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Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife |  | Author: Peggy Vincent
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $6.63
as of 11/21/2009 23:08 MST details
You Save: $9.37 (59%)
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Seller: amazingsalebooks
Rating:  133 reviews
Sales Rank: 59732
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0743219341
Dewey Decimal Number: 649
EAN: 9780743219341
ASIN: 0743219341
Publication Date: April 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
In a joyous, often hilarious ode to the Birkenstock-scuffling, tackle box-toting mobile midwives who flourished in the 1980s, Peggy Vincent chronicles her abundant life as a professional Baby Catcher. The wild ride begins during her nurse training years in the 1960s, when laboring women were expected to lie down, shut up, and submit to whatever drugs and procedures the doctor ordered. A rebellious patient who chants and dances through her contractions--and the hell that ensues when seasoned hospital staffers intrude--lights a permanent fire under Vincent. Her resolve to serve each laboring woman with compassion and respect carries her from obstetrics nurse to head of an alternative birth center within Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, and eventually into her own private practice as a licensed midwife. Like the most courageous home births, this collection of delivery experiences refuses anesthesia: plenty of bellowing, sweating, bleeding, and pushing accompany nearly all of the more than 40 tales. Tough confrontations with stubborn physicians, panicky labor partners, and one particularly nasty calico cat are dabbed with as many keen insights as Vincent's quieter, more heart-rending newborn encounters. Baby Catcher is an inspirational literary gift suitable for expectant mothers, fellow baby catchers, and anyone who loves reading about nature's greatest magical feat. --Liane Thomas
Product Description
Each time she knelt to "catch" another wriggling baby -- nearly three thousand times during her remarkable career -- California midwife Peggy Vincent paid homage to the moment when pain bows to joy and the world makes way for one more. With every birth, she encounters another woman-turned-goddess: Catherine rides out her labor in a car careening down a mountain road. Sofia spends hers trying to keep her hyper doctor-father from burning down the house. Susannah gives birth so quietly that neither husband nor midwife notice until there's a baby in the room.
More than a collection of birth stories, however, Baby Catcher is a provocative account of the difficulties that midwives face in the United States. With vivid portraits of courage, perseverance, and love, this is an impassioned call to rethink technological hospital births in favor of more individualized and profound experiences in which mothers and fathers take center stage in the timeless drama of birth.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 133
My New Favorite Book October 14, 2009
K. Spencer (MN)
Baby Catcher is my new favorite book! Im a nurse thinking about becoming a midwife later on in life and the American College of Nurse Midwives linked this book to be a great read for getting an idea of what it may be like to be a real-life midwife. Peggy shares her personal stories and feelings of being a "baby catcher". Some stories will make you laugh while others will make you want to cry. I can't wait to read it again! She also has some good references in the Appendix for finding other related books as well as a book for aspiring midwives like me!
Can't put it down August 8, 2009
Leonore (Ann Arbor, MI)
I have a five and a half month old son, my first child. He still wakes up every 2 hours to eat in the night, so I'm pretty tired most of the day. I haven't read a book in many months, but I can't put this one down! I stay up late at night reading it. I'm definitely going to consider having my next child at home.
I am still amazed at how little we women know about pregnancy and childbirth until it happens to us. If we all recognized childbirth as a natural part of life, and kept healthy pregnancies out of hospitals, we'd be a richer society for it, in more ways than one.
 Entertaining preview of my future career July 13, 2009
Chelsey McGehee, CD (Jax, Florida)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book incredibly amusing and could put myself in every situation. I was disappointed at the profanity. I read the whole book with a tube of white-out close by. I would not recommend this book to anyone without handing them my edited copy.
good midwife memoir June 20, 2009
Abeer Y. Hoque (New York City)
My only issue with Baby Catcher was that it was too long and a bit rambling (and I could have done without the Bible quotes that preceded each section). Other than that, it's a lovely memoir of a midwife's life in the (sometimes supportive) (sometimes horrifyingly not) Bay Area.
I think it would be a great book for mothers to read, so that the black box of labour and birth can be demystified a bit (from the sheer number of diverse births she describes), and also presented in a light that isn't clinical or or gross or horrible or dangerous or like an illness or condition -- in the same way that the fabulous documentary "The Business of Being Born" should be required viewing for all moms and those who love them.
I also think it's fascinating (and depressing) to learn about the history and state of midwifery in the US and the challenges that both hospitals and midwives face today.
It didn't make me want to have an epidural free home birth, but it certainly made the possibility of a more natural birth (maybe in a birthing centre attached to a hospital) more appealing. And I'm definitely all for midwives. Every pregnant woman should have one. They're phenomenal human beings.
Love it! May 12, 2009
Lilac Lily (Florida, USA)
Peggy Vincent is a licensed midwife who specializes in home births. In "Baby Catcher" she shares some of her most memorable experiences as a midwife. This is the second book about midwifery that I have read -the first one being "Labor of Love" by Cara Muhlhahn. And this one was even better than the first.
Peggy writes in a very entertaining and honest way. The chapters give glimpses into her daily midwifery practice, and help you realize what kind of dedication and compassion it takes to be successful in the business of home births. Some of her stories made me laugh out loud and some brought tears to my eyes. Vincent manages to relay the importance of seeing giving birth as something normal and not a disease that necessarily needs to be medically treated. Nevertheless she doesn't pass any judgement on women that choose to go the medical route. But she does shed some light on how doctors and hospitals view giving birth and how their interventions can negatively affect women.
I also found it very interesting to read about her experience with malpractice insurance and how one unjust settlement ended her private practice.
In the final pages Vincent included a summary with some words of wisdom, an overview of the contents of a well stocked home birth kit, a recommended reading list, as well as midwifery economics and safety studies.
I loved every page of this book and it certainly got me motivated to pursue this career path some more!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 133
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