anyone else didn't like Ina May's Spiritual Midwifery? - Page 3

[**guest**]

Originally Posted by moonfirefaery

No one needs to buy Emergency Childbirth; there is a full download on the internet. I do not have the link but if you post about it, someone will give you the link, I'm sure.

ugh. thanks, Heather, for letting me know. unfortunately i already ordered. they say too late to cancel. i will keep an eye, if it isn't shipped right away i might still have a chance to cancel it. i wonder what they'd charge me to return it? only the shipping? probably about $8. the book was $20.

[moonfirefaery]

Oh man, I'm sorry I didn't say something sooner

You can sell the book probably for the price you got it when you are done with it, at least.

[IntoTheBliss]

Originally Posted by fourlittlebirds

[...] But that was totally different than it would have been if a midwife had instructed him to kiss me or fondle my breasts and then watched while he did it. Or if the midwife herself had fondled my breasts or touched my clitoris. [....]

I mean, most people don't start seeing auras and psychedelic vibes unless they're on something, you know? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just sayin'.

Egh, I'd have gotten up and run out of the room if a midwife touched me like that, I don't care where I am in labor. Not my thing at all.

I was wondering about those psychedelic vibes they were mentioning... LOL... it NEVER occured to me that they could have been "on" something. Heh.

[forthebest]

I read SM before I had my first baby and I also did not go for all the people around, the mw centred attitude, the wierd culty stuff and the moms seemed so disconnected sometimes, in the pictures anyway, sometimes just a belly, no head. But these birthing women have maybe done more for free birthing cos they tried to have homebirths with less drugs and were just very controlled by the mw's and all that sexual 'advice' I hate the way loadsa people are pulling on mums thighs and stuff. Way way hands on. Definitely no personal privacy but maybe thats what some of what that was about, like wanting lots of people round you while you birth. Bet there were some moms who wished they were someplace else. Sometimes I felt it was like the mom was a speciman or something and the new life on the way was held in some kind of deity way or the process even and everyone wanted to be there to experience that or maybe take some of the experience. It has techy stuff that could be helpful, and it sort of brought birth out of the hospitals in people's mind's reading it and made it seem more normal and do-able without being in a hospital. I liked the fact they were all living in trucks and buses in the convoy too.It seemed to be like a clinic too so it was like a hospital sort of but in a hippy community, I think other women there would have been into lots of alternative stuff like herbs in labour, meditation and other methods to help birth. I don't think there was any uc stuff in there, maybe there were a few who had their babies before Ina arrived,it's an old book but I think it helped to show something different than hospital births and I liked that aspect but not much the proceedings. I don't think they just transferred woman who were breech or having twins and that is pretty cool. Very controlling though, lot's of ego's. Seems quite selfish to want to orchestrate birth like that. The moms faces were the coolest thing about this book.

[open_sunflower]

Re: Birthing from Within

I loved this book not only because it got my mind and heart ready for the birthing journey but becuase it had me exploring my REAL feelings about my prior births and really about myself as a woman. I actully would recommend not only for a pregnant woman but any woman really who wants to tap into deeper stuff. It really deals alot with healing from prior births , but that can be turned around and used for healing of any sort. It was really one of those books that took ALOT out of me though, emotionally. But it was stuff that sort of had to come before I could get to where I needed to be. I need to read it again, but I am going to wait till I got that + under my belt. I am pretty sure I am, my gut and tummy sickness says we are, but I havent missed a period yet, soooo..anyway thats a whole other post..lol
Phoenix

[open_sunflower]

re: emergency chidbirth
I think we should still, well I am still, hunt around for the online version. This might be something good to include in the links section?

[open_sunflower]

re: how much SM has done for homebirthing.

Has it really done that much , becuase quite frankly alot of the people who were considering homebirth and werent crunchy I would never want them to read that book..lol. I mean you have to be a wee bit crunchy to even consider HB I suppose but I know quite a few people who have HB and if they had read that book they proably would have ran the other way. I am all for crunchy caravan types, but there was something about how this book was written. I dont know. It could be something as simple as she called a vagiana a puss. lol
I am looking through it right now as we speak and I must say there is ALOT of information in the back of it that is pretty handy as reference material..hmm...maybe another read is needed.
pheen

[cottonwood]

Originally Posted by open_sunflower

re: emergency chidbirth
I think we should still, well I am still, hunt around for the online version. This might be something good to include in the links section?

