Status
Available
Local notes
EC Motherhood
Collection
Publication
Scribner (2003), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Medical. Nonfiction. HTML:An inspiring collection of birth stories by a charming midwife. Each time she knelt to "catch" another wriggling babyâ??nearly three thousand times during her remarkable careerâ??California midwife Peggy Vincent paid homage to the moment when pain bows to joy and the world makes way for one more. With every birth, she encounters another woman-turned-goddess: Catherine rides out her labor in a car careening down a mountain road. Sofia spends hers trying to keep her hyper doctor-father from burning down the house. Susannah gives birth so quietly that neither husband nor midwife notice until there's a baby in the room. More than a collection of birth stories, however, Baby Catcher is a provocative account of the difficulties that midwives face in the United States. With vivid portraits of courage, perseverance, and love, this is an impassioned call to rethink technological hospital births in favor of more individualized and profound experiences in which mothers and fathers take center stage in the timeless drama of… (more)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
336 p.; 8.44 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member MaggiRayne
This book will always be one of my favourites. It is laugh out loud funny and touches your heart, too.
LibraryThing member alaiacona
Each of the stories is lovingly told and riveting. I thought Vincent's reflections on the malpractice suit brought against her were fascinating.
LibraryThing member deliberatelife
I love autobiographies of midwives, and now being pregnant with my third child, it was time to find another. This exceptional tale of one woman's entry into midwifery and her subsequent falling out of it did not leave me disappointed. Filled with stories of eccentric and beautiful parents and
This book also highlights the constant struggle that midwives face for acceptance, recognition, and legal rights. Understand what midwives face every day, and how much support their families give so that women can have the right to give birth at home.
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births, such as the very young Muslim couple who practically delivered their baby themselves, to delivering a baby on board a leaky boat in the midst of a monsoon, each chapter is a new and unbelievable true adventure.This book also highlights the constant struggle that midwives face for acceptance, recognition, and legal rights. Understand what midwives face every day, and how much support their families give so that women can have the right to give birth at home.
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LibraryThing member Lilac_Lily01
Peggy Vincent is a licensed midwife who specializes in home births. In "Baby Catcher" she shares some of her most memorable experiences as a midwife. This is the second book about midwifery that I have read -the first one being "Labor of Love" by Cara Muhlhahn. And this one was even better than the
In the final pages Vincent included a summary with some words of wisdom, an overview of the contents of a well stocked home birth kit, a recommended reading list, as well as midwifery economics and safety studies.
I loved every page of this book and it certainly got me motivated to pursue this career path some more!
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first. Peggy writes in a very entertaining and honest way. The chapters give glimpses into her daily midwifery practice, and help you realize what kind of dedication and compassion it takes to be successful in the business of home births. Vincent also manages to relay the importance of seeing giving birth as something normal and not a disease that necessarily needs to be medically treated. Nevertheless she doesn't pass any judgement on women that choose to go the medical route. In the final pages Vincent included a summary with some words of wisdom, an overview of the contents of a well stocked home birth kit, a recommended reading list, as well as midwifery economics and safety studies.
I loved every page of this book and it certainly got me motivated to pursue this career path some more!
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LibraryThing member andafiro
(Adding this to my library now though I read it some time ago--this title just now showed up as a recommendation and I want to confirm that yes, it's a good recommendation. ;-)
LibraryThing member busyreadin
This is an easy, funny read, giving us a glimpse into the life of a midwife in 1980 California. It shows childbirth in all of it's painful, awkward, embarrassing, and wonderful moments.
