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Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage: Weaving ancient wisdom with modern knowledge
It’s time for a childbirth revolution. The modern approach to maternity care fails women, families and care providers with outdated practices that centre the needs of institutions rather than individuals. In this book, Rachel Reed weaves history, science and research with the experiences of women and care providers to create a holistic, evidence-based framework for understanding birth. Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage requires us to recognise that mothers own the power and expertise when it comes to birthing their babies. Whether you are a parent, care provider or educator, this book will transform how you think and feel about childbirth.
360 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 13, 2021
257 people are currently reading
1255 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Reed
2 books35 followersDr Rachel Reed PhD, GradCertEd, BSc (Hons) is an author, educator and sought-after international speaker. Her focus is childbirth physiology, care provider practice and women’s rights (and rites). Rachel has published widely in books, journals, magazines and writes an award-winning blog. As a researcher, Rachel studies women’s experiences of birth and the influence of care provider interactions. Her work is cited in evidence-based guidelines and textbooks that inform clinical practice. Rachel has designed and implemented midwifery education programs and supervised research students. She also has over 20 years of midwifery experience and has attended many births in a range of settings and circumstances. Rachel is originally from the North East of England but now lives in a forest in Australia with a variety of humans and animals. Find out more at www.rachelreed.website
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
June 28, 2021
Look. I do not regret reading this book!
The good:
- Eve's story. A fascinating, descriptive (rather than political or activist) journey that teaches you, in simple but accurate language, about the process of physiological birth and delivery. By far the most valuable part of the book, to me — I was able to give this to my scientist husband, and he found it practical, informative, and fascinating. It also provides to some degree a model for supporting an uncomplicated physiological birth.
- The description of the five stages of the rites of passage, and how they slightly differ from the medical terminology (and why).
- While the book is centred on criticism of medicalisation, there is some attempt to point out that the same criticisms apply to the 'alternative birth' movement. She includes that epidurals, for example, can be healing for some women and do hold some utility (instead of being universally evil because they interrupt physiological birth.) Basically, some attempt at presenting a balanced perspective is made.
- Once we get into the meat of things, breaking down the stages of giving birth and the associated changes, challenges and how the care providers should respond, the book got significantly better. While still obviously biased and political, the lean was less idealogical and more practical.
The bad:
-As soon as I read the word 'herstory' within the introduction, followed closely by colonialism, invasion, and a hatred of wealthy white men, I knew immediately the kind of political charge the book would have. While I'm glad I persevered because there's a lot of value here, I nearly put the book down and walked away. I came to this book wanting practical information, not activism. I am capable of drawing my own conclusions, if only you give me the information without your bias, please. This thread of hatred of Western civilisation, men, and so on does weave through this entire book, it's just less unpalatable in the second half.
-The bias is very clear. I get the strong feeling this woman would happily go back to the times where women birthed in huts, midwifery involved shamanism, when there were much higher rates of maternal death, higher rates of infection; when babies who were born with abnormalities (or even in some cases, babies that had nothing else wrong with them except the misfortune of being twins) were left to die or murdered. She has an incredibly idealised version of previous eras of midwifery, especially the 'matricentric' societies that 'existed before patriachy'. Two things can be true. The current medicalisation of birth is incredibly flawed and ABSOLUTELY needs a shift, BUT, the ancient or even 1800s approaches to birth had their problems too!
-I also think she'd prefer if everyone had home births. This is more based on the voices she gives more airtime to, especially in the last chapter of the book, but it's definitely present throughout.
-All of these things compound in the first half of the book, making it extremely painful to read. I don't care about the shamans, or snakes shedding their skins, or how evil agriculture changed things, or how much better birthing in a hut is. Or how much you hate Christianity for stated reasons, but refuse to explore the negative sides of the societies you revere.
- So we had previous matricentric societies, and that is reflected in midwifery, but it is far more common today for men to be present at the birth. There's literally A PAGE on this in the WHOLE BOOK that specifically addresses the presence of men (it's implied that because it's new, only since the 70s, that it's not necessarily a good thing). I get that she doesn't really like men much, but it would make sense, for the WOMAN'S sake, to assist the MEN in assisting the WOMEN, to much greater capacity than she does. The best you get is mention of support people and care providers, the advice for whom carries over to men.
-The bias leads her to make conclusions that are her own, rather than self-evident in either the text or the practice. This is not supported in academic practice — for five overt, explicit claims, she'll only include a reference for one. While this is a well-researched book, I can't help but think if I read her references I would come to very different conclusions than her.
