later.
This book is very similar to "Baby Catcher" by Peggy Vincent, except that it is set in the third world rather than in modern-day America. But it is the same mix of laughter and tears, celebration and tragedy - a great read for anyone, whether interested in midwifery or no.
I grew up in a fairly insulated American environment, and the church in which I was raised did not have missionaries to come back and tell tales of the third world, so it has only been in the last few years (having moved to a different and more missions-minded church!) that I have heard about the non-Western world first-hand from people who have been there. This book is another of those experiences.
This book followed some very interesting themes, ones that we don't think about too often in America any more. For example, extremely high infant mortality rates are extremely common in the third world, due to protein deficiency and malnutrition, microbial infections, etc. Whereas in America a woman can almost always expect to raise all of her children to adulthood, in Mali it is a rare woman who has not lost one or more children in infancy.
Also raised was the issue of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM). I had read about this issue in an edition of "Midwifery Today," and so didn't find it as shocking as I might have, but this was a good "up close and personal" view of the practice and its effects. In a word: yeeeooouuch!!!!! And that's putting it mildly. Holloway gives some brief descriptions of the different levels of FGM practiced in Africa (practices vary by region in terms of severity of procedure). The effects of FGM are far-reaching in a woman's life. Effects may include constant infection from blocked menstrual flow, sometimes leading to uterine infection and sterility, painful sexual intercourse (and subsequent infections as well), sexual dysfunction, and massive problems during childbirth including deep, unnatural tearing of the perineum and surrounding tissues (despite vertical birthing positions, which in uncircumcised women are almost guaranteed to reduce or prevent tearing).
It is interesting to compare male vs. female circumcision. Unlike most of my natural-childbirth counterparts, I am not opposed to male circumcision (pause while waiting for stones to fly). This is due to both my religious persuasions (after all, the God of the Bible invented circumcision!) and scientific observation - male circumcision has never been proven to cause any health problems, and it has (in a huge majority of studies) been shown to lessen the chance of STD transmission and penile cancer). On the other hand, I am definitely opposed to female circumcision, which has been undoubtedly proven to cause a myriad of life-long health problems.
One interesting thing about FGM is that it is generally done when a girl is a pre-teen, not in infancy as American boys are generally circumcised.
This book also highlighted the health problems due to poverty in Mali. What might in America be an inconvenience is, in Mali, a death sentence. And things like protein scarcity, unclean water, drug shortages and scarcity of medical facilities contribute to much higher rates of morbidity and mortality.
One very interesting note came when the author recorded her trip to Mali following Monique's death in childbirth. Holloway questioned the birth attendant who had been present, and found that Monique had been given a labor-enhancing drug and had died shortly thereafter. While not being able to make positive conclusions, Holloway noted that the drug might have been implicated in Monique's death. Her observations made me realize the harm that Western medicine can do when it teaches faulty birthing practices to third-world medical practitioners. For example, when Westerners impose bad birthing practices like lithotomy (birthing on one's back) and artificial labor-enhancing drugs, we get skyrocketing levels of fetal distress and subsequent caesareans to "save the baby." In the third world, when they implement such techniques, babies and mothers die. Labor-enhancing drugs are especially dangerous in Africa and other poverty-ridden areas, where a majority of women are anaemic and whose bodies cannot handle the drugs. Interesting thought.
One thing I loved, which Holloway pointed out, was the everyday-attitude toward death. Death took place at home and was celebrated and mourned at home. There wasn't any cloistering of death and the dead in hospitals and mortuaries - it was much more natural and "this-is-part-of-life." I think that we might be a healthier society if we could adapt such an attitude.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It was a great glimpse into a different world and a different life, one from which we can learn much - both about things that we Americans could change for the better about our culture, and also about things for which we need to be grateful.
Rating: Excellent, excellent!!
Kris Holloway
2007, 208 pages
I loved this book. Despite time constraints, I finished it within 48 hours and was utterly fascinated throughout. Before going any further, I highly recommend this book!
This book was written by a Peace Corps volunteer who travelled to Mali and lived and worked with a young Malian midwife (Monique) for two years, beginning in 1989. She kept in touch with Monique after her trip until Monique's tragic death in childbirth eight years later.
This book is very similar to "Baby Catcher" by Peggy Vincent, except that it is set in the third world rather than in modern-day America. But it is the same mix of laughter and tears, celebration and tragedy - a great read for anyone, whether interested in midwifery or no.
