HW#38

The main method of organization in this book is fairly simple but complicated in the sense that it does each thing for a very specific reason. Each short chapter (kept short to maintain the flow of ideas and keep the attention of the reader) is usually limited to a personal experience of the author with birth and sometimes the experience of another person she was not involved with. After each of these short stories, she analyzes her experience and gives the reader some insight or knowledge she gained from each occurrence. The majority of the book is geared toward asking and answering the question, “Why do we treat birth in such odd ways?” and “How can we change that?” So far I am still not too sure how I feel about the way we treat birth, but I am sure that we need to update our methods. A few things that I agree on with the author include the idea that childhood should be natural although painful instead of completely drugging the mother to the point they are asleep the whole time. The inclusion of men during childbirth is also a touchy subject but I personally believe that their presence is necessary but not up to the point of practically helping the midwife or doctor. Aside from these thoughts about the actual process of birth, I believe that the company and help from a midwife with personal experience is essential throughout the pregnancy to assist the mother-to-be. The major insight of this book is about challenging the dominant social discourse on birth and analyzing the reasons why we treat it certain ways and how that has evolved or will evolve in future. I feel as if all the evidence the author uses is based on her personal experience wand how she feels about what happened. In a way, this type of raw evidence straight from the source is an element of understanding the key idea she is trying to get across.