-An example of the type of long bow above would be listing that midwives clean away faeces and urine from the birthing mother, and how that reflects that they SEE THE WOMAN'S BODY AS DIRTY. Are. you. serious. The woman's body isn't dirty because it's female, it's dirty because IT LITERALLY HAS POOP ON IT. You bet if my midwife leaves me to wallow in poop I will be pretty unimpressed!
-I also can't get on board with some of her suggestions, such as monitoring and GTT test being fundamentally not good things. Knowing you have GD is VERY important, so it would behoove her to suggest alternative ways of testing for this, such as home monitoring and simple fasting glucose blood tests, instead of jumping straight into GTT is bad.
-I also think she might be anti vitamin K shot and possibly antivax and honestly you lose me entirely with antivax.
All in all, I found this to be a more clinically informative book than say, Nurture (which was also a FAR more balanced book), but also a far more biased book. Not for everyone, but I did learn a great deal.
The good:
- Eve's story. A fascinating, descriptive (rather than political or activist) journey that teaches you, in simple but accurate language, about the process of physiological birth and delivery. By far the most valuable part of the book, to me — I was able to give this to my scientist husband, and he found it practical, informative, and fascinating. It also provides to some degree a model for supporting an uncomplicated physiological birth.
- The description of the five stages of the rites of passage, and how they slightly differ from the medical terminology (and why).
- While the book is centred on criticism of medicalisation, there is some attempt to point out that the same criticisms apply to the 'alternative birth' movement. She includes that epidurals, for example, can be healing for some women and do hold some utility (instead of being universally evil because they interrupt physiological birth.) Basically, some attempt at presenting a balanced perspective is made.
- Once we get into the meat of things, breaking down the stages of giving birth and the associated changes, challenges and how the care providers should respond, the book got significantly better. While still obviously biased and political, the lean was less idealogical and more practical.
The bad:
-As soon as I read the word 'herstory' within the introduction, followed closely by colonialism, invasion, and a hatred of wealthy white men, I knew immediately the kind of political charge the book would have. While I'm glad I persevered because there's a lot of value here, I nearly put the book down and walked away. I came to this book wanting practical information, not activism. I am capable of drawing my own conclusions, if only you give me the information without your bias, please. This thread of hatred of Western civilisation, men, and so on does weave through this entire book, it's just less unpalatable in the second half.
-The bias is very clear. I get the strong feeling this woman would happily go back to the times where women birthed in huts, midwifery involved shamanism, when there were much higher rates of maternal death, higher rates of infection; when babies who were born with abnormalities (or even in some cases, babies that had nothing else wrong with them except the misfortune of being twins) were left to die or murdered. She has an incredibly idealised version of previous eras of midwifery, especially the 'matricentric' societies that 'existed before patriachy'. Two things can be true. The current medicalisation of birth is incredibly flawed and ABSOLUTELY needs a shift, BUT, the ancient or even 1800s approaches to birth had their problems too!
-I also think she'd prefer if everyone had home births. This is more based on the voices she gives more airtime to, especially in the last chapter of the book, but it's definitely present throughout.
-All of these things compound in the first half of the book, making it extremely painful to read. I don't care about the shamans, or snakes shedding their skins, or how evil agriculture changed things, or how much better birthing in a hut is. Or how much you hate Christianity for stated reasons, but refuse to explore the negative sides of the societies you revere.
- So we had previous matricentric societies, and that is reflected in midwifery, but it is far more common today for men to be present at the birth. There's literally A PAGE on this in the WHOLE BOOK that specifically addresses the presence of men (it's implied that because it's new, only since the 70s, that it's not necessarily a good thing). I get that she doesn't really like men much, but it would make sense, for the WOMAN'S sake, to assist the MEN in assisting the WOMEN, to much greater capacity than she does. The best you get is mention of support people and care providers, the advice for whom carries over to men.
-The bias leads her to make conclusions that are her own, rather than self-evident in either the text or the practice. This is not supported in academic practice — for five overt, explicit claims, she'll only include a reference for one. While this is a well-researched book, I can't help but think if I read her references I would come to very different conclusions than her.
-An example of the type of long bow above would be listing that midwives clean away faeces and urine from the birthing mother, and how that reflects that they SEE THE WOMAN'S BODY AS DIRTY. Are. you. serious. The woman's body isn't dirty because it's female, it's dirty because IT LITERALLY HAS POOP ON IT. You bet if my midwife leaves me to wallow in poop I will be pretty unimpressed!