I grew up in a fairly insulated American environment, and the church in which I was raised did not have missionaries to come back and tell tales of the third world, so it has only been in the last few years (having moved to a different and more missions-minded church!) that I have heard about the non-Western world first-hand from people who have been there. This book is another of those experiences.
This book followed some very interesting themes, ones that we don't think about too often in America any more. For example, extremely high infant mortality rates are extremely common in the third world, due to protein deficiency and malnutrition, microbial infections, etc. Whereas in America a woman can almost always expect to raise all of her children to adulthood, in Mali it is a rare woman who has not lost one or more children in infancy.
Also raised was the issue of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM). I had read about this issue in an edition of "Midwifery Today," and so didn't find it as shocking as I might have, but this was a good "up close and personal" view of the practice and its effects. In a word: yeeeooouuch!!!!! And that's putting it mildly. Holloway gives some brief descriptions of the different levels of FGM practiced in Africa (practices vary by region in terms of severity of procedure). The effects of FGM are far-reaching in a woman's life. Effects may include constant infection from blocked menstrual flow, sometimes leading to uterine infection and sterility, painful sexual intercourse (and subsequent infections as well), sexual dysfunction, and massive problems during childbirth including deep, unnatural tearing of the perineum and surrounding tissues (despite vertical birthing positions, which in uncircumcised women are almost guaranteed to reduce or prevent tearing).
It is interesting to compare male vs. female circumcision. Unlike most of my natural-childbirth counterparts, I am not opposed to male circumcision (pause while waiting for stones to fly). This is due to both my religious persuasions (after all, the God of the Bible invented circumcision!) and scientific observation - male circumcision has never been proven to cause any health problems, and it has (in a huge majority of studies) been shown to lessen the chance of STD transmission and penile cancer). On the other hand, I am definitely opposed to female circumcision, which has been undoubtedly proven to cause a myriad of life-long health problems.
One interesting thing about FGM is that it is generally done when a girl is a pre-teen, not in infancy as American boys are generally circumcised.
This book also highlighted the health problems due to poverty in Mali. What might in America be an inconvenience is, in Mali, a death sentence. And things like protein scarcity, unclean water, drug shortages and scarcity of medical facilities contribute to much higher rates of morbidity and mortality.
One very interesting note came when the author recorded her trip to Mali following Monique's death in childbirth. Holloway questioned the birth attendant who had been present, and found that Monique had been given a labor-enhancing drug and had died shortly thereafter. While not being able to make positive conclusions, Holloway noted that the drug might have been implicated in Monique's death. Her observations made me realize the harm that Western medicine can do when it teaches faulty birthing practices to third-world medical practitioners. For example, when Westerners impose bad birthing practices like lithotomy (birthing on one's back) and artificial labor-enhancing drugs, we get skyrocketing levels of fetal distress and subsequent caesareans to "save the baby." In the third world, when they implement such techniques, babies and mothers die. Labor-enhancing drugs are especially dangerous in Africa and other poverty-ridden areas, where a majority of women are anaemic and whose bodies cannot handle the drugs. Interesting thought.
One thing I loved, which Holloway pointed out, was the everyday-attitude toward death. Death took place at home and was celebrated and mourned at home. There wasn't any cloistering of death and the dead in hospitals and mortuaries - it was much more natural and "this-is-part-of-life." I think that we might be a healthier society if we could adapt such an attitude.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It was a great glimpse into a different world and a different life, one from which we can learn much - both about things that we Americans could change for the better about our culture, and also about things for which we need to be grateful.
Rating: Excellent, excellent!!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Book Review: "Two at a Time: Having Twins"
Any reader will no doubt wonder why I am reviewing this book on this blog, being that it has absolutely nothing to do with midwifery, homebirth, or natural childbirth. Well, I have decided simply to post reviews on any book having to do with pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum or infant health, and this is one of those! Unfortunately I read something like 30+ books on childbirth and etc. before thinking of this blog, so I am going to have to read most of them all over again before being able to post reviews. However, I can use the review! And I'm in no hurry, so it'll give me something to do when I'm running short of ideas for articles.
So, without further ado.....
"Two at a Time: Having Twins: The Journey Through Pregnancy and Birth"
Jane Seymour and Pamela Patrick Novotny
Pocket Books, 2001, 205 pages
I picked this book up randomly at the library, needing something new to read and having read through most of the available natural childbirth literature. I realized that there were fields of childbirth out there that I hadn't yet explored (miscarriage, infertility, multiples, etc.), and so grabbed this one pretty much because it had an attractive cover.
Having never seen "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," I didn't realize that this book was written by the star of the show, Jane Seymour, and that this book was in essence a celebrity memoir.
