Those who know me well know that I think birth is cool. I get a little obsessed when I am pregnant. Probably in a way it is to prepare myself for what I am about to do. I enjoyed my natural birth with my last one and will do it again this time. I don't think everyone needs to do it this way. I am for choices in birth and to me that is the most important thing. I don't like to ever hear about a woman getting bullied into doing something they are not comfortable with. That said, I wish more women wanted to be in the moment of labor, but also understand why they don't and know that most women don't feel the need to experience it. For me, it was a great experience. I felt so connected with bringing my baby into the world. I was amazed at how much the body can handle, how it was made to handle labor. How God has made a way for us to be able to go through it with nature's pain reliever in the form of hormones. I really don't think about it much, but when I am pregnant I read birth blogs, birth books and just want to talk about birth. Not everyone wants to listen. But that's okay.
I read this book this last couple of weeks. It's about a midwife during the start of the birth
movement in the 60's when women were tired of being drugged and tied to the bed during labor. Peggy Vincent, the author, was one of few midwives that was able to deliver both in a home and hospital setting. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anymore. Its either one or the other and women are given a lot less choice when it comes to birth. I wasn't thrilled with the amount of cursing in the book, several 'F' words too. And being in the San Francisco area means for some different stories to say the least. I love her referring to herself as a 'wanna be hippy' that didn't take. But the birth stories were awesome and some of them were so interesting! And a few of them were down right funny while others made me cry. If you enjoy birth or stories about birth this is really an intriguing book.
