Spiritual Midwifrey.......

[Levanna]

.....has anyone else read it? If so, what did you think?

[mears]

I read it and was pretty inspired by it. The lifestyle is not my cup of tea I have to say, but the approach to childbirth was amazing. I think all midwives should read it. I think however that a lot of mums might find her a bit 'hippyish'. What did you think?

[Levanna]

Hi Mears, yes, very 'hippyish' . Also extremely inspiring. I found that although some of it wasn't quite for me, it was easy to relate it to other experiences and beliefs of my own IYKWIM! It was realy refreshing to read a book that reveres childbirth and bearing as I do . The lack of medical intrusion and belief in the psychological, spiritual (and psychadelic ) aspects of birth I found really comforting. I have a friend who called Ina Mae at 'the farm' when she was nearly due, as she was having a lot of problems in her life at the time, and Ina Mae gave her some really good advice . I found that I felt immediately closer to my unborn baby as I read Spiritual Midwifery, as the book really helped me break down some encroaching barriers, and took me back to what it's all about - which is where I want to be!

[papillon]

I had a home birth but have not read Spiritual Midwifery. But I have read about Ina May Gaskin in this book

Have read about the journey Ina May took when becoming a midwife and how the Farm began and have used the Farm recipe book.

My midwife was quite a down-to-earth character which I found quite reassuring as it was quite straight up. The support midwife at the birth was more spiritual and I really appreciated her soft very connecting methods and soft cooing during labour.

I would definately like to read it before we have another baby.

I was quite interested in the spirit of the unborn child and found quite abit of information at these websites,

spirit of unborn child
cosmic cradle

[glitterfairy]

oh paps mine shouted at me on two occasions with two babies! But you know that is what I needed soft cooing and the babies would never have come out! Had to be told to concentrate and push and stop relaxing!

[papillon]

I would have slugged my midwife if she shouted at me! I didn't do much pushing at all - lazy sod that I am. The soft cooing only came right at the end - until then I was left to my own devices pretty much. Was already fully dilated when my midwife arrived!

[Heathcliffscathy]

i read about her in misconceptions by naomi wolf. she and the farm sound absolutely amazing...talk about taking the medicalisation out of childbirth...

[Levanna]

The Farm
This is the site for The Farm for anyone who's interested . There are links to the their midwifery unit at the bottom of this page.

I'll look out for the other books mentioned too!

p.s. cooing sounds good to me

[SueW]

I'm not fond of Spiritual Midwifery - I read it when my DD was a year old and it stirred up a lot of bad feeling about her birth which hadn't been there before. I read it again recently and I couldn't even find the parts that had upset me before which goes to show how much water there has been under the bridge in the past six years but it still doesn't hit my favourite list.

I love 'A Midwife's Story' by Penny Armstrong/Sheryl Feldman which is about a midwife's experience with the Amish.

[Levanna]

Hi Sue, in terms of my last birth experience, with DD, I can understand what you mean. (Obviously know nothing about your experience, but the Spiritual Midwifery approach wasn't quite how my DD's birth went either.) I suppose that for me, it helped enable me to feel that DD's birth was an amazing thing, even if the processes I felt were forced on us weren't quite my ideal - and it's given me ideas for helping little DD2's impending birth be more how I would like it to be IYKWIM.
Getting lots of tips for good reads here though!