What I liked:
This book is essentially one woman's personal story of the conception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum period of her twin boys, Kris and Johnny. Personally, I think that every woman who has a child should write a book like this - an in-depth story of one's experiences. This book will be truly precious to her children as they grow older. It's got lots of details and personal experiences and is a fun and easy read. She did a good job with this book.
Jane had a lot of experiences with her pregnancy that mothers of multiples will probably be able to identify with, and which would probably be helpful to read about - things like pre-eclapsia, preterm labor, double morning sickness, baby apnea, babies in the NICU, etc. Those were illuminating to me, who, having never dealt with most of those issues, was a bit clueless.
What I didn't like:
I was disappointed that this book didn't hold more information useful to other twin parents or those, like me, wanting to learn more. This book is almost entirely experiential rather than informational. Little snippets of information are offered in occasional side-bars, but that's about it. Most of the information that one can glean from this book will be from reading about Jane's personal experiences. While it may be comforting, there's a lot lacking in terms of pure information.
When I read the reviews on Amazon for this book, a huge majority of the reviewers put Jane down as a "spoiled brat celebrity mom." And she can come across like that occasionally, but I think that it is mostly the effect of writing of a pregnancy occurring while she was the star of a major television show. Of course she was going to be showered with love!
Americans have a weird love-hate relationship with wealth. We all want to be rich, but as soon as anyone becomes rich, we turn on them like piranha and tear them apart as "spoiled snobs, etc." I don't blame Jane in the least for the privileged status she held as a celebrity mom. But at the same time, most of the advice and experiential information she gives is not useful for the average mom, just by virtue of her celebrity status and high level of affluence. 99% of moms are not going to be able to afford personal chefs to help them through morning sickness, personal wardrobe designers to sew individualized maternity clothes (Goodwill, anyone?), day and night baby nurses, a nanny, etc. etc. etc. It's just not going to happen. So most of that advice has to go out the window in terms of usefulness.
At the beginning of the book, Jane says, "I'm keenly interested in homeopathic care and other forms of alternative medicine," (p. 3), so I was very hopeful that this book would be full of naturopathic pregnancy care suggestions (homeopathy, herbs, childbirth prep, etc.). However, on this count I was keenly disappointed. Barring one sidebar on pages 200-201 which gives a short list of "natural paths to health," there is absolutely nothing naturopathic about the book or her pregnancy. She had an extremely medicalized pregnancy with nothing natural about it, and no mentions of any attempted natural remedies or management. Quite disappointing! Of course I know that multiples pregnancies tend to be more complicated and need more active management, but there is still a lot that can be done naturopathically for pregnancy management.
Also, as a fan of natural childbirth and its subculture, I prefer maternity books that encourage mothers to think for themselves, examine statistics and evidence-based literature, and make decisions about their healthcare for themselves. There is nothing more annoying to a natural-childbirth-fan than a maternity book which preaches "Do what the doctor says, dearie, and don't ask any questions" ad nauseum. This is one of those books. Jane never mentions weighing options, reading literature, taking serious childbirth classes, discussing pros and cons, etc. - it's just an endless repetition of "My doctor had me.... My doctor said.... My doctor decided.... My doctor told me to....." It got pretty annoying!
I am again afraid of coming across as anti-doctor here. Rest assured, I do have respect for doctors' opinions. On several occasions over the past years I have visited a doctor and had a question answered or a problem righted by their expertise quite simply and quickly, when my own research was leading me in the wrong direction. Expertise and training do matter. But I have also been on the receiving end of advice from doctors which was incomplete, biased, one-sided, unethical (to Christian standards) or, occasionally, dead wrong. Thus, I am a proponent of the "informed consumer" model of receiving medical care. In other words, I will visit a doctor and get his advice, but I do my own research as well - best of both worlds.
Overall, this book gets a "whatever" rating. I liked it and disliked it at the same time. If you want to read it, go ahead, but make sure you fill up on the real "meat" of good pregnancy books which give you actual information and also encourage informed decision-making. Mothers of multiples will want to check out subject-specific books which offer more concrete and thorough information. I can't really recommend this book, but I'm not going to go on a tirade against it either. But I'm definitely not going to purchase it, and it's going back to the library pronto!
So, without further ado.....
"Two at a Time: Having Twins: The Journey Through Pregnancy and Birth"
Jane Seymour and Pamela Patrick Novotny
Pocket Books, 2001, 205 pages
I picked this book up randomly at the library, needing something new to read and having read through most of the available natural childbirth literature. I realized that there were fields of childbirth out there that I hadn't yet explored (miscarriage, infertility, multiples, etc.), and so grabbed this one pretty much because it had an attractive cover.