LibraryThing member julierh
what an excellent book! anyone who is interested in midwifery and/or natural birth would like this funny and fascinating book. additionally, anyone who is going to have a baby should read this. since we are so inundated with terrifying "birth as emergency" accounts in our culture, it is nice to
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expose yourself to positive birth stories for balance and this book certainly contains many that illustrate how birth can be very normal and positive. Show Less
LibraryThing member THCForPain
This book is absolutely amazing. I did not want this book to end so I slowed down my reading hoping to drag it out. The book was a great insight into the beauty of a women being able to bring a person into this world the way god intended. I felt at times as I was there with Peggy the descriptions
unlike how doctors think "childbirth is normal until proven otherwise"
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of the labor and births so perfect, loving and at time hilarious. Each birth to her during the time of her private practice was special in its own way and her ability to remember each of them. I have learned how special midwives are since "Doctors have lost sight of what normal labor looks like and how women really behave when artificial barriers are removed". It was hilarious when she would take the placentas to her kids school. Interesting was the "primal need of women to find a close, dark, protected space in which to bring safely bring forth their babies. Rejecting the prepared king size bed". I did get annoyed and upset with her when she kicked a goose so hard that it beak over tail went 15 feet above the lake vibrating her leg all the way to her hip then laughed about it.unlike how doctors think "childbirth is normal until proven otherwise"
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LibraryThing member HomeBirth
Each time she knelt to "catch" another wriggling baby -- nearly three thousand times during her remarkable career -- California midwife Peggy Vincent paid homage to the moment when pain bows to joy and the world makes way for one more. With every birth, she encounters another woman-turned-goddess:
Show More
Catherine rides out her labor in a car careening down a mountain road. Sofia spends hers trying to keep her hyper doctor-father from burning down the house. Susannah gives birth so quietly that neither husband nor midwife notice until there's a baby in the room.More than a collection of birth stories, however, Baby Catcher is a provocative account of the difficulties that midwives face in the United States. With vivid portraits of courage, perseverance, and love, this is an impassioned call to rethink technological hospital births in favor of more individualized and profound experiences in which mothers and fathers take center stage in the timeless drama of birth. Show Less
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
The story of one woman's time spent as a nurse and as a midwife. Vincent has an engaging, friendly voice; I felt like we were friends within a chapter. The ways of thinking about and serving pregnant women have changed a huge amount since the 1960s, and Vincent documents it all from the front-line.
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The stories she tells are moving and sometimes hilarious, and the history she documents is fascinating. Show Less
LibraryThing member greeniezona
I don't remember where I heard about this book, but I put it on my paperbackswap wishlist and finally scored a copy. It spent a few weeks perched on the corner of our kitchen table, but once I finally picked it up, I couldn't put it down.
I inhaled this book over the course of two days in April,
Of course, the author, a midwife, has reason to be biased, but after reading this the whole medical establishment anti-midwife attitude seems even more ludicrous and self-serving. And that's saying something, as I was leaning fairly heavily that way before I ever opened this particular book.
Highly recommended to all mommas and other birth junkies.
I inhaled this book over the course of two days in April,
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staying up late at night to read, every once in a while stopping to re-read stories aloud to Andrew. Absolutely fascinating, this is a memoir encompassing the legal, societal, and hospital politics of the modern midwife movement, the story of one midwife and the impacts her work had on her family, and a collection of birth stories, told from the midwife's perspective. You'd think I would have had my fill of birth stories by now, but apparently I can't get enough. And seeing these from the point of view of the midwife is fascinating -- even Ida May's book and its collection of birth stories was almost entirely mother-perspective. Of course, the author, a midwife, has reason to be biased, but after reading this the whole medical establishment anti-midwife attitude seems even more ludicrous and self-serving. And that's saying something, as I was leaning fairly heavily that way before I ever opened this particular book.
Highly recommended to all mommas and other birth junkies.
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LibraryThing member LyndaInOregon
Think "All Creatures Great and Small", but with babies, home birth, and midwifery. No, seriously, this was a good read, though probably not of great interest to folks whose only experience with childbirth has been being the child.
Vincent progressed from nursing through midwifery at a time
Vincent progressed from nursing through midwifery at a time
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(1970s-90s) when the medical field flirted briefly with licensing midwives as independent practitioners. Her tales of various home births are interspersed with observations about the growth of the craft and its eventual fall from favor, driven largely by insurance issues and the nearly-ubiquitous resistance of Big Med. Show Less
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Pages
336