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A Midwife's Story
A gripping first-hand account of midwife Penny Armstrong’s journey from student midwife in Glasgow to running her own practice among the Amish in rural Pennsylvania, A Midwife’s Story never fails to enlighten, inform and surprise.
Going far beyond mere biography, Armstrong’s journey of self-discovery is ultimately very moving, and it is the honesty with which she describes the world she discovers which makes this book a classic, and essential reading not just for aspiring midwives but to anyone interested in natural birth.
'A jewel of a book.' Sheila Kitzinger
'A remarkable book, as wonderful abut the Amish as it is about midwifery.' The New York Time
'Penny Armstrong is a symbol of the revival of midwifery on the American continent.' MICHEL ODENT - obstetrician and author
'A loving and generous book that speaks to many people on many issues: childbirth, families, the Amish, marriage, deformity, death, commitment, technology, and respect for the land.' ERICA BAUERMEISTER - 500 Great Books by Women
'Penny Armstrong is a flesh and blood heroine too remarkable for a novelist to have invented. . . . A book that is hard to put down.' GAY COURTER - Author of Midwife
'A charming, gracefully written book... a must for mothers-to-be and a delight for all.' The Kirkus Reviews
Going far beyond mere biography, Armstrong’s journey of self-discovery is ultimately very moving, and it is the honesty with which she describes the world she discovers which makes this book a classic, and essential reading not just for aspiring midwives but to anyone interested in natural birth.
'A jewel of a book.' Sheila Kitzinger
'A remarkable book, as wonderful abut the Amish as it is about midwifery.' The New York Time
'Penny Armstrong is a symbol of the revival of midwifery on the American continent.' MICHEL ODENT - obstetrician and author
'A loving and generous book that speaks to many people on many issues: childbirth, families, the Amish, marriage, deformity, death, commitment, technology, and respect for the land.' ERICA BAUERMEISTER - 500 Great Books by Women
'Penny Armstrong is a flesh and blood heroine too remarkable for a novelist to have invented. . . . A book that is hard to put down.' GAY COURTER - Author of Midwife
'A charming, gracefully written book... a must for mothers-to-be and a delight for all.' The Kirkus Reviews
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1986
158 people are currently reading
4028 people want to read
About the author
Penny Armstrong
9 books3 followersPenny Armstrong has delivered over 1,800 babies and enjoyed a 25 year career in nurse-midwifery including teaching and practice in home, hospital and birth centers.
She and her husband Rich currently live and work in their home state of Maine where she counsels people on living healthy lifestyles.
(from http://www.pinterandmartin.com/penny-...)
She and her husband Rich currently live and work in their home state of Maine where she counsels people on living healthy lifestyles.
(from http://www.pinterandmartin.com/penny-...)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
March 30, 2016
Very disappointing.
This quote from page 35 sums up the author's attitude throughout the book:
[Discussing young inner-city mothers in Philadelphia:] "We stayed close to these girls,we avoided doping them up and wiring them up, not because they were less entitled to intervention, but because they were less informed consumers. If a well-educated middle-class woman came in to have natural childbirth and she decided halfway to throw in the rug, that was her business. She'd read the baby manuals....But an inner-city fourteen-year-old couldn't really give an informed consent. She'd never taken Physiology 101 and didn't know the drugs traveled through her to the baby..."
How paternalistic, patronizing, and plain old offensive. Sounds like they were punishing those girls in the only way they could.
This quote from page 35 sums up the author's attitude throughout the book:
[Discussing young inner-city mothers in Philadelphia:] "We stayed close to these girls,we avoided doping them up and wiring them up, not because they were less entitled to intervention, but because they were less informed consumers. If a well-educated middle-class woman came in to have natural childbirth and she decided halfway to throw in the rug, that was her business. She'd read the baby manuals....But an inner-city fourteen-year-old couldn't really give an informed consent. She'd never taken Physiology 101 and didn't know the drugs traveled through her to the baby..."
How paternalistic, patronizing, and plain old offensive. Sounds like they were punishing those girls in the only way they could.
June 14, 2009
I am a sucker for a good memoir, and pretty much anything centering around pregnancy, birth, and/or midwifery (I swear under other circumstances, I'd love to be a midwife; as it is, however, I'll have to settle for reading obsessively about it). This book did not disappoint on either count. It's a very down-to-earth, moving, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking account of one midwife who caught babies in an Amish community for a number of years. Also paints a very real picture of what is wrong with how much modern medicine and technology has impinged on what should be the beautiful processes of pregnancy and birth.
