In my Maternity and Women's Health nursing class this semester we were each assigned a novel to read and then present to our clinical groups. What? Read a book that isn't heavier than some people's dogs, didn't cost more than $80, and won't be tested over during finals?! In nursing school?! How do you deal with that? It's quite easy to shove textbooks aside when you have an excuse (or not) and when I sat down on the couch to read this book with it's fair share of teenage and medical drama I could convince myself that it was actually homework and that I was not sinning by putting off studying- no guilt necessary. The book I was assigned was Midwives: A novel by Chris Bohjalian. I liked it- entertaining, fairly complex, lots to think about, and made for a fun presentation. (I almost bought it, but couldn't bring myself to because of the small "Oprah's Book Club" symbol on the cover. Yep, that was truly the deciding factor; couldn't own something with that much baggage...Ah well, maybe someday.) It's a fiction novel set in Vermont in the early 80s and tells the story of a lay midwife who works with women wanting homebirth. The main plot has to do with a particular homebirth that goes terribly wrong in pretty much every way possible, medically and otherwise, and shows the midwife's family's experience as they go through a criminal trial relating to the bad outcomes of the birth. It was fascinating- I keep wondering what I would have done in the same situation. Would I have had better foresight? Could more have been done? Then again, the same situation is highly unlikely to happen in the first place- but, what if? It gave me a lot to think about, but even at the end I feel that every family just has to choose what they feel is best for them and birth can be risky any where, any time, and with any attendant- physician or midwife.
Though this is the only one I read, some of the other assigned novels sounded pretty interesting too- add these to the list of books to read before I die: Children Who Sleep by the River, Down Came the Rain, Handle With Care, and especially Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife.
Posted by Chelsea Jordan
2 comments:
Sounds very interesting, hmmm.
Thanks so much for sharing it.
I'm glad you were able to do some guilt free reading :)
See you in a couple of weeks.
i never say this post...Sounds good...I have friends that have had home births, some were really good and some went bad. It is true, you have to make the choice and what is right for your family and then go with whatever...whatever the outcome!!!
Great to hear from you!
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