The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Childbirth by Henci Goer (Review!)

This was an interesting read. The whole premise (and the bias) is that routine medical interventions during childbirth are generally unnecessary. It looks at most of these procedures individually (such as epidurals, inducing labor, cesarean sections, episiotomies) and tries to explain why they are unnecessary as routine procedures.

There were two things that I loved about this book. One was that it was absolutely packed with information. In addition to the conclusions that the author had drawn, she includes a bibliography and her thoughts on the main research papers she used to come to those conclusions.

The other is that the Ms. Goer is absolutely upfront about having a bias. It is mentioned in the introduction. What impresses me that even through the bias, you can tell that she is struggling to be balanced about the presentation. There are minimal judgements to those that do require these procedures.

It has definitely opened my eyes to the prevalent opinion of most obstetricians. Since I live overseas on a military base, I have very limited options and most of the people I run into are very conservative in their mindsets. It helps to know which questions I need to ask my doctors to see if they are the right fit for me.

The only downside is that it was written in 1999. Now, I understand that once a body of researchers continue to reach the same conclusions, there will very rarely be results that differ from those conclusions (Ms. Goer even mentions this at one point). Unfortunately, that doesn't account for are new policies, procedures and medications.

I think it's a fantastic jumping off point, but now I do need to do research into what's being done differently now. Hopefully the information isn't too hard to find!