January 29, 2016
A book written by a midwife who actually has a story to tell instead of an ax to grind is a rare thing. A Midwife's Story is unusual in its unwillingness to put the Amish on a pedestal in order to appreciate them as people. Something that I haven't found much of in the "about the Amish" literature out there. The fact that it's through the relationship of midwife to client lends the story intimacy and insight into the women she helped that you'd normally never get from such a private people.
July 13, 2012
Well, as you can see by the 5 stars, I REALLY enjoyed this book....I am all for hospitals/pain meds (although I delivered all my kids at Kaiser in the days before they popped an epidural in you as you walked in the door...most I had "natural"...but not by choice)...this memoir of a midwife's education and ultimate life delivering babies amongst the Amish was very absorbing. The book is a bit dated...published in 1986..but gives an insight into birthing attitudes from post WW2 (let the doctors do it) through the hippie days of the 60's/70's (natural, baby)...to a better blending of the two. The author, speaking for Penny the midwife, is amazingly calm considering the abuse she takes from most doctors of the time.
Perhaps better than the midwife saga was the insight into life amongst the Amish...fascinating and beautifully and tenderly written...
...ONe tidbit:describing a young married couples kitchen..."Besides the shiny linoleum kitchen floor, on which all Amish home life takes place, besides the china closet, the scrubbed countertop and shining sink, the long table for eating on, for cutting out squares for quilts, for shelling beans and folding clothes, for changing babies--besides all this there was, centered on the long wall of the room, Sarah's clock, the one that Joel gave her when she agreed to marry him. (Girls will not say they are engaged, but they will say they've got their clock.)
And...about a non-Amish young woman interested in a young Amish man and some of their cultural differences....
"Helen, after all, had not worked from sunrise to sunset, indoors and out, on a farm for her entire life; she hadn't been quilting since she was seven; she had no idea how to whip up, without sweating, a vat of silken mashed potatoes for 50 Amishmen raising a barn; she couldn't bake 20 pies on a Friday afternoon for church on sunday, scrub her entire house from top to bottom on Saturday, serve 10 or 15 families their dinner at Sunday noon, and have everything entirely back to normal by 2:30 the same day. Helen knew no Pennsylvania Dutch. shirts, trousers and dresses did not stream from her sewing machine on winter evenings. Had Helen tried to put in a garden, she would have had to lay her rows out with rulers...Helen didn't know the order in which to hang out the clothes.
Wow, and I thought we Mormon women had high expectations of ourselves!
Perhaps better than the midwife saga was the insight into life amongst the Amish...fascinating and beautifully and tenderly written...
...ONe tidbit:describing a young married couples kitchen..."Besides the shiny linoleum kitchen floor, on which all Amish home life takes place, besides the china closet, the scrubbed countertop and shining sink, the long table for eating on, for cutting out squares for quilts, for shelling beans and folding clothes, for changing babies--besides all this there was, centered on the long wall of the room, Sarah's clock, the one that Joel gave her when she agreed to marry him. (Girls will not say they are engaged, but they will say they've got their clock.)
And...about a non-Amish young woman interested in a young Amish man and some of their cultural differences....
"Helen, after all, had not worked from sunrise to sunset, indoors and out, on a farm for her entire life; she hadn't been quilting since she was seven; she had no idea how to whip up, without sweating, a vat of silken mashed potatoes for 50 Amishmen raising a barn; she couldn't bake 20 pies on a Friday afternoon for church on sunday, scrub her entire house from top to bottom on Saturday, serve 10 or 15 families their dinner at Sunday noon, and have everything entirely back to normal by 2:30 the same day. Helen knew no Pennsylvania Dutch. shirts, trousers and dresses did not stream from her sewing machine on winter evenings. Had Helen tried to put in a garden, she would have had to lay her rows out with rulers...Helen didn't know the order in which to hang out the clothes.
Wow, and I thought we Mormon women had high expectations of ourselves!
