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The Heart In the Womb
Modern-day life and our highly stressed, risk-averse society has led to a medicalised, fearful model of childbirth, one that has stripped the process of its wondrous magic. In this groundbreaking book, consultant obstetrician Dr Amali Lokugamage discusses ways in which every woman can aim to give birth in the most natural, supportive way possible, and looks at the wider implications for society at large. This is an exploration into the roots of human love and social cohesion.
- GenresParenting
157 pages, Paperback
First published July 26, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2013
This is one of my absolute new favourite pregnancy books. As a doula, and healer I can only highly advocate this book to any expecting parents, or workers in the birthing field, medical or otherwise.
March 7, 2024
Not the best written book, although the idea is interesting. I found it stressful to read because it suggested you had to follow lots of things to get the natural birth you want, and almost makes the experience feel like a fight. Also a bit preachy.
October 3, 2016
Reading and reviewing (elsewhere) this book was going to be a job of (voluntary) work, and I started out thinking 'same old, same old' - which is unfair in the first place as there's a lot to be said for a slim volume that says the same old thing which too many people have yet to get on board with.
But this is not a same old book.... because of the author and the focus and insight she brings to the topic of how we do pregnancy and childbirth and how it serves mothers, and babies, and, as we are increasingly realising, all of us, ill. Amali Lokugamage grew up in the UK and is a successful obstetrician in London. She has also worked extensively in the country of her birth, Sri Lanka, post-tsunami. She's a qualified acupuncturist, married to an acupuncturist, and homeopath... so I thought I perhaps did have her pinned... but no.
What is so good about this book is that when it came to her own pregnancy and childbirth her intellectual knowledge (of the value of intervention and, more unusually, the value of non-intervention too) underwent a profound change and evolved into understanding. She was over 40, had not conceived easily and developed gestational diabetes. We know how that could have ended (she includes her colleagues' recommendations) Her baby was born at home, as planned. There is a lot about left/right brain here but it is her personal experience that makes this a more real, less 'you're *still* doing it all wrong woman' argument. Her book is a real contribution to the debate because she describes so eloquently where her colleagues are coming from, where she had been coming from, as well as where they need to get to.
So some quibbles: yes, it is great that she understands now what midwifery really is but I don't think nurses are what she thinks they are either (given the opportunity to fulfil their role that is). There is a lot of stress on the particular approaches she used: the Gowri Motha Gentle Birth Method, Birthlight, the Active Birth Centre (rather than being generic)... which is kind of OK because that *is* what she used and it is a personal story, but it is a hostage to those who want to screech about it being all very well for those who have the money and live in metropolitan areas. It is also, to my own mind, still a whole lot of fussing and fiddling and systematising: drink this tea, adopt this position, even if it is 'natural' and focused mostly on nurturing. She does though quote one thinker who says that none of this is necessary when mothers have the right environment in the first place.... and this is not a book saying "You should do X, Y, Z"
Plenty of references to follow up but no index which is a pity, and not really a bibliography (although she does highlight 'the usual suspects' which you could follow up for yourself, and rather uncritically uses the word 'guru') In a few places I felt she generalised unhelpfully - I suspect these may have been written when she had half snapped back into non-childbearing mode as she describes in the epilogue (which also reveals other limits to her epiphany) I am not quite sure that she appreciates that being able to have a jolly email dialogue with Ina May Gaskin, to know personally the two midwives who would attend your birth and more are what stood between her and the 'detailed birth plan' she claims is a sign a woman is overthinking and leads to difficult births (blaming the victim)
She writes critically of NICE advocating not listening to the fetal heart at every antenatal check, but whilst she writes powerfully of her conviction that her son guided her by keeping her away from work more or less throughout her pregnancy, his movements (nothing mystical or arguable there) didn't seem to be reassuring, and she does not question apparently invasive methods of determining progress in labour (which may of course have been something she wanted because of her professional background... but she examines so much else, why not that?)
I am still wondering a bit about the implication that if you're still breastfeeding you can't think analytically. I think that may well change when children are breastfed for the longer duration they generally do (if un-nudged) and which the WHO recommends.
That looks like a lot of grumbles about a slim volume but the whole really is good, and there are many ill served by the literature currently who will benefit tremendously from this lovely book.
But this is not a same old book.... because of the author and the focus and insight she brings to the topic of how we do pregnancy and childbirth and how it serves mothers, and babies, and, as we are increasingly realising, all of us, ill. Amali Lokugamage grew up in the UK and is a successful obstetrician in London. She has also worked extensively in the country of her birth, Sri Lanka, post-tsunami. She's a qualified acupuncturist, married to an acupuncturist, and homeopath... so I thought I perhaps did have her pinned... but no.
What is so good about this book is that when it came to her own pregnancy and childbirth her intellectual knowledge (of the value of intervention and, more unusually, the value of non-intervention too) underwent a profound change and evolved into understanding. She was over 40, had not conceived easily and developed gestational diabetes. We know how that could have ended (she includes her colleagues' recommendations) Her baby was born at home, as planned. There is a lot about left/right brain here but it is her personal experience that makes this a more real, less 'you're *still* doing it all wrong woman' argument. Her book is a real contribution to the debate because she describes so eloquently where her colleagues are coming from, where she had been coming from, as well as where they need to get to.
So some quibbles: yes, it is great that she understands now what midwifery really is but I don't think nurses are what she thinks they are either (given the opportunity to fulfil their role that is). There is a lot of stress on the particular approaches she used: the Gowri Motha Gentle Birth Method, Birthlight, the Active Birth Centre (rather than being generic)... which is kind of OK because that *is* what she used and it is a personal story, but it is a hostage to those who want to screech about it being all very well for those who have the money and live in metropolitan areas. It is also, to my own mind, still a whole lot of fussing and fiddling and systematising: drink this tea, adopt this position, even if it is 'natural' and focused mostly on nurturing. She does though quote one thinker who says that none of this is necessary when mothers have the right environment in the first place.... and this is not a book saying "You should do X, Y, Z"
Plenty of references to follow up but no index which is a pity, and not really a bibliography (although she does highlight 'the usual suspects' which you could follow up for yourself, and rather uncritically uses the word 'guru') In a few places I felt she generalised unhelpfully - I suspect these may have been written when she had half snapped back into non-childbearing mode as she describes in the epilogue (which also reveals other limits to her epiphany) I am not quite sure that she appreciates that being able to have a jolly email dialogue with Ina May Gaskin, to know personally the two midwives who would attend your birth and more are what stood between her and the 'detailed birth plan' she claims is a sign a woman is overthinking and leads to difficult births (blaming the victim)
She writes critically of NICE advocating not listening to the fetal heart at every antenatal check, but whilst she writes powerfully of her conviction that her son guided her by keeping her away from work more or less throughout her pregnancy, his movements (nothing mystical or arguable there) didn't seem to be reassuring, and she does not question apparently invasive methods of determining progress in labour (which may of course have been something she wanted because of her professional background... but she examines so much else, why not that?)
I am still wondering a bit about the implication that if you're still breastfeeding you can't think analytically. I think that may well change when children are breastfed for the longer duration they generally do (if un-nudged) and which the WHO recommends.
That looks like a lot of grumbles about a slim volume but the whole really is good, and there are many ill served by the literature currently who will benefit tremendously from this lovely book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews