HW #39

Vincent, Peggy. Baby Catcher : Chronicles of a Modern Midwife. 1st. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2002. 1-326. Print.

1.) Mainly Baby Catcher goes into the deep eerie blue depths of being a mid-wife. Peggy provides detailed story after story of the trials and tribulations of being a midwife. She illustrates the mothers emotions, the midwife's, that of the assistance and that of the labor and birth process. Versus The Business of Being Born that glimpses over the process contrasted with economical interstices behind hospital births. She also exemplifies the belief of the high importance of a support system surrounding the woman during birth, whereas the movies really just shows the baby being born and mostly skips of labor. Peggy creates a vigilant image that EVERY birth is different for every woman. Peggy includes the intricate list of items provided at a home birth (pg.328-329). Peggy also sheds light that a breech baby does not mean a necessary c-section, the child can be born vaginally but it is a delicate process. Peggy also describes a previous practice called the Leboyer Bath, which was introduced by a French doctor (Leboyer) that a baby should be placed in a warm bath right after birth. Peggy divulges with great detail the major popularity during the 70's of women taking charge of their health by going to the holistic extreme and creating hospital environments meeting their demand, simply by their change in daily life style creating a different demand. Vincent gives a different approach for the reasoning of doctor’s disapproval of home-births, stating that there belief: birth is a retrospective diagnosis until proved normal. They feel that they have gone to medical school to intervene and be of importance, versus the money guzzling approach which is inevitably tied in with a doctor's schooling but that is beside the point.

2.) "Childbirth is normal, until proven otherwise." - Peggy Vincent. I believe that this is true, but the way the author proves this is in a glorified cartoony, and exaggerated manner. I also believe normal is a very abstract term for such a statement, and she could also prove her belief with more insight if she truly described every detail of a baby coming out of a vagina; with the purpose of doing such as well.

3.)
• the beauty of vaginal birth (pg. 26)
• the facility in which teenagers give birth (pg. 103)
• bliss must come with pain (pg. 56)
• What in the hell is a "Christian scientist"? and why is birth so easy for them ? (pg. 111-113)
• Why does our society impede people without a certifications/college education, when the knowledge already exists? (Pg. 76)


4.) The author makes the claim that "The more rigid the birth plan, the higher the incidence of cesarean section." This claim is very hard to prove, I believe it is questioning the spiritual attitude of a women and probably why it has not been researched, emotions and science don't mix. I think the manner in which the evidence was used is valid because it comes from her personal experience as a midwife and is attempting to support the belief that a mother must be sure of her woman bodies' capabilities. Previously in the book she states the birth becomes complicated when the mother begins to think too much, versus letting her body take control. A Government Public health site states "it's important to be flexible — if you know one aspect of your birthing plan won't be met, be sure to weigh that aspect against your other wishes." This addresses the variety and un-predictability of the birth, divulging in the necessity of an open mind-frame trusting that the process will go well. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, conducted a study on maternal fear associated with pregnancy the results concluded that "Regarding the various manifestations of fear, "stress symptoms" and "wish to avoid pregnancy and childbirth" ranked highest. Twenty-two percent of participants had considered requesting an elective cesarean section due to fear of childbirth." This exemplifies that many women non important the source are very fearful of giving birth so much so that they want to have a c-section. One could imply that if one's fear is un-consciously so strong that one does not even want to give birth it could lead to major complications. My last source is the African myth divulged in one of the birth books in class, stating that when women were unsure of their births they would have very serious birth complications, I myself find this a very reliable source in the context that these women gave birth alone in forest. Based on the research I have conducted this evidence is not per say FACT, but Theory and is valid in the context used.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17456465
http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_center/preparing_parenthood/birth_plans.html#
* she golrifies exagerates, carrtonizes, and does not give enough detail of the actual birth