March 22, 2012
This book made me want to go back 36 years and have my babies over again with someone like Penny at my side. I did what we called natural childbirth then, with husbands in the labor and delivery rooms at the hospital, but I definitely needed a trained, nurturing person to help me with my long deliveries (especially the first). I actually was yelled at by a nurse to stop making so much noise. That was after 26 or so hours, and they had told me to resist the unbearable urge to push because it was too soon. I wanted to smack that lady in the head and let her try to stop the primal forces! Besides that, I had no idea until I read this that it was possible to be prepared during labor so that an episiotomy would not be needed. So much pain avoided there!
On another subject, I loved how Penny slowly fit herself into the Amish world so that she could serve them better. I visited my son one summer while he worked on an organic farm in Amish country in Wisconsin. The farmland was so beautiful, and I loved waking up to the clip clop of the horses and buggies going down the road. So lovely!
On another subject, I loved how Penny slowly fit herself into the Amish world so that she could serve them better. I visited my son one summer while he worked on an organic farm in Amish country in Wisconsin. The farmland was so beautiful, and I loved waking up to the clip clop of the horses and buggies going down the road. So lovely!
November 15, 2010
I have read this book a handful of times over the years and it has moved me every time. Written (with a collaborating author) by a woman who--initially very skeptical of homebirth--worked as a homebirth midwife among the Amish people for decades starting in the 1970s, it's a fascinating look at modern childbirth and at the Amish culture. Recommended for anyone who's interested in either. Her concluding words left me thinking for days about life and death and how our culture treats both.
July 8, 2025
very weird culturally. very clear how this book hit a certain demographic of hippie-adjacent liberal boomer women like a train.
January 19, 2020
This a lovely book of stories from a midwife to the Amish in PA. It is a great blend of stories mixed with reflections on the Amish way of life, birth, death, and simple farming life. I really enjoyed it and found it worthwhile to read.
March 16, 2015
This book was interesting to any novice of midwifery and/or Amish life, but it lacked a certain depth. Although you're shown some real hardship (i.e. farm accidents and stillbirths), Armstrong very rarely allows her reader to see any misdeeds, either her own, her husband's, or her clients'. No doubt she is protective of all the people in the book, but this protectiveness allows the reader only a shallow, sunny portrayal of what I'm sure to be the real picture of life for Armstrong and her clients. Finally, I was surprised to find a political feel to the book, one that portrays home births as far superior to hospital births. (Especially in the chapter where she visits a hospital birth and does a side-by-side comparison to one of her home births. The woman in the hospital is shown to be ignored and then thoughtlessly issued an episiotomy. As a woman who has given birth twice in hospitals, I had excellent care, was not given an episiotomy, and was not ignored. I was also comforted by the fact that, had anything gone wrong, the likelihood of both myself and my child surviving was high). By contrast, Jennifer Worth's The Midwife shows a real, beautiful, and tragic look of life in post-war London and includes strong character development and has none of the political underpinnings as Armstrong.
February 20, 2013
Great book! If you are interested in the Amish, midwifery or both, you will not be disappointed in this book, in my opinion. This book brought tears to my eyes at the end. Here's an excerpt:
"The Amish are born, do their work - as directed by their abilities - and die. Each one of them has value because each one has to be part of God's work. That is enough of an awesome thing. No one life counts more than another; each life is necessary to the whole. During his time on earth, each man is responsible for being a steward of the earth, of his own life, of his inheritance, and of his brotherhood. During his time on earth, each person works to maintain well the portion of life they have received. Others follow and do the same. Each tries to be good and kind as they do so."
"The Amish are born, do their work - as directed by their abilities - and die. Each one of them has value because each one has to be part of God's work. That is enough of an awesome thing. No one life counts more than another; each life is necessary to the whole. During his time on earth, each man is responsible for being a steward of the earth, of his own life, of his inheritance, and of his brotherhood. During his time on earth, each person works to maintain well the portion of life they have received. Others follow and do the same. Each tries to be good and kind as they do so."
January 19, 2015
It was an ok read, not the best midwifery memoir I've read but it was interesting. There was something a little grating that I didn't like about the author which likely affects my overall rating as well. I did enjoy reading about this intimate side of the Amish and penny's profession from medical to home birth but there was still something off-putting I can't quite put my finger on.
February 8, 2016
I like this story of a midwife in the Amish community . I like that she found a profession that she loved and found a perfect place to practice, and did what it took to be accepted. Interesting to read of the Amish customs too
July 21, 2016
I wanted to read this book because I had been watching the PBS series, call a Midwife. This is the story of a midwife serving the Amish in Pennsylvania. It is warmly written with insights into the Amish way of life and what it means to have a profession that welcomes a new lives into the world.