-I also can't get on board with some of her suggestions, such as monitoring and GTT test being fundamentally not good things. Knowing you have GD is VERY important, so it would behoove her to suggest alternative ways of testing for this, such as home monitoring and simple fasting glucose blood tests, instead of jumping straight into GTT is bad.
-I also think she might be anti vitamin K shot and possibly antivax and honestly you lose me entirely with antivax.
All in all, I found this to be a more clinically informative book than say, Nurture (which was also a FAR more balanced book), but also a far more biased book. Not for everyone, but I did learn a great deal.
May 24, 2022
This is 5* information executed in a 3.5* book. Or at least the audiobook is a 3.5* anyway.
I should start off by saying that I never want to have kids, but that does not stop me from being in absolute awe of the magic that is our bodies and its ability to create and birth life. I also have many women in my life who have given birth, so it's something that I have learned more and more about over the last few years.
I love that Rachel Reed is shifting the focus back to our bodies, the chemicals we have to prepare and assist us through the birthing process, and most importantly, our instincts. I think we often forget that we are just very very evolved animals and our bodies know what it needs to do. We also have that gut feeling/instinct as a way for our bodies to communicate with us and not many people are as in tune with it as we should be.
I saw a couple of reviews not being a fan of the author referring to history as "herstory", but I did not mind it. Again, I don't plan on having kids so I can't speak from that perspective, but as a chronically ill person, I have first hand experience of the misogyny and sexism in the medical field. I have also read a few books detailing the history of the mistreatment of women who are sick or who need any form of treatment (with women of colour having it worse than white women). History has also been predominantly recorded by white men, so by referring to it as "herstory", it is a way to remove them from the equation. It is not about hating men, but by taking control and rewriting history in a way.
We get a lot of detail of the birthing process and a good side by side comparison of a natural at home birth, a natural hospital birth, and an assisted hospital birth. I think it is clear that the author has a preference, but she still gives the reader enough information to form their own opinion/choice.
I am of the opinion that with the advances of technology, we do sometimes forget to check in and trust what our bodies are telling us. Doctors are very quick to dismiss our experience, especially that of pain, and even more so if you are showing too much emotion. I also agree that most of the time, doctors and hospitals prioritise any potential complications and liability over a patient's personal priorities. However, I also believe that medicine has had marvellous advancements that can definitely benefit anyone who may prefer to be in a hospital setting - I just wish there was more flexibility in what they have on offer on how to support the person.
I also feel like as a society in general, we are missing so much community and coming together in times like this. Nowadays, your support network has to wait outside in an uncomfortable waiting room with bright fluorescent lighting, without any proper updates until it is all done. I quite like the idea of a home birth and having the option to have your loved ones there if you wanted to. I imagine it would be feel like a much more comfortable, cosy and loving environment.
So anyway, it should always come down to the choice of the woman/person with a uterus and what feels right for them. If they want a completely natural home birth, then great. If they will feel more comfortable having nurses and doctors there and taking an epidural, that is fine too. There is so much shame that surrounds mothers and their choices that just needs to stop!
The reason why this was a 3.5* for me is that I deducted 1.5* for the really monotonous narration that made it incredibly difficult to get through all the goodness that this book had to offer. I am certain I missed some things, tbh. I also found that there were some parts that were very repetitive and could have benefited from some editing. I had to fight the urge to DNF it a few times purely due to the narration style. Apologies to Rachel for being so harsh on her narration! I am sure it's not an easy task.
I should start off by saying that I never want to have kids, but that does not stop me from being in absolute awe of the magic that is our bodies and its ability to create and birth life. I also have many women in my life who have given birth, so it's something that I have learned more and more about over the last few years.
I love that Rachel Reed is shifting the focus back to our bodies, the chemicals we have to prepare and assist us through the birthing process, and most importantly, our instincts. I think we often forget that we are just very very evolved animals and our bodies know what it needs to do. We also have that gut feeling/instinct as a way for our bodies to communicate with us and not many people are as in tune with it as we should be.
I saw a couple of reviews not being a fan of the author referring to history as "herstory", but I did not mind it. Again, I don't plan on having kids so I can't speak from that perspective, but as a chronically ill person, I have first hand experience of the misogyny and sexism in the medical field. I have also read a few books detailing the history of the mistreatment of women who are sick or who need any form of treatment (with women of colour having it worse than white women). History has also been predominantly recorded by white men, so by referring to it as "herstory", it is a way to remove them from the equation. It is not about hating men, but by taking control and rewriting history in a way.
