Jennifer Block
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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Personal Health -> Women's Health -> Pregnancy & Childbirth -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
Scary But Necessary Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
My first (and only) birth was quite horrifying. After being induced because my contractions slowed the contractions became very painful, after 18 hours I asked for an epidural. The resident put the tube in wrong and the epidural didn't work properly, immobilizing my legs, but leaving the horrific contractions. After 30 hours the midwife broke my bag of waters and after 36 hours I had a fever and my son's heart rate was becoming erratic. They put me in for an emergency C-section, but gave the anesthesia through the same tube as the epidural. Well, it didn't work properly, and I felt almost everything during the 45 minute c-section, so long because my son was stuck and the doctor stopped midway to do a "cease and assess" and to formally complain about the overseeing anesthesiologist.
So! Bad things that you are totally unprepared for can happen! And while this book IS completely biased, it is better to know about all of the possibilities and be mentally prepared for them rather than be blindsided by them. If you are an intelligent woman/couple you can take from this book what it offers: perspective. It will also help you understand what you may and may not want to do during those "informed decision" times they tell you so much about during birthing classes. Yeah, you make the decisions, you can always ask for more information if you need it. Well, what they don't tell you is that if you ask your doctor, your doctor is biased, so if you don't do your own research going in you will do whatever your doctor says because it is the only opinion you have, besides your own, which seems meaningless and naive next to a doctor's recommendation.
Read it, be scared for a little while, and then know you are going into your birth with more information. I am pregnant again, I found that this book helped me decide what kind of physician I wanted to go with. My husband is very against home birth, and I understand his fears, he was traumatized by the first birth, too, he feels that we should still be in a hospital "just in case." So, this book helped me choose a doctor that understands that I want a "home birth" in a hospital. I hope it will help you, too.
Editorial Review:
A groundbreaking narrative investigation of childbirth in the age of machines, malpractice, and managed care, Pushed presents the complete picture of maternity care in America. From inside the operating room of a hospital with a 44% Cesarean rate to the living room floor of a woman who gives birth with an illegal midwife, Block exposes a system in which few women have an optimal experience. Pushed surveys the public health impact of routine labor inductions, C-sections, and epidurals, but also examines childbirth as a women’s rights issue: Do women even have the right to choose a normal birth? Is that right being upheld? A wake-up call for our times, Block’s gripping research reveals that while emergency obstetric care is essential, we are overusing medical technology at the expense of maternal and infant health.