Oh, I AM sorry! I said it was in the resources sticky, but I don't see it now. I swear it was there! Let me see if I can find it...

Okay, here you go.

http://www.umbrellanoize.com/stuff/E...Childbirth.pdf

(Now off to put it in the sticky...)

[cottonwood]

Originally Posted by open_sunflower

Has it really done that much , becuase quite frankly alot of the people who were considering homebirth and werent crunchy I would never want them to read that book..lol.

It inspired a whole generation of midwives in the '70's, whose practices were the foundation of the modern homebirth movement.

[mnearthmomma]

I didn't care fo rit either and I thought *I* was the only one!! HAHAHA!!

I, like you, loved the birth stories, but didn't appreciate the almost condescending tone, especially with her reference to anatomical parts of the female body. I am not so ashamed of my body that I need call it by any slang. Yoni is as slang as I get, but otherwise, it's my vulva for crying out loud.

Also, I am a hippie kinda girl, but I HATED the trippy hippie words that were used a lot by not only Ina May but also by some of her contributors. I am all for living in the moment and not being of the world, but I not so far gone that my head is stuck inthe clouds.

I also never ever liked the tone of "What to Expect....". I threw that book away I despised it so.

[forthebest]

That is wierd, I got rid of my copy too,all those years ago ,cos something irked me about it and I wanted truly positive reading regards birthing not the old routine of being disconnected from myself and in the hands of others, or something like that,tho SM is maybe trying to help the moms experience empowerment to an extent( by homebirthing) but these moms are still in the hands of someone else, quite a lot of people,controlling and domineering likely, who know 'all' about birthing, way more than I as a birthing woman will ever know and that bugs me,a proffessional can always make choices for me cos they know better. In that sort of situation I think the mom is undermined in a very basic way so her primal urges, instinct,biology,mind will not be the main factors involved, rather the manipulation of the experience and often physical and chemical manipulation of the mom too,to fulfill other peoples expectations of birth. Despite that I still think the book was a helpful tool for women to envisage a more empowering birth, where if I remember rightly, many moms were certainly active in labour and involved with SOME of the processes, perhaps not so much decision making.

[open_sunflower]

fourlittlebirds
Thank you for the link.
I have never read it.
phoenix

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by forthebest

I hate the way loadsa people are pulling on mums thighs and stuff. Way way hands on. Definitely no personal privacy but maybe thats what some of what that was about, like wanting lots of people round you while you birth. Bet there were some moms who wished they were someplace else. Sometimes I felt it was like the mom was a speciman or something and the new life on the way was held in some kind of deity way or the process even and everyone wanted to be there to experience that or maybe take some of the experience.

Yes. This is another reason I just didn't connect with the book. There are far better birthing books out there.

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by fourlittlebirds

It inspired a whole generation of midwives in the '70's, whose practices were the foundation of the modern homebirth movement.

Yes, SM did inspire many in the 70s. But I think there were other inspirations, too.

But, even though I didn't care for the book, I recognize I am from a different generation and that, historically, the book deserves credit for giving voice to a movement.

Compared to other books I have read though, it seems so dated.

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by mnearthmomma

Also, I am a hippie kinda girl, but I HATED the trippy hippie words that were used a lot by not only Ina May but also by some of her contributors. I am all for living in the moment and not being of the world, but I not so far gone that my head is stuck inthe clouds.

What? You mean you didn't think it was just psychedelic?

[boheime]

I can't stand her or the books. I hate it when I hear midwives or midwife-worshippers going on about her as though she is the end all be all.

[daniedb]

Interesting read about The Farm, very informative article:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/f.../thefarm200705

While I'd heard of Ina May, I didn't know about The Farm, so I liked reading this to give me some info - very well written!

[mwherbs]

thanks for the link----

[Aurora]

When I first read it I had had 2 c-sections and was ttc my third baby. I wanted a HB and did not know anyone who had ever had one. I liked it then.

I ended up stumbling upon UC and felt like I had come home. My third baby was a UP/UC.

I reread SM again last summer right before my second UC and I HATED it! I couldn't finish it. I have come so far in regards to my beliefs on birth and a womans intuition. Ina May and her practices creep me out.

[Isarma]

Okay, here you go.

http://www.umbrellanoize.com/stuff/E...Childbirth.pdf


Can someone help me out with this link? I saw it in the archives a few days ago and downloaded. The copy I've got is sideways. I asked then and I was told there's a button to rotate, right next to the + button. There's not on mine. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about or is it only doing this to me?

Thanks!