Giving Birth: a Journey into the World of Mothers and Midwives.

by Catherine Taylor Book review by Annmarie G. Klyzub, CLA, Editor Published by Perigee Books, 2002

Giving Birth is a story with many layers. Catherine Taylor weaves the reader through her quest of writing about midwives, her own pregnancies and births, and her decision to become a labor assistant. But this book is more than that. What starts out as retelling her experiences shadowing midwives quickly becomes a story about her life and a reference book for many facts, figures, and statistics.

Taylor discusses her first labor and birth as "a good one ... minimal use of painkillers ... an active participant...." However, she felt disappointed. She realized that she didn't know as much about midwives and birth as she thought. Thus, her research, and this book, was born.

Taylor shadowed and interviewed dozens of midwives. She tries to follow a chronological timeline in her book; starting with such sections as "Prenatal/ Conception," First Trimester," and so on. In each section Taylor includes subsections, including information about midwives in a hospital setting, clinics, and home. A good percentage of these sections include Taylor's observations and interviews. The midwives, while diverse in personalities, are outspoken about their acceptance (or lack thereof) in various settings. The reader is able to gain tremendous insight into the mind of a midwife through this. This, in itself, made the book interesting and hard to put down.

It is obvious that Taylor is extremely well read. Throughout the book, Taylor makes reference to contemporary studies and respected books about midwives, labor assistants, and birth. She quotes many leading authorities and uses facts to dispute age-old practices in obstetrics. Taylor's presentation of these facts may be somewhat elementary for a seasoned labor assistant or midwife, but the presentation itself is hard to argue with; thus, this element of the book makes it worthwhile for the reference material alone.

In addition to the midwives and the reference material, Taylor learns she is pregnant for the second time and decides to follow through on her plans to become a certified labor assistant. The reader gets to follow her through her learning process. This aspect isn't as fully developed as it could be, but it does provide a unique perspective. She also shares her inner turmoil regarding her decisions about her pregnancy, labor, and birth.

Missing from the story are references to her husband's role in all of this. Even when Taylor is deciding whether or not to have a homebirth, discussions with her husband are absent. Perhaps she was interweaving so many elements, that inclusion of her husband's role may have confused the story. The only other item I was saddened to note was that there was no mention of ALACE as a source for labor assistant certification.

Overall, the book is useful on many levels and may especially appeal to newer labor assistants or midwives.