Anyone reading "Pushed"

[Malga]

I just started this very interesting book and wondered if anyone was also reading it so we could "chat" about it?

[redpajama]

I am.

[EmilyVorpe]

No, But I'm interested----- who wrote it?

[JunipersMom]

Jennifer Block wrote it
I'm reading it

[Malga]

I thought it was very scarey that someone in the book mentioned that all births would be by cesarean soon, but honestly, in the mainstream I can see it going that way. One of the nurses in the book said that her patients aren't interested in laboring-- at all. They want their epidural now or they want a c-section. What happened to women?! What happened to feminism? In the 60s-70s-80s women fought for better births and now that fight is gone.

I believe that the hospital I work at has a 40-50% cesarean rate.

I loved the little blip about the hospital in Florida during the hurricane!

[teachinmaof3]

Put it on hold at our library a few days ago.

[pamamidwife]

I loved the book!

[Rowankc]

I actually love it so far... I am reading about four books at a time, and have yet to finish it! It is very intense, and not one of those that you can just sit and read till you are done. I will post more when I have finished it. I am also reading "Born in the USA", and; reading again "A Wise Birth", plus a myriad of other things!!!

[azjen43]

I read it at the beginning of the summer. I found it fascinating and disturbing and so well written...although it does get pretty dense with all the research, and it took me a while to get through it. She looks at the maternity care system with such open eyes and gives evidence-based explanations for so much of what I think we already know instinctively. I wonder if OBs are reading it? I know most of the doulas and HB midwives in my area are or have already read it...

I think every woman of childbearing age should this book, preferably before getting pregnant. I felt so strongly about it that I (perhaps naively) emailed the Diane Rheme Show on NPR and suggested she read it and interview Jennifer Block.

I'd love to see this issue taken on by Oprah...that seems to be the way to get things like this into the mainstream these days! (Although I've been told that Oprah won't touch birthing issues, for whatever reason)

Anyway, there's a website

http://www.pushedbirth.com

I've added a link to it on my website.

[longislandmom]

My doula group is lucky enough to have the author coming to speak at one of our monthly meetings. I will be reading it next and would love to discuss it.

[pamamidwife]

Originally Posted by azjen43

I'd love to see this issue taken on by Oprah...that seems to be the way to get things like this into the mainstream these days! (Although I've been told that Oprah won't touch birthing issues, for whatever reason)

Perhaps it's so she doesn't make a majority of her audience "feel guilty"

[Malga]

Its funny about the Oprah comment though. I had a women at work-- very mainstream nurse ask me my thoughts on vaccines because there was an Oprah show about autism recently. So, getting birth stuff on an Oprah show would be awesome!

Good idea emailing Diane Rehm (sp?), I love her show!

I too wonder if OBs read any of the new books out like Birth, or Pushed because do they even understand the issues? The ones I work with seem so stuck in their own little reality. The other day at work a new OB and one of the nurses were talking about never seeing someone squat and the OB couldn't believe that we had squat bars for the bed-- she had never heard of such a thing! They also couldn't believe that a family practice doc did water papules they just thought it was crazy! The ignorance is amazing....

[earthwise]

Pushed- Read it!

Awesome book! So is Marsden Wagners' Born in the USA.
Everybody needs to read about the real horrors of our maternity system. Knowledge is power, and I am a bit astonished that some women choose ignorance ......taking steps backward in the feminist movement IMO. I agree that Oprah needs to do a show about childbirth today. She can touch millions in just one hour, and that may be the push we need in the media and mainstream to get the dialogue going.

I have been quite active in pursuing Oprah and her producers to do a show since reading Born in the USA. I write and email often. We need lots of women to bombard them with this topic so they take notice.

[azjen43]

Well, I wrote a long, thoughtful reply to Pama, but it somehow got lost.

I was thinking how, yes, sometimes women may feel guilty about past choices, but that can be the first step toward making better decisions next time.

Also, I would hope that with enough exposure, books like this could help first time moms to avoid the nightmare of unnecessary obstetrical %$^%*^ in the first place. I really think young women need to be educated and empowered before they start having children.

Anyway, I also agreed with the poster who said tha Oprah has such a great deal of power in our culture, especially among women. I think that any intelligent woman who reads "Pushed" would be outraged and feel the need to do something to effect change...and Oprah is an intelligent woman with a great deal of influence.

So...I'm wondering if all the woman on this board would take the time to 1. read the book, and 2. email the Oprah Show and/or Diane Rehm Show (NPR)and suggest that they read the book and interview Jennifer Block.

Couldn't hurt and hey, you never know...we saw the power of grassroots internet activism just recently with the Applebees nurse in!

[Gunter]

i just finished reading it a couple of weeks ago. I liked it so much that i would read portions out loud to dh. her interviews with different OBs were so revealing. i had mixed feelings about the UC section. I am a fan of UC and would consider it myself but i didn't find it to be true what was said about doulas or midwives.

[Nicole B]

i just finished reading it a couple of weeks ago. I liked it so much that i would read portions out loud to dh. her interviews with different OBs were so revealing.

:
I'm reading Born in the USA now and although I really liked Pushed I think that Born in the USA is a more impactful book for most women simply because a "Dr" wrote it and sad but true, mainstream couples would more likely take his book to heart simply because of who he is...
I really like how in your face strait he puts it and it's one I think even OBs should read and TRUELY digest!

[azjen43]

Originally Posted by Nicole B

:
I'm reading Born in the USA now and although I really liked Pushed I think that Born in the USA is a more impactful book for most women simply because a "Dr" wrote it and sad but true, mainstream couples would more likely take his book to heart simply because of who he is...
I really like how in your face strait he puts it and it's one I think even OBs should read and TRUELY digest!

You may be right about this...however, (and I've just started reading Born in the USA) although it seems accurate, so far, I think it comes across as critical of obstetrics and specifically, ACOG on a level that seems pretty emotionally charged. And personal.

The thing I like about Jennifer Block's book is that she is an independant journalist who just lays out the facts and backs them up with research.

I'll keep reading Born in the USA, everyone I know who has read it loves it, and I'm sure I will, too.

[gratefulmama2isaac]

Loss

Originally Posted by pamamidwife

Perhaps it's so she doesn't make a majority of her audience "feel guilty"

There is actually a long interview with Ina May on YouTube where this very issue about Oprah comes up, and she says that Oprah has a lot of people protecting her from anything regarding birth. About a year ago PBS did a very interesting series about ancestry, and Oprah was on. She talked candidly about her childhood and adolescence . . . had some pretty wild years while she was living with her Dad. During this time she carried a baby and lost it; the impression I got was that it wasn't a stillbirth, but that it died very soon after birth.

[mamato3cherubs]

Ok, i just thought id add in here. Everyone wants Opera to talk about birth. You might not. Have you seen her work and shows on the women in Africa? I believe Operas veiws have been skewed by the very sad things she has seen there. She seemed to blame much of the complications and trouble on lack of "medical" care. Not lack of prenatal and birth care.
I believe, for whatever reason, her veiws would come across very mainstream, and not the points we would want to get across. sometimes saying nothing is better than fueling a fire we would like to put out.

[Alison Cole]

My understanding was that Oprah had some really terrible birth experience herself as a young person, involving the baby dying or something, and that that is why she won't touch birth on her show. That's all just hearsay, though.