HW 40 - Insights from Book - Part 3

You find yourself at a cocktail party with the author of the book you just finished reading. To demonstrate that you really read it, you say, "Hey - thanks for writing “Born in the USA How a Broken Maternity System must be fixed to put Women and Children First”. Your main idea that midwives are ostracized and eliminated from the competition with obstetricians made me rethink pregnancy and birth in the U.S. made me rethink pregnancy & birth.

But the author, surprised to be talking to someone who instead of sharing their own birth story actually rephrased the main idea of the text s/he spent months giving birth to asks, "Really, which parts were most effective or important for you?" When you answer, "Well, in the last third of the book you focused on educating people about the medicalization of birth, which connected to some of the atrocities revealed to the readers in the first half of the book. But let me be more specific."
1. “Another key strategy for midwives must be to push for autonomy-recognition that midwifery is an independent health care profession with its own certification, licensure, and state boards- and for an egalitarian relationship with doctors “ (Pg. 125).
2. “Fear of litigation is a highly selective excuse used by some obstetricians when there is something which is not obstetrician friendly such as planned home birth (over which they have no control and no profit) (Pg. 151).
3.”Maternity care will become fully integrated into social and family services only when it has escaped the hospital” (Pg. 189).

At this point, realizing that s/he's having a unique conversation with a serious reader of her/his book, the author asks - "But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer, "Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide (narratives, historical analysis, journalistic analysis, policy analysis) from the perspective of a (Woman giving birth) for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to have more narrative from obstetricians and midwives about the differences in their beliefs and maybe some obstetricians that are not cold. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about the fear of litigation that is placed on doctors and makes them more fearful & the treatment that some obstetricians inflict upon their patients. In fact, I'm likely to have a midwife hopefully if I give birth one day as a result of your book." The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"