November 4, 2017
One of the best reads I've enjoyed in recent years. Her writing just drew me in!
I did feel though that it just abruptly ended. Then I wondered what the conclusion was or if there was one...
Enjoying and being a promoter of Midwifery, i very much appreciated this insiders view.
Of note;
pg 33 We meant for the woman's birthgiving to strengthen the identity and unity of her family and her way of life.
pg 41 My whole manner-my touch, my words, my knowledge, my joking my gossip, my instruction, and my silence- adjusts to her and to what i learn about her as we go along, and so each delivery is different since each woman has her own way to strength. The more a woman trusts her body and trusts me, the easier things are. The less obstructed the woman is, the less shielded she is from her body and from her emotions, the better her delivery.
pg 75 Instead, we Americans became more enamored of technology and we American woman, for complex reasons, became more passive in childbirth. Male doctors started taking all their tools and tricks, including forceps and cesarean sections, and applying them liberally (under the name of advancement) to passive women- made more malleable by the introduction of anesthesia.
pg 101 Think about it dear, she said in a kindly way. Where do the germs in the hospital come from? They don't come from healthy mothers, now, do they? Healthy mothers have their own immunities; they have immunities to their family members and to germs in their homes. Hospital germs do not come from homes and husbands, they come from people who are in the hospital because they are diseased.
pg 105 In my experience, however, if the heartbeat was good, real alarm was inappropriate. Many fine, healthy babies were delivered with meconium-stained fluid. Alertness, yes:; alarm, no. In the hospital, meconium staining meant automatic intervention.
pg 108 The mother wants to know if her baby has everything it's supposed to have; his intention was to produce this information for her. He didn't attempt to touch the baby himself; he did not address it directly, nor praise it aloud; instead he assessed it.
What I've seen time and again is that the technology of the hospital overwhelms the patients' natural instincts...
pg 119-121 the pain had begun it's inevitable education.
pg 130, 137
pg 144 To have had such an amazing being alive within oneself is a great honor; to have been a vessel, a carrying basket-even for a while.
pg 146 Finally, I understood that there was nothing I could do for him, and because of that I succumbed to him as he was. I saw his exquisite beauty, I felt the perfection of his terribly imperfect body. For a short while, I was able to love him not for what he might have been, not for what he would give to all of us and become, but for what he was. I could love him for the moment, completely; It seemed to me that the grandest thing i could ever do with my life was to treat Benjamin kindly while he lived; to try to give him all goodness and love while he was here. Nothing more.
pg 148 I remembered how commonly they went to a laboring woman's bedside to read the printouts from the fetal heart monitor and never even looked her in the face of stroked her hair. I thought of all the time they had put their rapacious need to accumulate medical knowledge before their respect for the people the were caring for. In their great enterprise, too many of the doctors seemed to have forgotten that other people's ways could be worthy and deserving of honor.
pg 152 That was all. No political comment. No railing at the medical establishment. She just realized what she was missing and started having her babies at home.
pg 157
pg 161 she wasn't particularly sugary about it, it's just that i could live without insipid comfort, thank you.
pg 171 We just do what we can each day.
pg 181 As they give themselves up, they seem to become both more gentle and more joyful.
pg 187
pg 214 death managed for itself. ( the absence of life) death does not consult us. how did birth and death get themselves so intertwined?
pg 223
I did feel though that it just abruptly ended. Then I wondered what the conclusion was or if there was one...
Enjoying and being a promoter of Midwifery, i very much appreciated this insiders view.
Of note;
pg 33 We meant for the woman's birthgiving to strengthen the identity and unity of her family and her way of life.
pg 41 My whole manner-my touch, my words, my knowledge, my joking my gossip, my instruction, and my silence- adjusts to her and to what i learn about her as we go along, and so each delivery is different since each woman has her own way to strength. The more a woman trusts her body and trusts me, the easier things are. The less obstructed the woman is, the less shielded she is from her body and from her emotions, the better her delivery.
pg 75 Instead, we Americans became more enamored of technology and we American woman, for complex reasons, became more passive in childbirth. Male doctors started taking all their tools and tricks, including forceps and cesarean sections, and applying them liberally (under the name of advancement) to passive women- made more malleable by the introduction of anesthesia.
