Hannah, Delivered

by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew

Late one night in a busy St. Paul hospital, a nurse midwife drags Hannah Larson out from behind her reception desk to assist with a birth. When Hannah witnesses that baby tumble into the world, her secure, conventional life is upended by a fierce desire to deliver babies. So begins Hannah’s journey away from her comfort zone. In a midwifery apprenticeship in New Mexico, she befriends a male midwife, defends a teenage mom, and learns to trust women’s bodies, then moves back to Minnesota to start her own illicit birth practice. Hannah’s need to stay safe proves both an asset and a liability: homebirth isn’t legal in Minnesota in the 1990’s. To deliver healthy babies, Hannah risks jail time, her community’s respect, and her career. The key to unlocking her fear rests in one birth---her own.

Hannah, Delivered tells the story of how inexplicable passion, buried strength, and professional skill deliver one woman from fear into a rich and risk-filled life.

Genres: Fiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Hello, fellow readers! I'm using Goodreads to track my reading, to find like-minded book-lovers who want to share titles, and to connect with readers of my books. Feel free to follow my reviews or become a virtual friend.

As a writer, I'm passionate about creating stories that nourish the soul. I love exploring how faith functions, both inside and outside of religious traditions, and depicting the life of the Spirit at our culture's margins.

Reviews

[Camie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One night while Hannah Larson is working at a busy hospital in Minnesota, she is called away from her job at the reception desk to assist an overburdened staff with the delivery of a baby. This proves to be a life changing event, as she then decides to become a midwife. Though this book is pure fiction, the highly emotional content, well researched information, and first person narrative, make it read like a memoir.
Midwifery is a controversial subject , but an interesting one to me . I am both a retired Registered Nurse, and have myself had a high risk pregnancy (twins), which puts me squarely on the side of conventional medicine, but respecting other's rights to choose their care. This was the November choice for my Senior Citizen Book Lovers club. I don't think that most of the male members would enjoy this book, lol. 4 stars

[Nadine Slavinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a person who tends toward action / adventure and mystery novels and who rarely (um, never) reads women's fiction, I am not the type of reader you would expect this book to appeal to. I read it because it was recommended by a friend – and I am delighted I took a break from my usual fare to do so. Hannah, Delivered is a beautiful story, beautifully told that speaks to a broad audience - quite simply, because great writing and great characters function independently of genre.

Themes of family, personal growth, and developing your own convictions will hit close to home for just about any reader, and the characters are all three-dimensional, not just vehicles of convenience to move the story along or to deliver a message. The locations manage to convey both an exotic and a home-town flavor and act as characters in themselves. The story unfolds in a way that had me turning pages for hours. I zipped through in two quick days, and even though I'm back to spy novels this week (!), I know I'll be dipping back in to savor sections of Hannah, Delivered – some sad, some touching or insightful, others funny. A sampler: “The way some Minnesotans exalt it, you'd think New Mexico is closer to heaven” …. “I stumbled into Mom's absence again and again, my sorrow always fresh” … “her mistrust that I suspect was really fear squeezed sideways.”

This book will undoubtedly get rave reviews from readers who hold the topics of home birth and midwifery dear, but its appeal goes far beyond that sliver of society. I'd highly that recommend readers of other types of fiction to be daring and give this book a try – you'll find yourself delightfully surprised.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will read almost anything about midwifery. Odd, since I have no children and am old enough that it's unlikely that I will ever have children. But for some reason, the medical aspects and human care of midwifery fascinate me.
I found this book a little heavy on the "women's bodies and magical and they know exactly what to do in order to have a healthy and sacred birth" type of woo. Let's keep in mind that women had a 1-2% chance of death every time they delivered (and they did it a LOT). And infant death was closer to 20%. (Numbers from a quick google search, sue me.) So yeah, lots of natural births are safe and successful but the author makes it sound like the medical establishment just wants to induce, cut episiotomies, or perform caesarians, to pad their bill or to make their tee times.
So I liked most of the birthing stories (although that last one annoyed me). But overall I found it a little heavy on the mother-worship.
2.5 stars

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories of birth workers of all kinds are one of my niche reading interests, and this was really well written with lots of Minnesota references which are fun. It was interesting to learn more about the recent history of home births.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some lovely bits of writing in here, but there were other parts that were downright preachy. I don't think the structure served the overall story terribly well either.

[Angela Amman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah, Delivered by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew is a novel about birth — the births of babies, the birth of a midwife, and the birth of a movement toward more thoughtful and deliberate birthing practices in the United States. It’s also a story about expectations, dreams, and knowing which ones to chase and which ones we need to let back into the universe to become something else entirely.

Andrew has crafted a beautiful tale, both in plot construction and in language. I wasn’t sure Hannah, Delivered would resonate with me, my birth experiences and actually my expectations of birth varied so much from the stories told in Andrew’s novel. Interestingly, the passages about birthing and midwifery were my favorite: Hannah stresses again and again that the midwife’s role is to bring peace and safety to the birthing mother, and Andrew’s words perfectly wrap the reader in the calmness that can be achieved from allowing a woman’s body to progress at its own pace, to open itself and welcome new life into the world.

Hannah, Delivered made me (almost) wish for another chance to experience birth, and it provided hope that we’re moving closer to a day when midwives and doctors can work closely to bring birthing back to mothers’ bodies.

Read more of my review at Playing with Words

Disclosure: I received a copy of Hannah, Delivered for consideration for review. All opinions are my own.

[Jennifer Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The writing was spare, but so evocative and lovely.

Hannah works as support staff in a hospital in Minnesota. When she sees the birth of a baby, something is awakened within her. With the encouragement and support of her nurse midwife friend Maryann, she ends up spending two years in New Mexico becoming a certified midwife.

Even though home births are illegal in Minnesota, she needs to return home, and she begins teaching classes and yes -- delivering babies.

The characters are all so well written. Hannah herself, trying to live out her new calling, while trying to justify the approval she wants but doesn't usually get from her father, and come to terms with the death of her mother. Her father, the Lutheran priest, trying to age gracefully and dealing with the new radical associate that's been sent to his church. Her fellow midwife trainee Stuart is beyond description, but is a perfect foil to Hannah. Each of the mothers has her own story as well.

The novel starts off with an indication that Hannah has gotten into trouble, which sets up a dramatic framework which kept me reading. The ending felt slightly rushed (perhaps because I just didn't want it to end), but was still satisfying.



**I received an e-galley of this book for review purposes.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book! It reads like a memoir, but it's a fictional story of a woman named Hannah becoming a midwife. We follow her from her humble beginnings in a traditional hospital setting when she is first bitten by the birth bug. She then travels to New Mexico where she learns the art of birth. Hannah is continually troubled by thoughts of her own birth and how her parents have shrouded the circumstances around her birth. This becomes a theme throughout her career, one that she continues to question as she begins a home birth business in her hometown of Minnesota - a state that jails midwives who attend homebirths. She wisely sets limitations regarding which clients she will and will not see. But one woman pushes those limitations, causing Hannah to question her ideals. The revelation of the circumstances around her own birth force her to make a decision, one that may, in effect, "deliver" her.

[Carol E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of birth, and specifically of a young woman who realizes she wants and needs to make a career change and to become a midwife. This book was obviously well researched. There is a lot of information on the training, the work itself, and laws and regulations that govern this field. Lest you think that sounds boring, it is not! The story is engaging, and the characters are varied and likeable. The writing is beautiful!

I felt a kinship with the main character, Hannah, in some ways. I won't go into why, but it's not because of career choice. (I'm not a midwife.)

Birth is celebrated in this book; I was brought back to my own experiences giving birth and the profound, miraculous thing it is. Having read this book gave me a feeling of having experienced something profound.

[Kelley Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

What a beautiful story. I just finished and can't stop crying. I'm a bit of a birth nut, I've had two c-sections then a VBA2C. I identified with Melinda. I identified with Hannah. To have a sudden awakening where you realize that Birth Matters. I loved this book. I read a ton and never write reviews. I HAD to write a review for this book, and all I can say is that it's just beautiful. Loved it.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The journey of a woman who discovers her true calling as a midwife. An enjoyable and inspiring story about the natural process of birth.

I would never have chosen this book but was reading it for a book group and I am glad I did.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to be an obstetrician when I grow up and I love reading. I am sure this book is going to give me an overview of my future career, I really want to win this book!!

