Real Birth: women share their stories

by Robin Greene

Overview

Intimate and intensely personal, the forty-five first-person narratives contained in Real Birth: Women Share Their Stories offer readers a window into the complex and emotionally exciting experience of childbirth. Women from a full range of socioeconomic backgrounds and circumstances recount the childbirth choices they've made and the ways those choices have played themselves out in the real life contexts of their everyday lives. Readers meet women from all over the country who speak to us directly––no interviewer intrudes, no judgments intrude, and no single method of childbirth is advocated. Instead, these women offer us their candid experiences, presented clearly and unflinchingly. Medically reviewed by physicians Dr. Richard Randolph for the first edition and Dr. Deborah Morris for this second edition, Real Birth offers readers a plethora of correct information as well the kind of real scoop that other books and health care professionals are often reluctant to reveal. The result is a well-grounded book that reaches across the boundaries of childbirth literature. Real Birth is introduced by Ariel Gore, journalist, editor, writer, and founding editor/publisher of Hip Mama, an Alternative Press Award-winning publication about the culture of motherhood. Also included are an extensive glossary of medical terms, a thoroughly researched selective bibliography, and a list of resources of interest to pregnant women and new moms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611530995
Publisher:	Top Reads Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	07/14/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	428
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Robin Greene is Director of the Writing Center and Professor of English and Writing at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC. She is also the recipient of a NC Arts Council/NEA co-sponsored writing fellowship and serves as the McLean Endowed Chair of English. Greene has published four books and is co-founder and editor of Longleaf Press, MU's literary press. She holds a M.A. in English from Binghamton University and a M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Art at Norwich University. Greene is married to Michael Colonnese, and they have two grown sons, Daniel and Benjamin, a daughter-in-law, Jennifer, and a granddaughter, Lillian.

Table of Contents

Foreword--By Ariel Gore

Preface

Chapter 1--Hospital Births

Chapter 2--The Birthing Center

Chapter 3--Birth At Home

Chapter 4--Delivering In Unusual Places

Chapter 5--Women On Their Own

Chapter 6--When Problems Occur

Chapter 7--Two Or More

Afterword--By Grey Brown

Glossary

Resources

Further Reading

About The Authors

What People are Saying About This

Svea Oster

I've been teaching childbirth classes and doing labor assistance for 20 years. When I was asked to review REAL BIRTH, I went about it like a task--until I actually started reading! I responded to the book like it was a bestseller--I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. The direct voice of women speaking from their own experience is such a powerful and moving thing. As a teacher, I try to prepare women for the vast and unknown. I will definitely recommend REAL BIRTH to my students.
— Svea Oster, Childbirth Educator and Labor Assistant

Editorial Reviews

This collection of stories compiled by Greene, a published poet, proves no two births are alike. Divided into seven sections, the book presents 36 women who describe their birthing experience--from hospital births, to births in birthing centers, at home, and in more unusual places. Other sections focus on the special circumstances of single women, multiple births, and unexpected complications. An excellent complement to typical books on pregnancy and birth (many of which describe only the "textbook" cases of labor and delivery), these narratives fill a gap for those seeking a realistic description of the birthing process from the mother's view. It will be a helpful tool for those mothers who need validation for a birthing experience that did not go as planned. For a more technical look at labor and delivery, consult Sheila Kitzinger's The Complete Book of Pregnancy & Childbirth (LJ 11/1/96). Highly recommended for public libraries and all medical collections.--Lisa A. Errico-Cox, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Collected in this volume are the first-person narratives of thirty-six women whose childbirth experiences represent a range of real-life experiences. The mothers who reveal these intimate details answered an ad in a national publication-out of which the collected interviews emerged. Each story chronicles candid details of what every woman giving birth goes through, emotionally and physically, causing the reader to have deeper understanding and reverence for women who give birth. Although this is a telling of a rite of passage most women participate in, all expectant family members interested in the human experience will enjoy this book and find the details refreshing and engrossing.
Each narrative is diverse and the short biographies at the beginning of each story are kept brief and non-descript in terms of cultural identification, ethnic background and socioeconomic status. The author's intent was to let each story unfold naturally; her voice never intrudes, rather she draws out and edits each account, retaining the integrity of each birth history. With each page, one begins to perceive that each woman speaks from her heart, with a mental clarity that painstakingly preserves the memory of this incredible task. Each chapter provides insight into the various concerns, fears and options to giving birth today. Traditional hospital birth is covered, as well as birthing centers, at home births and some very unusual places (in particular, an arrival in a Virginia traffic tunnel, among others). First time mothers will benefit from the additional information on alternative methods to birthing, such as underwater births, little to no medical intervention births and alternative birthing positions such as standing up and how to choose a doula or midwife. Mothers who have been through the birth experience before will benefit from the stories of those who have chosen to change elements of their birthing plan, such as asking for medication or who have delivered via C-Section the first time around and have successfully birthed vaginally thereafter. Problems in pregnancy are also covered to educate the reader as to how singular each birth experience is.
Real Birth proves to be a helpful resource for anyone interested or about to become involved with the birth experience. A helpful glossary and resource guide lends to the approachability of this volume. The book differentiates itself from the other "gospel" pregnancy books in that there is no "must" or unquestioned theory on how to experience the birth process.
—Foreword

Amy McQuaid