Ina May Gaskin on NPR

Wish there were a written transcript. Once the family is awake, I might get a chance to listen to it.

It's Ina May Gaskin, not Marie. If you haven't read her books, I highly recommend you get a copy of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.
The ob obviously has no faith in women's bodies to give birth without medical assistance, which is not suprising given the way they are only taught worse case scenarios in med school.
We aren't broken! We weren't created with some horrid inherent design flaw! And we don't need no stinkin' doctors!

Listening to it now...The host seems pretty anti-homebirth as much as it bleeds through his "objectivity".
Ina May is not doing so good a job getting the point across though...she's too long-winded and anecdotal. This doctor lady is vicious, though, isn't she?
Why does she interrupt the caller who had a good homebirth? Ina May didn't interrupt the horror-story caller to say that no competent midwife would discount severe abdominal pain through the third trimester. How disrespectful.

Bfbaby girl, I thought the article IM wrote in Midwifery Today was pretty fair. I don't think she doesn't trust the birthing woman. You can't say that every birthing woman in the world has the self-knowledge or resources to recognize problems before or at the birth. Women who choose UC tend to be more informed than the average, but complications can happen to anyone. I would rather have someone who's been trained and experienced with lots of different aspects of births to be looking out for me. I personally hope she doesn't retire anytime soon. JMO, don't want to start a big UC fight over it.

Just finished the audio program...depressing overall

Quote:
: Yeah, what a good thing. I guess all midwives should retire and then all the moms who want experienced birthing attendants can just go to OBs.

i, for one, am happy that there are people who choose to attend other women's births. i could never ever be in charge of my own birth. i haven't done it yet (thopugh any day now!), but i truly believe that only a very small percentage of the female population would want to have a UC. and no, i don't think it's all about trusting your body. why, if you can have it, not trust other caring women to help you, guide you, support you through such a milestone experience. i say the more support, the better. i'm all for women helping women. IMO, UC is for the very few who feel safer on their own, who can't trust others. again, just my opinion.

very interesting topic, though not the original one. so back to the topic. I LOVE ina may's books. i think they are empowering and just an amazing resource. if all women read her books, the "birthing experience" around the country (or world!) would be a much different one-- a better one.

whoa, i'm feeling ranty today.

oops, i swear this is not just so i get to 200 posts.

but the original topic was the radio show. still downloading some software i needed to be able to hear it. modem connection. so last millenium. :