A Pleasing Birth: Midwives And Maternity Care

by Raymond G. DeVries

Women have long searched for a pleasing birth - a birth with a minimum of fear and pain, in the company of supportive family, friends, and caregivers, a birth that ends with a healthy mother and baby gazing into each other's eyes. For women in the Netherlands, such a birth is defined as one at home under the care of a midwife. In a country known for its liberal approach to drugs, prostitution, and euthanasia, government support for midwife-attended home birth is perhaps its most radical policy: every other modern nation regards birth as too risky to occur outside a hospital setting. Dutch way of birth, Raymond De Vries opens a new page in the analysis of health care and explains why maternal care reform has proven so difficult in the U.S. He carefully documents the way culture shapes the organization of health care, showing how the unique maternity care system of the Netherlands is the result of Dutch ideas about home, the family, women, the body and pain, thriftiness, heroes, and solidarity. A Pleasing Birth breaks new ground and closes gaps in our knowledge of the social and cultural foundations of health care. Offering a view into the Dutch notion of maternity care, De Vries also offers a chance of imagining how Dutch practices can reform health care in the U.S. not just for mothers and babies, but for all Americans.

Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will now put on my geek sociologist hat,

This book is not a fantastic story with gripping characters, like Ann Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You, nor is it brilliant satire, like Michael Moore's movie Sicko... but this book led me to have much more interesting and realistic thoughts about healthcare reform. I also recommend Boomerang by Theda Skocpol for background on American healthcare reform and much more sophisticated, and policy relevant, dirt on Hillary than Michael Moore provides.

A Pleasing Birth includes interesting stories about Dutch birth and family life, tidbits about Dutch language and lots of comparative statistics. Most important, it makes the argument that the Dutch system which includes the widespread use of midwives and less reliance on cesarians ("heroic" surgery--meaning avoiding lawsuits) than the U.S. system. De Vries understands that childbirth is more than politics and policy, it is about culture. This book is well written for its genre --it is not intended to be light reading. It is accessable to a wide audience while raising complex issues about reform. I hope Michael Moore is reading it!