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book.

There was potential in the story. I think the author had a good idea trying to weave the story of Hannah and her history into the story of Hannah as a midwife. She didn’t quite pull it off, though. There were parts of the story that seemed clumsily written. The style of writing changed as the novel progressed. I did not like how there were suddenly introductions to each chapter further into the book.

As far as the discussion of birth, I agree that hospitals can be too harsh, too clinical. If I could go back, I would have done things differently with my own birth experience, and it was one that worked out okay in the end. That said, I didn’t like the overtly negative opinion of giving birth in a hospital. Yes, more trust could be placed in women’s bodies. And being able to labor in a space where emergency intervention is available immediately is a good thing.

[Barbara Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into birthing in the USA

Home birth used I be the norm until 50 years ago in the UK
This book contained a lot of medical jargon not for the faint hearted
Was the story true or a description of American attitude to home birth
I personally enjoyed it but it would not be for everyone

[Nancy Biffle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

This is a fascinating account about midwifery, a subject I know very little of. I thought the relationships and humanity of people was well done. I would recommend this book.

[Rosi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story really got into the controversy over midwives and homebirth safety vs hospitals treating labor and birth like a medical condition. Great writing.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpted from a fuller review at femmeliterate

Hannah, Delivered is a lyric exploration of the challenges of birthing: the birth of a child that makes a woman a mother, and the birth of the self that makes a woman an integrated, fully-realized adult. Hannah finds the second through her experience of becoming midwife to the first, and her journey is filled with challenge, splendor, tough love, raw honesty, and a gentle-voiced, rousing crusade in favor of natural childbirth.

The book is framed as a narrative of Hannah recounting to a listening apprentice midwife the story of her journey. These references are usually made in the opening chapters, and then the frame falls away to put us in-scene with Hannah as she experiences her transformation. At the novel's opening in a humdrum life as a hospital worker in metropolitan Minnesota, about to be married to the sweet but humdrum Leif, Hannah unexpectedly helps the hospital midwife develop a baby. The event shocks her into the raw awareness that if she is looking for something real in her life, some experience that is essential and fundamental and transformative in every way, birth has to be it. And so she decides to become a midwife. She undergoes an apprenticeship at a place called The Birth House, in New Mexico, where midwifery is barely legal, and then decides to bring her practice home to Minnesota, where midwifery is not legal at all.

The prose is simply beautiful, every sentenced as polished and translucent as a pearl, with passages that break through into real poetry. (Jarrett Andrew has honed this skill in her practice of spiritual memoir; she is also the author of Writing the Sacred Journey: Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir, and a teacher on the subject. Foreshadowing and suspense build as Hannah becomes more invested in her practice despite the disapproval of the authorities, and more committed to the well-being of the families she tends, even though there is frequent reference to a legal proceedings and a night in jail. In addition to all that the reader learns about natural childbirth--reading the book is an apprenticeship of its own, of sorts--we see Hannah build confidence and also humility as she sees herself as a channel through which the process of natural childbirth can happen exactly as the body plans it should.

My only twitch as a reader, in response to the overarching theme of the book, was to feel slightly accused as a woman and a mother in that my plans to have a natural childbirth were twice subverted by the insistence--and, as it turns out, necessary assistance--of hospital staff. The miracle of gestation is so obviously venerated and the practice of childbirth is so unabashedly celebrated that I felt Hannah, in real life, would probably not want to be my friend. She would see me as somehow less intuitive, less strong, a less able mother than the women she helps to roll, howl, and give birth under the open sky.

Still, none of my own quirks take away from the fact that this is a beautifully-written book that invites a reader to take a look at the most fundamental things about our lives—pregnancy and birth, death and loss, relationships, family, faith, vocations; our relationships with the natural world, our relationship with ourselves--and make sure we are heeding the call of our deepest hearts.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

.It's unusual for me to repeatedly notice how well written a novel is, without losing the momentum of the plot and narrative. This is an extremely well written book from any angle or device.
The protagonist, Hannah, is a hospital clerk who is summoned for help in an emergency baby delivery. Still filled with questions after the death of her own mother, she is fascinated by childbirth and eventually travels to New Mexico to learn midwifery.
Her experience at a midwifery clinic culminates with her decision to start her own practice in Minnesota, where she can get to know her father, pastor of a large Lutheran congregation. Her father's best friend is the local obstetrician, and she seeks this doctor's emergency back-up for home births. The entire town seems to be keeping secrets about Hannah's own birth, which eventually come to light as she makes decisions about which cases she will take on, and which she must refer for hospital births.
Eventually, her ethics are put to the test.
I recommend this highly, both as a literary novel and as an introduction to the culture of home birth.

