Birth stories: mystery, power and creation

Women, birth and power; Kitty - ruptured membranes; Cindy - an ""accidental"" natural birth; Susan - birth/death; Shelley - a three generation birth; Joanne - a planned caesarean birth; Laura - infection, induction and intensive care; Karen - a five-day labour; Hannah - joyful home birth; Mary - childbirth and violence against women; Emily - premature labour and birth; Kim - vaginal birth after caesarean; Ariel - pain or pleasure?; Aaria, Sandy and Teresa - twins!; Elaine and Janet - meconium aspiration and shoulder dystocia; Rebecca - teen mom; Linda - birth among family and friends; Anna - postpartum haemorrhage; Penny - holding back; Sally - a woman-chosen pitocin induction; Lynn - gestational diabetic; Tammy - stuck at eight.

Paperback

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