Caring for the Country Book

This is one of the very very few books devoted entirely to breech birth specifically vaginal breech birth. In regards to why babies are breech, techniques to attempt to turn babies in breech position, and making the decision to attempt a vaginal breech birth or have a cesarean, it is still very useful. And, although the book is very scholarly, it would still be of use to the lay reader.

Unfortunately, it was published in 2003 when Dr. Frank Louwen and Dr. Anke Reitter had just begun conducting their breech birth trials in Frankfurt, Germany. Their findings resulted in the creation of a new breech maneuver -- Frank's Nudge or the Louwen Manuever -- and shifted the position for the most favorable outcome to hands and knees accompanied by completely "hands off" management from lithotomy/supine used with forceps. So, the entire section on the management of breech births is outdated, and the reader would do well to bear this in mind.

As this book was written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the experience cited is mainly within the National Health Service (NHS), but some research from the United States, Canada, Israel, and mainland Europe. Several of the most important players in the world of vaginal breech birth -- midwives Jane Evans, Mary Cronk, and Ina May Gaskin, Dr. Wendy Savage, Dr. Michel Odent, and Dr. Yehudi Gordon -- are cited or namedropped. Readers interested in further information may also want to research the work of Dr. Frank Louwen, Dr. Anke Reitter, Dr. Stuart Fischbein, midwife Betty-Anne Daviss, and Dr. Savas M. Menticoglou.