[Lee Roversi · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay, so full disclosure . . . i am a pregnancy, birth and baby junkie . . .my three home births with my precious children were truly the highest times of my life. . . i get weepy when i see birth photos or read birth stories. . .i get angry when i hear of gross interference in hospital births. okay - that all said - this is a lovely and heart warming story of a young midwife and her personal coming-of-age through her practice. i breezed through it and really really liked it. not to be confused with a fine novel, just a great rich story - for a home birth junkie at least!
:)

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I wanted to like this book more, but a few things prevented me from doing so. It read like a memoir, but almost too much at times. I wish we could have known more about the proceedings after the birth and how that all unfolded. For such a slow build-up, I was disappointed to see it end so abruptly. I also wish Hannah had more faith in herself (or in something) throughout the book. I found myself not rooting for her because it didn't seem like she ever knew what she wanted. Overall, a decent book, but not my favorite about midwives.

[Mariah McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story. My husband and I chose to use a midwife for the birth of both our children (though not at home.) Still, I didn’t imagine being drawn to a story where a midwife was the main character. But this has been my favorite book that I read last year. It captivated me easily and made me care for the characters. It made me too love learning about midwifery, imagining being one myself even—and then in the course of reading and because of key phrases within the book, I’ve come to appreciate that I am a midwife in the process of birthing life every day.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story of midwives in America. A fiction book with insights into the practice. I especially enjoyed hearing about the clinic in New Mexico. The main character Hannah learns a lot about herself from examining her own birth. I was very blessed to have received this book thru the goodreads.com giveaway. Author Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew even signed my book with a special note. (My daughter's name is Hannah so this book is special to me). Thank You!!!

[Sharon]

This book is written by a MN woman about a new midwife in the 1990's in small town MN where midwives were still riding a fine legal line between acceptance and being a renegade. Excellent story about Hannah's personal growth, learning about and coming to terms with her own birth and childhood and establishing an adult relationship with her own father.

[Patsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing into a midwife world.

Most the book was informative . However some parts were not contributed to the overall story. Possible more how the family was later after births could be used. But then being free clinic perhaps just a fact of the business not to hear how new births turned out.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not completely what I expected when I first picked this book up to read, but I did enjoy it. I thought it would be stories of home births by a midwife and it did include some of that. However, it was more about one young woman and her journey to becoming a midwife including her struggle with her father and the decision on whether to follow her heart or do what her father wanted her to do.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am drawn to all books about labor and delivery so I knew I wanted to read this book. It was a little slow for me, but I really enjoyed Hannah's journey and how she was developing as a midwife. The only reason I couldn't give it more than four stars is because it ended so abruptly. I still had so many questions. Overall, a good read.

[Sandra Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read

This story is well written. I've read books about midwives but I believe this ranks among the best. I couldn't put it down..
I was surprised at her reveals. I won't say which surprised me most. I don't want to ruin it for anyone. I highly recommend
this story. If you are a mother it will take you back to the births of your babies. Read it..you won't be sorry.

[Kathy Biesheuvel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

A good plot is essential. Character development is important. But the thing that draws you inexorably into a story is highly skilled use of the written word. Ms. Andrew paints vivid pictures with her descriptions, and it is a pleasure to pause and re-read many, many paragraphs just to savor the wonderful writing. I hope to read more from this author.

[Jamie Howison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was written by someone with whom I shared a writing week at the Collegeville Institute in the summer of 2012, and I've been asked to offer a review/reflection for the Institute website. Once that is done, I'll share it here!

[Diane Boyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Normal Birth

I understand the conflict that was going through Hannah. But she did come through. I also had a problem with my doctor. Then was chastised for the way it all happened.