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Midwifery When I was twenty-two, I gave birth at home with a midwife in attendance. Ever since then, I have been fascinated by and admiring of midwives and the art of midwifery, so much that several of my books feature midwife heroines, including my upcoming October 2008 Harlequin American Romance, HOLDING THE BABY. As a young mother, I gained enormous self-esteem from the experience of giving birth at home in an atmosphere of autonomy. Because I know many other women who have given birth assisted by midwives, I have asked them to contribute to this site with thoughts on midwifery and birth. My neighbor Karen wrote this first beautiful piece. "My two boys were born 22 months apart, caught by the incredibly capable hands of our midwife, Tisha Cazel. To this day, when I see the photos of my boys' births, I cry when I see Tisha's hands. They exude confidence and capability, as if there were no variable she could not handle, no outcome she did not expect. With my first son, I awoke in the middle of the night with contractions coming 2 1/2 minutes apart, my water catastrophically broken, and a 40 minute rush to the birthing center. On the phone, Tisha said to my husband, "Brice, make your travel tidy..." Understated. Subtle. Calm. Tisha was all of these. She even came to my babyshower bearing a gift. She gave us T-shirts that read "Just because birth happens every day doesn't make it ordinary." She is my hero. I assisted at the birth of my best friend's son six months later, with Tisha again attending. Cate's birth was nightmarish, induced by Pitocin and laboring on for nearly 36 hours before she transitioned and began to push. Her progress was slow and her energy was waning. Any MD would have referred her for a C-section then and there (maybe long before), but Tisha looked Cate in the eye and said "What do you want to do?" Cate said she could keep going. Her beautiful healthy baby was born vaginally four hours later. Tisha and I worked together as a well-oiled machine, realizing in the heat of labor that Cate needed to be in a near- squatting position to push her baby out. We lifted her and she immediately made the progress that had eluded us for hours. 2 hours after Sean was born, Cate was up and around and feeling GREAT. Tisha believed in us, in our ability as women to birth on our own terms and to have the strength to endure. Three years later, the hospital that housed the birthing center decided that they could no longer allow midwives to practice under their auspices. Midwifery practice was causing too much competition with the doctors (translation...the midwives were too good, the rate of C-section was too low, and their success was cutting into the physician's business and the hospital's revenues). Tisha is no longer delivering babies. I believe this is a terrible loss to women, children and the universe." Also, I’ve compiled a short list of birth-related books that make good reading, the first being what I must call “the book that changed my life,” SPIRITUAL MIDWIFERY by Ina May Gaskin. I hope those of you who have enjoyed my midwife stories will also look into these exceptional books.
THE
SCIENTIFICATION OF LOVE by Michel Odent
THE CESAREAN
by Michel Odent
A MIDWIFE’S
STORY by Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman
CYBORG
BABIES by Robbie Davis-Floyd and Joseph Dumit
WE ARE ALL
WATER BABIES by Michel Odent
THE WISE
WOMAN’S HERBAL FOR THE CHILDBEARING YEAR by Susun Weed For those of you looking for my back titles with midwife heroines (and one with an interesting birth situation), here is a list:
WAITING FOR
YOU
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