Some books I've read recently

I found Val Clarke's Instinctive Birthing at my local library and picked it up not knowing it was a book from the UK. I'm very glad I read it. It is written by a British midwife in an effort to encourage and teach pregnant women how to birth instinctively, as the title suggests. It bemoans the loss of instictive birthing from the general British culture and talks about how to listen to your body and use medical resources as your particular circumstances deem necessary.

One thing I am very glad I read in this book is Clarke's suggestion for a membrane leak late in pregnancy. Although I have heard people talk about staying home and monitoring yourself for signs of infection if a slow leak occurrs (instead of going to the hospital and being put on a timer for when you are "allowed" to have your baby naturally), this is the first medical professional source I have actually seen that supports this action.

It was also very interesting to read about British maternity practices, just because I love to read things like that.

I also read Doreen Nagle's But I Don't Feel Too Old to be a Mommy recently as well. I have a client who is going to be a midlife new mother and thought I would read it to see if there's anything I should think about or look into particularly having to do with older moms. It was an interesting read because of the information on fertilization treatments and some of the feelings that a midlife mom can feel. Basically, however, there's nothing different about a midlife first-time mom and a younger one. Sure, there is a slightly higher chance of having a baby with Down's Syndrome and medical personnel may treat you slightly differently because your "old," the basics are all the same (no surprise, really).

I thought the book was interesting from a fertilitry treatment perspective, but I really didn't learn anything pertinent to my line of service except that I was right in thinking that the basic worries and issues and support methods are the same, taking individual personality and needs into account, of course.


Now I'm reading Mothering the New Mother and The Happiest Baby on the Block. I'm really enjoying Mothering, but Happiest Baby isn't helping me as much as I had hoped. My babe is now 9 1/2 months old and I'd like to get him to sleep in his own bed at night without screaming irrately every time we try to lie him down without a breast in his mouth. The book I got is really aimed strictly at newborns, not touching much on issues of attachment and changing habits. If my babe would fall asleep without nursing and would sleep through the night without nursing, that would solve the problems my husband has when I go to births. That's the real issue. At this point, it doesn't matter so much that he's sleeping with us, but needing a milk snack to get there is a big issue right now. I think I'll have to start actually asking for some pointers.

Leboyer's "Birth Without Violence"

I checked this book out at the library and finished reading it in an afternoon about a week ago. It was a very good book and quick to induce emotion. Some things mentioned are older complaints about how birth is orchestrated, like holding a newborn by the ankles and giving him/her a sharp spank to get some good crying. Birth attendants still want the baby to give a lusty cry, but the whole upside-down-by-the-ankles gig isn't done here anymore. Most babies are also put directly on a mother's abdomen at birth, like Birth Without Violence suggests.

It was nice to see what a "Leboyer bath" is. I had come across the term a few times and didn't really understand what exactly was meant by it. A Leboyer bath is done soon after birth by immersing the baby in a body-temperature bath (except the face, of course). The baby is immersed slowly to help him/her get used to the bath, and the point of the bath is to help the baby with the transition to dry land from his/her previous watery home. Apparently babies who experience the bath are very happy about it.

The Leboyer method of birthing without violence does have a number of other concepts which, when used together, are supposed to help babies have a peaceful entrance into the world. Leboyer did make it sound like the event of childbirth was a very traumatic one for the babies, which I agree with to some extent. The only thing I disagreed with was that he made it sound as though it were worse than I believe it to be. In my opinion, birth cannot be quite as horrible as he makes it sound simply because it is a natural thing for life to begin with. It's not a piece of cake, and it certainly can be as difficult and traumatic for a baby as it can be for a mother, of course, but babies are designed to withstand it. Some births can certainly be more traumatic or difficult than others, but that doesn't mean they are inherently horrible for the baby.

In Leboyer-style births, the babies do not cry very much, as Leboyer says that traumatized, terrified crying is not a normal aspect of birth. The baby is taken directly to the mother's abdomen at birth and the mother massages the baby rhythmically, imitating the contractions of labor. After the cord has stopped pulsing, somewhere between one and five minutes after the birth of the baby, the cord is cut and the baby is left with the mother for a little while, then given the bath. The baby is supposed to cry a few lusty cries, then will stop crying and simply take in his/her new world. It was nice to read this because that is what my son did at his birth. Reading something saying that his behavior was normal for a peaceful birth made me feel good about the birth (I already did) and made me a little sad that the baby nurses did a deep suction on him because "he wasn't crying enough" at the time. Ah, interventionist medical personnel are lovely.

Thrift Store Treasures

On a recent excursion to the local ARC, I found two little treasures of someone else's trash. On of my treasures is a 1940 baby book written by a pediatrician. It's very funny and interesting to see what kinds of things were done or recommended at the time. The second treasure is an inversion table! Talk about awesome equipment at the thrift store!

The inversion table is the perfect height for moms with breech babies. It will be so much better to offer that to moms whose doctors approve of it than to have them prop up their ironing boards against couches or chairs. I'm very happy that my husband saw the inversion table. I just need to clean it up a bit. The vinyl is pretty gross, but the mechanics work just fine. What I'll probably do is mention to mothers with breech babies that I have it and make sure they discuss it with their doctor before they try it. I don't want to be liable for anyone who falls off of the thing because I recommended it. If the doctor recommends or condones it, however, that's a different story.

The book is really interesting. After spending two weeks in the hospital, the mother and baby go home. It's written like a story from the baby's perspective. The baby goes "talks" with the doctor and his mother during well-baby visits. I've gotten up to 9 months old so far. It's really funny and amazing to see what kinds of things were recommended in 1940. The baby doesn't get any shots until he's about 9 months old, and then only gets shots for about five things. I'll write a more detailed blog about the book when I've finished it.

Chalk up two more for my used bargains list!

Finished reading The Birth Book by the Sears'

I finished another book yesterday! It was, as the title of this blog suggests, The Birth Book by Robert & Martha Sears. It was a great book. I highly recommend it. The only problem I saw was that it is in need of revision to make it up-to-date. I think it would be good to use in conjunction with other books.

It was very good at showing how a good relationship can be fostered between "natural" childbirth and "technical" childbirth. Though informed decision-making, one should never feel regret for using technology in childbirth. There are always risks and benefits to medical interventions, which should be considered, but one should be open to utilize what is necessary to have a good birth experience with good outcomes.

It was nice to see a childbirth book written by a nurse and pediatrician who had both hospital and home births. Their opinions seemed to be very moderate and well-thought-out.