Reviews for Homebirth in the Hospital: Integrating Natural Childbirth with Modern Medicine

The average rating for Homebirth in the Hospital: Integrating Natural Childbirth with Modern Medicine based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-07-02 00:00:00 Robert Miller This was pretty disappointing. I thought it would be how to have a completely natural birth in a hospital setting. It wasn't. It was how to integrate medicine with as natural a birth as possible. The author believes in natural childbirth, but of the many birth stories in this book, I don't think any of the women's actually had an unmedicated birth. This book was more of an apology for modern medicine's intervention in the natural process of childbirth than an encouraging book to help those who sincerely seek an unmedicated, normal birth in a hospital setting. Makes me wonder: is the hospital really the best place for this kind of birth? Other things that bugged me: The author described part of her own homebirth as similar to the good acid trips she had in college. I guess most people can relate to an acid trip. I think that's terrible. I guess it just shows that birth can be a natural high, but really, relating it to illegal, dangerous behavior is not a good analogy. Most of the birth stories were about women who didn't believe they could give birth. The most common drug they had was "a shot of nubain." No explaination of how the narcotic affects mother or baby. Overall, it just wasn't an empowering book. Even if you aren't planning a natural birth, don't waste your time with this book. Try the Birth Partner by Penny Simpkin instead.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-15 00:00:00 Stan Dungca Not what you think when you read the title. Nothing helpful about this book for a woman who truly wants a homebirth like experience in a hospital. Each of the birth stories seems to have at least one unnecessary intervention and some have several. I was looking for inspiration. I got dissappointment from the very beginning. Unfortunately I love birth stories and found myself reading, or really just skimming through the whole book. The other thing I hated about this book is that every story ends with a negative comment about birth plans. You would think that the real point of the book is to tell women not to create a birth plan or take a childbirth prep class but just to find a doc that they're comfortable with and go with it. In my opinion its most important for a mother to be informed and knowledgeable about what interventions there are and what she can and can't avoid. This knowledge comes through frequent open discussions with one's care provider and birth place staff and inevitably a birth plan is formed in the woman's mind. As a doula I know how unique every mother is in her birthing decisions and to "just go with it" is not as easy when there is no birth plan to know what that particular mother wants and doesn't want.