pg 101 Think about it dear, she said in a kindly way. Where do the germs in the hospital come from? They don't come from healthy mothers, now, do they? Healthy mothers have their own immunities; they have immunities to their family members and to germs in their homes. Hospital germs do not come from homes and husbands, they come from people who are in the hospital because they are diseased.
pg 105 In my experience, however, if the heartbeat was good, real alarm was inappropriate. Many fine, healthy babies were delivered with meconium-stained fluid. Alertness, yes:; alarm, no. In the hospital, meconium staining meant automatic intervention.
pg 108 The mother wants to know if her baby has everything it's supposed to have; his intention was to produce this information for her. He didn't attempt to touch the baby himself; he did not address it directly, nor praise it aloud; instead he assessed it.
What I've seen time and again is that the technology of the hospital overwhelms the patients' natural instincts...
pg 119-121 the pain had begun it's inevitable education.
pg 130, 137
pg 144 To have had such an amazing being alive within oneself is a great honor; to have been a vessel, a carrying basket-even for a while.
pg 146 Finally, I understood that there was nothing I could do for him, and because of that I succumbed to him as he was. I saw his exquisite beauty, I felt the perfection of his terribly imperfect body. For a short while, I was able to love him not for what he might have been, not for what he would give to all of us and become, but for what he was. I could love him for the moment, completely; It seemed to me that the grandest thing i could ever do with my life was to treat Benjamin kindly while he lived; to try to give him all goodness and love while he was here. Nothing more.
pg 148 I remembered how commonly they went to a laboring woman's bedside to read the printouts from the fetal heart monitor and never even looked her in the face of stroked her hair. I thought of all the time they had put their rapacious need to accumulate medical knowledge before their respect for the people the were caring for. In their great enterprise, too many of the doctors seemed to have forgotten that other people's ways could be worthy and deserving of honor.
pg 152 That was all. No political comment. No railing at the medical establishment. She just realized what she was missing and started having her babies at home.
pg 157
pg 161 she wasn't particularly sugary about it, it's just that i could live without insipid comfort, thank you.
pg 171 We just do what we can each day.
pg 181 As they give themselves up, they seem to become both more gentle and more joyful.
pg 187
pg 214 death managed for itself. ( the absence of life) death does not consult us. how did birth and death get themselves so intertwined?
pg 223
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2018
Beautifully written by and for someone showing a great amount of dedication and love for their vocation. It is a fascinating history of mid-20th century maternity care with stories that are told with an inspirational blend of crystal honesty, brutal humour and pure love.
As well as being about midwifery, this book is equally about the Amish community, this book is particularly humane in its observations and allows the reader to see both the Amish, and our Western culture, from a new perspective.
Equal credit for this beautiful book should be given to Sheryl Feldman for her articulate and graceful translation of Penny Armstrong’s experience, which make it so easy and enjoyable to read.
I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it as a very good read not just to people interested in childbirth, but also anyone interested in culture, religion and life’s eternal questions.
As well as being about midwifery, this book is equally about the Amish community, this book is particularly humane in its observations and allows the reader to see both the Amish, and our Western culture, from a new perspective.
Equal credit for this beautiful book should be given to Sheryl Feldman for her articulate and graceful translation of Penny Armstrong’s experience, which make it so easy and enjoyable to read.
I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it as a very good read not just to people interested in childbirth, but also anyone interested in culture, religion and life’s eternal questions.
April 28, 2020
A lovely and profound book---I first read it many, many years ago, and it helped shape what I feel about the birthing process, unnecessary intervention, and over medicalization of a normal part of life. Of course, there is a time and a place for intervention, for the sake of both mother and child, but in the great majority of cases, all of that intervention robs the mother and family members of a normal, sane birth. Even more profound is to juxtapose all that over intervention with the lives and philosophy of the Amish people with whom this midwife has worked--their simple ways, their acceptance of God as God. Inspirational. A great read.
May 6, 2018
When I re-read Ina May before giving birth to my second daughter a few weeks ago I saw that she referred to this book in there, and I was curious about reading about the birthing practices among the amish. Apparently I like reading midwifery books after giving birth. I read Baby Catcher after my first. And while I loved Baby Catcher even more, this was a lovely view of a simpler culture and how they birth and how our modern medicine culture can learn from them. Recommend to my birth worker friends for sure. And anyone curious about birth.
