A Wise Birth

This is the first of a series of reviews I'll be posting about childbirth books that I've read (If you're friends with me on goodreads you will have already seen them...).

A Wise Birth by Penny Armstrong

I'm so glad my wife picked this up off the shelf while we were at the library. Of all the books on birth I've read (which before January was zero...and is now steadily growing) this gives the best intro to home birth and why it makes such a difference to NOT be in the hospital (if you are low risk). What she shares just made sense to me, it resonated with my understanding of people and life.

I think one of the things I like best is that it is, in part, a chronicle of her journey of understanding. She started out with the idea that hospital births were the best, safest kind. I think this is where most of us start out this process. And so her journey parallels, at least in part, the journey of most of us. From the basic assumption that doctor's and hospitals do what is best for mom and the baby through to the conclusion that while doctor's and hospitals are necessary in some cases, most healthy women would be better off giving birth at home.

She starts out the book talking about her early experiences among Amish women, and how their birth experiences were nothing like she had expected or been taught. Their home births were relatively easy and required none of the interventions she had learned, which baffled her. She talks about how, from her practice, she had firsthand knowledge of how birth could be, but no scientific explanation for it until she met Dr. Odent, a french physician, who had done the research to prove her hypothesis. His research clearly showed that undisturbed births, the very kind she experienced among the Amish, where the safest and easiest for mothers and babies.

I actually don't remember many details from the bulk of the book (I believe they were driven out of my brain by the four birth books that I read after this one), but really recommend reading at least the first few chapters where the philosphy of undisturbed birth is explained. Having also now read several childbirth books OBs I appreciate (after the fact) that she is not so authoritative, but rather more like a friend sharing her experiences.