We get a lot of detail of the birthing process and a good side by side comparison of a natural at home birth, a natural hospital birth, and an assisted hospital birth. I think it is clear that the author has a preference, but she still gives the reader enough information to form their own opinion/choice.
I am of the opinion that with the advances of technology, we do sometimes forget to check in and trust what our bodies are telling us. Doctors are very quick to dismiss our experience, especially that of pain, and even more so if you are showing too much emotion. I also agree that most of the time, doctors and hospitals prioritise any potential complications and liability over a patient's personal priorities. However, I also believe that medicine has had marvellous advancements that can definitely benefit anyone who may prefer to be in a hospital setting - I just wish there was more flexibility in what they have on offer on how to support the person.
I also feel like as a society in general, we are missing so much community and coming together in times like this. Nowadays, your support network has to wait outside in an uncomfortable waiting room with bright fluorescent lighting, without any proper updates until it is all done. I quite like the idea of a home birth and having the option to have your loved ones there if you wanted to. I imagine it would be feel like a much more comfortable, cosy and loving environment.
So anyway, it should always come down to the choice of the woman/person with a uterus and what feels right for them. If they want a completely natural home birth, then great. If they will feel more comfortable having nurses and doctors there and taking an epidural, that is fine too. There is so much shame that surrounds mothers and their choices that just needs to stop!
The reason why this was a 3.5* for me is that I deducted 1.5* for the really monotonous narration that made it incredibly difficult to get through all the goodness that this book had to offer. I am certain I missed some things, tbh. I also found that there were some parts that were very repetitive and could have benefited from some editing. I had to fight the urge to DNF it a few times purely due to the narration style. Apologies to Rachel for being so harsh on her narration! I am sure it's not an easy task.
April 15, 2021
I knew I'd love this book even before it arrived. The day it turned up, I'd been talking about how much Rachel has influenced my work as a doula and childbirth educator with my mentor.
I particularly appreciate how clear and articulate Rachel is in conveying her message. I'm also hugely impressed by the sheer volume of research and referencing this text includes. No-one can say it is not an EVIDENCE-BASED resource.
I am only into the fourth chapter and already it has inspired me to reshape my course content and develop three new offerings in my business - simply because it's allowed me to truly comprehend and focus on where the gaps are in what women have access to, what they need and what they want.
Well done Dr Reed, you've not only met my expectations, you've by far exceeded them!
I particularly appreciate how clear and articulate Rachel is in conveying her message. I'm also hugely impressed by the sheer volume of research and referencing this text includes. No-one can say it is not an EVIDENCE-BASED resource.
I am only into the fourth chapter and already it has inspired me to reshape my course content and develop three new offerings in my business - simply because it's allowed me to truly comprehend and focus on where the gaps are in what women have access to, what they need and what they want.
Well done Dr Reed, you've not only met my expectations, you've by far exceeded them!
May 3, 2022
I mistakenly believed this book to be about childbirth, and childbirth as a rite of passage, even, but it is about how to become extremely defensive and mistrustful of the evil patriarchal healthcare system while fantasizing about how empowering it must have been to give birth in a hut hundreds of years ago. It also stylizes history into the term "herstory". I see the point to some extent, but still, find the linguistic choice ridiculous. To each their own, I personally do not resonate with this unbalanced approach. I tried for several months but could not finish. Strong anti-vaxxer vibes.
May 21, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ I love Rachel Reed and all of her content so obviously this book was great. Such a different perspective of pregnancy / labour and birth and how the experience of women in society shape the transition into motherhood. Defs made me self reflect about my own midwifery practices too.
Would’ve given it another start but felt like it dragged slightly for me!
Would’ve given it another start but felt like it dragged slightly for me!
October 29, 2025
My birth plan is now: give birth.
May 9, 2024
Absolutely beautiful. I've done some very important un-learning about birth and our Rites to it. I think this needs to be on school syllabus. Everyone should read this book, regardless of whether you'd like children or not, it's so eye-opening.
May 7, 2025
Of the bits I did read in depth, it was a pretty special book and one which has definitely helped me feel more empowered entering into my third trimester soon. Genuinely think it could also just be a good read for any woman, regardless of her plans to become a mother or not? Some really interesting sections on the menstrual cycle throughout history.
October 17, 2023
1.5 stars
I'll readily acknowledge that I am probably not the target demographic for this book. As a Christian midwife, I have a biblical worldview which is opposed to this author's worldview in many areas. Her pagan worldview and goddess worship along with honoring women's "blood rites" including abortion was offensive to me. Obviously her belief system colors the way she views everything about the world and history, as all our belief systems do. (Side note: she says herstory instead of history, about 1000x, which is jarring.)
She brought out a few really good points about modern maternity care and how in many ways it prevents or interferes with physiological birth. However, it was all incredibly repetitive and not well-written, and you'd do well to instead read the writings of Michel Odent and Sheila Kitzinger, for example, who said the same exact things decades ago, much more eloquently and succinctly.
The misandry was overwhelming. At one point in the book the author acknowledged the father of the baby and how his hormones are significantly affected in the weeks surrounding the birth of their child, but it was just a couple of sentences and then the fathers were relegated back to their place of inferiority and irrelevance and ignorance.
I agree that birth is women's work primarily, but I disagree that the woman's partner is completely useless. What they bring to the labor and birth of their child is not what we as women bring, but it is important and good. It felt odd to me that the author praised the modern shift to fathers being more involved in the care of their young children, but seems to despise the fact that modern-day fathers are allowed to be present at the births of their children, let alone daring to be involved.
The author described in detail her idea of the ideal physiological birth, which was very interesting, but it also came across as a romanticization of unassisted birth without access to resources.
I suggest just reading the acknowledgments in the back and finding books by the experts on birth that she lists there.
I'll readily acknowledge that I am probably not the target demographic for this book. As a Christian midwife, I have a biblical worldview which is opposed to this author's worldview in many areas. Her pagan worldview and goddess worship along with honoring women's "blood rites" including abortion was offensive to me. Obviously her belief system colors the way she views everything about the world and history, as all our belief systems do. (Side note: she says herstory instead of history, about 1000x, which is jarring.)
She brought out a few really good points about modern maternity care and how in many ways it prevents or interferes with physiological birth. However, it was all incredibly repetitive and not well-written, and you'd do well to instead read the writings of Michel Odent and Sheila Kitzinger, for example, who said the same exact things decades ago, much more eloquently and succinctly.
The misandry was overwhelming. At one point in the book the author acknowledged the father of the baby and how his hormones are significantly affected in the weeks surrounding the birth of their child, but it was just a couple of sentences and then the fathers were relegated back to their place of inferiority and irrelevance and ignorance.
I agree that birth is women's work primarily, but I disagree that the woman's partner is completely useless. What they bring to the labor and birth of their child is not what we as women bring, but it is important and good. It felt odd to me that the author praised the modern shift to fathers being more involved in the care of their young children, but seems to despise the fact that modern-day fathers are allowed to be present at the births of their children, let alone daring to be involved.
The author described in detail her idea of the ideal physiological birth, which was very interesting, but it also came across as a romanticization of unassisted birth without access to resources.
I suggest just reading the acknowledgments in the back and finding books by the experts on birth that she lists there.
April 15, 2021
This book is essential reading!
Rachel weaves a story that is thought provoking and powerful as she takes you on a journey from ancient times until now.
Once you start reading you cannot and will not want to stop.
This book is a feast of golden nuggets.
Rachel weaves a story that is thought provoking and powerful as she takes you on a journey from ancient times until now.
Once you start reading you cannot and will not want to stop.
This book is a feast of golden nuggets.
May 25, 2021
This book is the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life. It is a skilfully crafted text integrating so much; history, feminism, spirituality, physiology and activism. This is essential reading for midwives, obstetricians, doulas, women and teenage girls.
September 3, 2023
This was great! I was looking for a different perspective on childbirth (again, no announcement) and this delivered (pun intended).
It's a bit too academic and directed at midwifery practitioners than would have been perfect for me. Some of the more radical departures from accepted medicine I found a bit woo-woo, and I also did not always feel that the divide between medicalized, or mainstream, obstetric practices and midwife intuition had been persuasively and rigorously bridged.
But that did not stand in the way of me learning a lot from the experiences, critiques, and close study reflected here. The book is effective at weaving together different disciplines and qualitative sources. Engaging and well organized.
It's a bit too academic and directed at midwifery practitioners than would have been perfect for me. Some of the more radical departures from accepted medicine I found a bit woo-woo, and I also did not always feel that the divide between medicalized, or mainstream, obstetric practices and midwife intuition had been persuasively and rigorously bridged.
But that did not stand in the way of me learning a lot from the experiences, critiques, and close study reflected here. The book is effective at weaving together different disciplines and qualitative sources. Engaging and well organized.
March 21, 2023
My current “nesting” is definitely manifesting as taking in all the birth information. This one was a very interested perspective on physiological birth. Would not be for everyone, but I found it fascinating!
April 14, 2021
This book should be a must read for schoolchildren. It teaches us so much about the way we perceive childbirth and it is so full of scientific evidence. I really hope that it will change our birth culture. And whoever changes birth will change the human race.
January 17, 2024
Perfect blend of research, cultural herstory, and anecdotes.
August 20, 2024
Thought this was gonna be super woo-woo but I ended up loving it!!
July 30, 2024
5* information written in a 3* way. A really interesting delve into the philosophy, history, spirituality and medicine of birthing practices all over the world. Loved how this book explored each phase of birthing and brought together primary research from many birthing people and care providers to give a balanced and fair view of birthing then vs now.
July 15, 2024
Every midwife, birth worker, and mama needs to read this! This book takes a deeper, more spiritual look at how we birth and how we support women doing so, as well as how medicalized birth practices have impacted us on a spiritual level. It will change how you look at giving birth and supporting women!
Christian’s should have some discernment as this book does have a spiritual focus but it does not have any specific religious context and can be applied to any religion or spiritual journey.
Christian’s should have some discernment as this book does have a spiritual focus but it does not have any specific religious context and can be applied to any religion or spiritual journey.
November 27, 2021
Wow!
This book draws in history (or Herstory), tradition (both ancient and modern), cultural dynamics, medical science, and story.
The book follows a beautifully articulated theme of all its parts being woven in, which Dr. Rachel Reed does an amazing job of explaining in the introduction and mainting throughout the book.
This symbolic theme not only makes the book beautiful to read, but helps all its parts make sense.
I felt like I effortlessly learnt things that I would not normally retain if I "studied" them.
Dr. Rachel Reed also uses the story of Eve (a pregnant women who could exist in any time, modern or ancient) to unpack what physiological birth is and how it functions.
Each chapter of physiology starts with Eve, and we go on a journey with her through each step of labour.
This story helps you to connect to the idea of physiological birth on a personal level.
How we are traditionally meant to.
And it also harkens back to the traditional way we used to learn - through story.
This book should be essential reading for:
• Girls who have reached their menarche - so they can have the seed of bodily trust planted as they begin their journey as a woman.
• Pregnant women - as part of their early preparation. Showing them not only what physiological birth looks like, but how to navigate the medical world we now live in, and get the birth THEY want.
• Midwives, Doulas, and other care providers - to not only expose them to all the inner most details of physiological birth (as its is now so rare), but also to inspire them to support women in achieving the birth they want and need.
I absolutley loved this book and can not recommend it enough.
This book draws in history (or Herstory), tradition (both ancient and modern), cultural dynamics, medical science, and story.
The book follows a beautifully articulated theme of all its parts being woven in, which Dr. Rachel Reed does an amazing job of explaining in the introduction and mainting throughout the book.
This symbolic theme not only makes the book beautiful to read, but helps all its parts make sense.
I felt like I effortlessly learnt things that I would not normally retain if I "studied" them.
Dr. Rachel Reed also uses the story of Eve (a pregnant women who could exist in any time, modern or ancient) to unpack what physiological birth is and how it functions.
Each chapter of physiology starts with Eve, and we go on a journey with her through each step of labour.
This story helps you to connect to the idea of physiological birth on a personal level.
How we are traditionally meant to.
And it also harkens back to the traditional way we used to learn - through story.
This book should be essential reading for:
• Girls who have reached their menarche - so they can have the seed of bodily trust planted as they begin their journey as a woman.
• Pregnant women - as part of their early preparation. Showing them not only what physiological birth looks like, but how to navigate the medical world we now live in, and get the birth THEY want.
• Midwives, Doulas, and other care providers - to not only expose them to all the inner most details of physiological birth (as its is now so rare), but also to inspire them to support women in achieving the birth they want and need.
I absolutley loved this book and can not recommend it enough.