November 2, 2019
One of the more inspiring, thought-provoking and confidence building books I have ever read. It changed my life. Women are unknowingly taught not to trust their instincts, and this book shows you that it's our greatest strength.
Thank you Penny, for helping make me into the strong woman that I am today!
Gloria Squitiro: A first lady of Kanas City and author of May Cause Drowsiness and Blurred Vision: The Side Effects of Bravery—YOU, Too! can OVERCOME ANXIETY and live a bigger more carefree life—Become a New and Better You!
#YayWomenWriters!
Thank you Penny, for helping make me into the strong woman that I am today!
Gloria Squitiro: A first lady of Kanas City and author of May Cause Drowsiness and Blurred Vision: The Side Effects of Bravery—YOU, Too! can OVERCOME ANXIETY and live a bigger more carefree life—Become a New and Better You!
#YayWomenWriters!
January 3, 2022
This was an excellent book about a woman who went to nursing school in the US and then midwifery school in Scotland. I love her struggle that she shares in the book about how she wanted to balance western and eastern medicine. She was honest with herself about what she disliked about hospital systems and what she could provide at home for Amish patients and their families. Excellent, thoughtful read. Inspiring for me as a nursing student and future midwifery student.
April 22, 2025
This book totally took me by surprise. I just happened to grab it off of the library shelf because I love all things midwife and birth. But I didn't expect it to be a well-written story necessarily. And it really was! The author did a great job of retelling this midwife's story. And the midwife clearly deeply loved the women she was serving and wanted them to experience birth in the way that they wanted to experience it. Her support gave them the ability to do that.
April 1, 2021
When I was having children, twenty plus years ago.. I read Wise Birth by these authors. It was a great book and recommended by the Bradley childbirth coach we took birthing classes from. I was excited to find this in one of the little free libraries and I'm thrilled to add it to the shelf next to Wise Birth.
May 19, 2022
I am an early 20s single woman with no prospect of having a child any time soon and this book fascinated and moved me with its information, realism, humor, poignancy, and all-around portrayal of the human experience. When I say it's like the James Herriot of midwifery, I mean that as the very highest compliment. Highly recommend!
January 5, 2024
Fascinating discussion about the benefits of midwife-led childbirth which remains relevant - particularly with the current trend for elective cesarian sections. Also very illuminating description of the ways of the Amish people. All within the growing understanding of a dedicated midwife - from the beginning of her learning process to experience.
February 25, 2025
Penny is an adventurous woman whose interesting eventful life leads her to be a midwife for the Amish. I loved how this short book shows her journey from skepticism about home birth to embracing it, as well as skepticism about the Amish people but eventually loving them deeply and wholly. Really beautiful.
May 19, 2025
Lovely book
I enjoyed this well written book about an independent midwife. Many years ago (30!) I decided to find an independent midwife in Minnesota. My first child had been born in NZ, very progressive in its maternal care. Well, I did find one but had to give birth at the local county hospital. All went well. The midwife was very skilled. This book reminds me of her.
I enjoyed this well written book about an independent midwife. Many years ago (30!) I decided to find an independent midwife in Minnesota. My first child had been born in NZ, very progressive in its maternal care. Well, I did find one but had to give birth at the local county hospital. All went well. The midwife was very skilled. This book reminds me of her.
January 6, 2018
Too short a story
Loved this book! I did not want it to end and I have said that about very few books.The story lines and the character development was done well with great finesse and you wanted more.
Loved this book! I did not want it to end and I have said that about very few books.The story lines and the character development was done well with great finesse and you wanted more.
June 1, 2019
The author pulls the reader into her story and into her world. I had a hard time putting this book down and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in working in the field of midwifery, or even in learning a bit of the Amish culture
March 26, 2021
Excellent. The author's sensitivity as someone who couldn't have children and was an atheist towards her Amish patients was amazing. Loved the details of Amish life and the stories were well told, even if the writing isn't the most incredible.
March 20, 2022
Well told story of an American (English) certified nurse midwife who settles into tending the births of Amish women in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Vivid depiction of the people, traditions, and the landscape. Loaned to me by my good friend Alicia with her recommendations.
December 26, 2022
Ah the more midwifery books I read the more determined I am to become one myself… birth does not need to happen in hospitals with machines and drugs. It’s so unneeded. I loved the stories in this book of home births among the amish. So beautiful
Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews