Tag: book review

Book Reviews, midwifery

Book Review: Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage, by Rachel Reed

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I don’t think I’ve ever put so my sticky markers in a book! This is packed full of gems of information that take you on a journey through normal physiological birth, informing the reader of the rites of passage of childbirth and how these rites have been perverted over the centuries.

So many sticky notes!

I love how Rachel quite literally weaves the story of a labouring Eve through the text and adds herstory, giving context to the birthing process within the current medicalised system.

From my personal experience, and that of my sisters and close friends, the journey to becoming a mother is the most profound and life altering process embarked upon. The rites of passage involved are myriad and highly individual, but are all too easily derailed by the rites of protection undertaken by institutions to keep the control with the care givers and prevent litigation for when things go wrong.

This book underpins those rites of passage and provides evidence (or lack there of), for the interventions offered during childbirth. It is incredibly well researched and equips pregnant women with all the information required to make decisions based on true, fully informed consent. This book also provides tools for health professionals to empower the women in their care to navigate their transition into motherhood with support, understanding and promotion of rites of passage.

I now need to go back through my sticky markers to colour coordinate them into subjects such as postpartum haemorrhage, breastfeeding etc, as this will help me revise what I’ve learned and serve as an excellent reference tool for my studies. I think this is a book that all pregnant women, midwives, maternity workers, obstetricians and other health professionals involved in their care should read.

Women who are denied their rites of passage are denied their power, often without any awareness that it is happening. This book seeks to restore the balance of power and place it firmly in the hands (and hearts) of pregnant women, by equipping themselves and their caregivers with the evidence to support their passage to motherhood.

Book Reviews

Book review – The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read… by Philippa Perry

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This beautifully kind, wise and compassionate book has been a wonderful reminder of the parent I aspire to become. It goes without saying, of course, that I am not a perfect parent. Who is? The joy of this book is that it does not set out to achieve perfection (which would only set you up for failure), nor does it reprimand you for mistakes made in the past. It gently encourages you to explore your words, actions and the examples you set to your child, observing how they might affect your child(ren), how they affected you when you were a child and the possible long term effects on your relationship with your child.

It’s not about how many times you mess up, lose your rag and end up crying in a corner (with at least one child screaming on the floor at the same time). It’s about accepting that these things happen, putting actions in to place to minimise them (ie recognising your own limits and how to manage them), and ‘repairing the rupture’ by being compassionate with yourself and authentic in your restorative actions.

It has great examples and case studies of where parents have struggled with their child(ren), even to the point of wanting to leave the family unit, and offers tender, considerate and often humorous responses to the challenges we all face in our parenting (and indeed all) relationships in our lives.

It ties in perfectly with the La Leche League philosophy of ‘loving guidance’, which is one of the many reasons I kept going back to La Leche League. I knew I wanted to follow the gentle parenting path, I think even before I became pregnant, and it was demonstrated so admirably by the mums present at the meetings.

It reminded me that loving guidance is a long term investment (it also has short term benefits too), that patience is a virtue (no one has taught me more about being patient than my son), and that if you’re not looking back at your life and cringing at certain moments, you’re not learning and growing as a person, parent and human being.