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Labor of Love: A Midwife's Memoir |  | Author: Cara Muhlhahn
Creators: Ricki Lake, Abby Epstein
Publisher: Kaplan Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.06
as of 11/23/2009 12:24 MST details
You Save: $11.89 (46%)
New (22) Used (11) from $14.06
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 177947
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1427798214
Dewey Decimal Number: 618.20092
EAN: 9781427798213
ASIN: 1427798214
Publication Date: December 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Single mom, jazz singer, salsa dancer, traveler, and midwife to more than 700 babies, Cara Muhlhahn holds nothing back—in her life or in this memoir.As a teenager, Cara’s family home burnt to the ground. That tragedy led her on a journey that would span a variety of countries and cultures. While she was in Morocco, a woman suffered from a fatal injury. Grieving the unnecessary death, Cara resolved that, next time, she would know what to do to save a life. In this fascinating and searingly honest memoir, Cara reveals what eventually led her to support women in one of the most significant experiences of their lives. Balancing science with intuition, parenthood with her work, and sacrifice with joy, Cara shows us what it means to be alive and to live a life of purpose. Just as readers are fascinated by Carly Fiorina’s or Elizabeth Gilbert’s journeys, they will find great inspiration in Cara’s journey to live her calling. Whether you read about her in Vogue or the New York Times; saw her in the documentary The Business of Being Born, by filmmakers Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein; or are learning about her for the first time here, you are sure to be inspired by her remarkable story.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 boastful October 5, 2009
Pamela C. Hines-powell
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
wow, she's likely an amazing midwife, but you're possibly going to hear about how great she is from herself than from anyone else. I couldn't get past the first two chapters because of the ego stroking. damn.
 Great book for midwives and students September 8, 2009
Jennifer A. Miller (Portland, Oregon)
I adore this book - it is real, has wonderful birth stories and comes from a place where you feel as if you know Cara, the midwife. Great read for all midwives, CPM and CNM. As a CNM student who previously studied to be a home birth CPM, I appreciated that Cara had her feet in both worlds and was able to collaborate and bridge the world, albeit not all the time, between the medical establishment and midwifery model. I laughed, I cried, I learned. And, I was really sad when I read the last page. Great book!!!
I expected more... July 12, 2009
Jennifer A. McFarland (Poconos PA United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I wish that I could have liked this book. As a homebirth midwife, I really wanted to like it. However, I was bored reading it, found the author's tone very arrogant and the writing style lacking. I liked her in the Business of Being Born, and perhaps with a better editor, this book would have been a better read.
I also didn't like how she made it seem as though midwives who are not Nurse midwives are somehow inferior. That was the vibe I got from this book, she says several times about how she feels that her nursing training was so helpful to her as a midwife. The U.S. is one of very few, if not the only country in the world that has midwives who are also nurses. As a direct entry midwife who also has had experience working in hospitals and in doctor's offices, I can say that my hospital based training was not nearly as helpful as the training I have received under other midwives in out of hospital settings.
A midwife's story, All my Babies, Listen to me Good, or A baby catcher are better choices when reading a midwife's memoir.
 not as good as the movie she was in.... June 4, 2009
Birth Junkie (Virginia)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I watched the Business of Being Born and loved it. Cara seemed competent and well liked. I also love reading, especially birth stories and birth activism kind of things. Therefore, when I saw that Cara had written a book, I was excited to read it.
I was hoping for something similar to "Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife" by Peggy Vincent (a book, by the way, that I would give 10 stars to-it is fantastic). Birth stories, interwoven with her career path, etc. Cara's book is very light reading. Births are mentioned, in very light detail. The book documents her life, from her time in the womb (yes, really) to her high school years, to her years abroad, to nursing, to the hospital, to midwifery training, to birth center, to homebirth practice, to the movie. Its definitely more about Cara than anything else.
She is very arrogant appearing in the book. Much mention of her being special, saving lives, thinking she shouldn't have to pay parking tickets b/c she does such important work, etc.
some quotes of her arrogance:
"meanwhile, I feel I offer my patients levels of safety that are sometimes no longer available in the formulaic, protocol driven situation of institutionalized medicine. "
"at the risk of seeming vain or arrogant, let me ask: which model of care saved that woman's life? Defensive, institutionalized medicine or individualized attentive care"
"I help women give birth to babies in their homes. there is no one but me who can help them" (this was in talking to someone, not the reader)
also, in discussing Down's syndrome, she said that age 40, the risk of having a baby with Down's is "one in 1". 100% of 40 year old women having babies don't have babies with Down's. Thats an obvious error she shouldn't have published.
It's a slow read, not terribly exciting, and very pro-Cara. It wasn't terrible, by any means. Certainly not as good as I had hoped.
Go read "Baby Catcher" instead.
 Very disappointing! May 28, 2009
Jennifer
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I really wanted to like this book and can't express how disappointed I am! I hate to give this book a negative review, but I honestly thought it was terrible. The author is amazingly self-congratulatory and gratingly arrogant. I loved the movie, but she did rub me the wrong way a bit at that time. Knowing that I wish I'd saved my $17 and passed on this book!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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