Having never seen "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," I didn't realize that this book was written by the star of the show, Jane Seymour, and that this book was in essence a celebrity memoir.
What I liked:
This book is essentially one woman's personal story of the conception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum period of her twin boys, Kris and Johnny. Personally, I think that every woman who has a child should write a book like this - an in-depth story of one's experiences. This book will be truly precious to her children as they grow older. It's got lots of details and personal experiences and is a fun and easy read. She did a good job with this book.
Jane had a lot of experiences with her pregnancy that mothers of multiples will probably be able to identify with, and which would probably be helpful to read about - things like pre-eclapsia, preterm labor, double morning sickness, baby apnea, babies in the NICU, etc. Those were illuminating to me, who, having never dealt with most of those issues, was a bit clueless.
What I didn't like:
I was disappointed that this book didn't hold more information useful to other twin parents or those, like me, wanting to learn more. This book is almost entirely experiential rather than informational. Little snippets of information are offered in occasional side-bars, but that's about it. Most of the information that one can glean from this book will be from reading about Jane's personal experiences. While it may be comforting, there's a lot lacking in terms of pure information.
When I read the reviews on Amazon for this book, a huge majority of the reviewers put Jane down as a "spoiled brat celebrity mom." And she can come across like that occasionally, but I think that it is mostly the effect of writing of a pregnancy occurring while she was the star of a major television show. Of course she was going to be showered with love!
Americans have a weird love-hate relationship with wealth. We all want to be rich, but as soon as anyone becomes rich, we turn on them like piranha and tear them apart as "spoiled snobs, etc." I don't blame Jane in the least for the privileged status she held as a celebrity mom. But at the same time, most of the advice and experiential information she gives is not useful for the average mom, just by virtue of her celebrity status and high level of affluence. 99% of moms are not going to be able to afford personal chefs to help them through morning sickness, personal wardrobe designers to sew individualized maternity clothes (Goodwill, anyone?), day and night baby nurses, a nanny, etc. etc. etc. It's just not going to happen. So most of that advice has to go out the window in terms of usefulness.
At the beginning of the book, Jane says, "I'm keenly interested in homeopathic care and other forms of alternative medicine," (p. 3), so I was very hopeful that this book would be full of naturopathic pregnancy care suggestions (homeopathy, herbs, childbirth prep, etc.). However, on this count I was keenly disappointed. Barring one sidebar on pages 200-201 which gives a short list of "natural paths to health," there is absolutely nothing naturopathic about the book or her pregnancy. She had an extremely medicalized pregnancy with nothing natural about it, and no mentions of any attempted natural remedies or management. Quite disappointing! Of course I know that multiples pregnancies tend to be more complicated and need more active management, but there is still a lot that can be done naturopathically for pregnancy management.
Also, as a fan of natural childbirth and its subculture, I prefer maternity books that encourage mothers to think for themselves, examine statistics and evidence-based literature, and make decisions about their healthcare for themselves. There is nothing more annoying to a natural-childbirth-fan than a maternity book which preaches "Do what the doctor says, dearie, and don't ask any questions" ad nauseum. This is one of those books. Jane never mentions weighing options, reading literature, taking serious childbirth classes, discussing pros and cons, etc. - it's just an endless repetition of "My doctor had me.... My doctor said.... My doctor decided.... My doctor told me to....." It got pretty annoying!
I am again afraid of coming across as anti-doctor here. Rest assured, I do have respect for doctors' opinions. On several occasions over the past years I have visited a doctor and had a question answered or a problem righted by their expertise quite simply and quickly, when my own research was leading me in the wrong direction. Expertise and training do matter. But I have also been on the receiving end of advice from doctors which was incomplete, biased, one-sided, unethical (to Christian standards) or, occasionally, dead wrong. Thus, I am a proponent of the "informed consumer" model of receiving medical care. In other words, I will visit a doctor and get his advice, but I do my own research as well - best of both worlds.
Overall, this book gets a "whatever" rating. I liked it and disliked it at the same time. If you want to read it, go ahead, but make sure you fill up on the real "meat" of good pregnancy books which give you actual information and also encourage informed decision-making. Mothers of multiples will want to check out subject-specific books which offer more concrete and thorough information. I can't really recommend this book, but I'm not going to go on a tirade against it either. But I'm definitely not going to purchase it, and it's going back to the library pronto!
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