May 6, 2021
This book is phenomenal. Midwives should read it. Doulas should read it. Anthropologists should read it. And most of all, anyone who is going to or has given birth should read it. I've been recommending it to anyone who will listen. It is both healing and informative, revealing as it offers hope. It one of the most concise descriptions of the current maternity crisis in 'developed' countries, one that offers a clear and science and culture-based road map out. Dr Reed so beautifully lays out the his(no her)story of maternity care in the global west, how we got to where we are now. Dr Reed was a practicing midwife for many years in the UK and Australia, completed a research PhD in Australia and now teaches new student midwives. Her hands-on and academic knowledge is immense. As an anthropologist myself, I can say is one of the clearest applications of anthropology I've read in a while. It's so easy to think of rituals and rites of passage as being out there, belonging to folk 'other' than ourselves - especially with the colonialist roots of the discipline (anthropology) that first brought the concepts to life in Europe and America. Birth is and always will be a right of passage, no matter where and how it occurs. From this starting point, we begin to see how much the current medical system in influential countries is doing harm. The statistics show it, the research shows it, and this book beautifully stitches that together in a clear and digestible way. It offers a direction forward and even ways to empower women experiencing medicalised birth.
July 11, 2024
2.9⭐️ This book is outrageously biased, which made it difficult for me to get through. Birth is natural, primal, and transformational, yes, but I felt like this book completely ignored the fact that sometimes it is actually incredibly dangerous. As a doula I’ve witnessed the beautiful, soul awakening beauty of birth- but I’ve also seen mothers and babies on the brink of death. I knew as soon as the author started digging into “herstory” my eyeballs were going to be sore from rolling, and they were. Decent read, but mostly just annoying.
May 24, 2021
This book is absolutely incredible. It’s hard to describe how much I took from this book. I’m neither a mother nor pregnant but my mind has been blown with how much knowledge, research, evidence, and story is contained within this book. I feel like this is a book for all women. So many things I’ve learned or have heard stories about regarding birth, and this book explained the reason for so many things with factual support for or the breakdown of the physiology as to why.
March 26, 2024
Wonderful perspective and emphasis of the power of a woman’s body, mindset, and perceptions of birth in her abilities to deliver her baby. She did a great job at blending the absolutelt behind benefits of physiological birth w/o interruption yet integrated the use of medical interventions in the proper time and place.
Gave 4 stars because of the pagan world view and blood rituals I just personally cannot stand behind as a Christian.
Gave 4 stars because of the pagan world view and blood rituals I just personally cannot stand behind as a Christian.
Read
July 30, 2023DNF. Didn’t love it.
January 6, 2025
I recently read ‘Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage’ by Rachel Reed. This book intrigued me as a Witch who adores rituals and rites of passage and was keen to bring more of that into my life, especially for a future pregnansy. Rachel is a very well-known author in the home and free birth circles and I’ve seen many people recommend her works. I've actually had it on request at my library for ages because it's very popular.
What I liked:
The second half of this book was good. I enjoyed it. 'Eve's Story' was useful information even if the name choice gave me flashbacks to church, I'm sure the crunchy christian groups would love it.
It had useful information on the physiology of birth and whilst likely not the kind of rites and rituals I was expecting, it did cover a good many of them for both physiological birth and medical birth and it didn't shame the medical one too much.
What I disliked:
The first half of the book. I almost DNF because MAN I wanted to throw this book across the room. Just like my views on Jane Hardwicke-Collings seem to be the outlier, I feel the same about this book. So many folks rave about it and I wonder how critically they are reading it?
You want specifics? Well, the inclusion of “Herstory ” that is at the beginning of the book and referenced frequently throughout is a huge red flag for me now. It riles my jimmies and genuinely annoys the hell out of me. Trust me when I say this is tough to read, especially since it's not my first go round on it. You'll find a similar version in Blood Rites by JHC and as it's own book by JHC. The Midwitch even read it out on one of her podcast episodes if you want to take a listen, and it is talked about A LOT in womens/birthing circles.
It 'seems' innocent. It 'seems' revolutionary. It is something I'm sure many people reading WANT to be true. It does the lovely neo-pagan (often wiccan) thing where it says that christianity stole easter eggs as a symbol from Eostre, Ostara and Hathor which is incorrect.
Jewitches has an amazing post on her socials with resources and reasoning as to why this belief originates in anti-semitic circles, but also perpetuates harm to marginalised folks. The slides are posted here if you wish to view; https://www.tumblr.com/thejewitches/7...
Another issue is this line in reference to the witch hunts and burning times “Estimates of how many people were killed vary from hundreds of thousands to millions.” Yikes. She also claims that Goddess worship and the triple moon goddess goes back to before the middle ages! A very common Wiccan trope that has no basis in historical or anthropological accuracy, like guys; it's not that old.
These ideas are parroting the claims of Margaret Murray, a British folklorist from the early 1900s whose claims have been repeatedly denounced.
There are a LOT of claims in this tiny ‘Herstory’ many of which have no factual basis and begin to throw the rest of the book under tighter scrutiny. They are surrounded by things that can be backed up though which is what makes it hard for folks to discern. It sounds good - and many want to believe it, so they will.
All of this aside, the first half has another glaring problem.... and it's the main reason I won’t be recommending this book. One of the experts that Rachel Reed quotes frequently in the book is Christiane Northrup. If you haven’t heard of her this is what Wikipedia has to say “Christiane Northrup is a former obstetrics and gynaecology physician and author who has embraced pseudoscientific alternative medicine and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. She has a history of opposing vaccination and has embraced QAnon ideology during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Not great right? Make sure to actually read that Wiki page too as it gets into details about her pseudoscientific beliefs and covid denialism. But it gets worse, the Conspirituality Podcast have looked into Christiane Northrup and explored her current ‘paid offerings’ on Telegram where she talks about
- race-specific bio weapon labs in Ukraine
- Ancient bloodline analysis
- Satanic Ritual Symbology
- Omicron Variant: Secret antidote
- Zionists grip on Israel
- Cryptocurrency deception
Scary right? Christiane Northrup is also increasingly anti-semitic and shares dangerous health advice (such as refusing mammograms which I'm sure many 'natural' folks would love because they're mostly distrustful of all western medicine).
And yes - Northrup had shown her true colours prior to the release of this book.
Anyway, I give this book 2 out of 5 stars as there are some useful takeaways but if you read, please do so with discernment and yyour critical thinking hat firmly on your head.
It's always good to look at WHO an author is referencing, promoting and quoting when deciding if a book is a good resource for you to take advice from.
What I liked:
The second half of this book was good. I enjoyed it. 'Eve's Story' was useful information even if the name choice gave me flashbacks to church, I'm sure the crunchy christian groups would love it.
It had useful information on the physiology of birth and whilst likely not the kind of rites and rituals I was expecting, it did cover a good many of them for both physiological birth and medical birth and it didn't shame the medical one too much.
What I disliked:
The first half of the book. I almost DNF because MAN I wanted to throw this book across the room. Just like my views on Jane Hardwicke-Collings seem to be the outlier, I feel the same about this book. So many folks rave about it and I wonder how critically they are reading it?
You want specifics? Well, the inclusion of “Herstory ” that is at the beginning of the book and referenced frequently throughout is a huge red flag for me now. It riles my jimmies and genuinely annoys the hell out of me. Trust me when I say this is tough to read, especially since it's not my first go round on it. You'll find a similar version in Blood Rites by JHC and as it's own book by JHC. The Midwitch even read it out on one of her podcast episodes if you want to take a listen, and it is talked about A LOT in womens/birthing circles.
It 'seems' innocent. It 'seems' revolutionary. It is something I'm sure many people reading WANT to be true. It does the lovely neo-pagan (often wiccan) thing where it says that christianity stole easter eggs as a symbol from Eostre, Ostara and Hathor which is incorrect.
Jewitches has an amazing post on her socials with resources and reasoning as to why this belief originates in anti-semitic circles, but also perpetuates harm to marginalised folks. The slides are posted here if you wish to view; https://www.tumblr.com/thejewitches/7...
Another issue is this line in reference to the witch hunts and burning times “Estimates of how many people were killed vary from hundreds of thousands to millions.” Yikes. She also claims that Goddess worship and the triple moon goddess goes back to before the middle ages! A very common Wiccan trope that has no basis in historical or anthropological accuracy, like guys; it's not that old.
These ideas are parroting the claims of Margaret Murray, a British folklorist from the early 1900s whose claims have been repeatedly denounced.
There are a LOT of claims in this tiny ‘Herstory’ many of which have no factual basis and begin to throw the rest of the book under tighter scrutiny. They are surrounded by things that can be backed up though which is what makes it hard for folks to discern. It sounds good - and many want to believe it, so they will.
All of this aside, the first half has another glaring problem.... and it's the main reason I won’t be recommending this book. One of the experts that Rachel Reed quotes frequently in the book is Christiane Northrup. If you haven’t heard of her this is what Wikipedia has to say “Christiane Northrup is a former obstetrics and gynaecology physician and author who has embraced pseudoscientific alternative medicine and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. She has a history of opposing vaccination and has embraced QAnon ideology during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Not great right? Make sure to actually read that Wiki page too as it gets into details about her pseudoscientific beliefs and covid denialism. But it gets worse, the Conspirituality Podcast have looked into Christiane Northrup and explored her current ‘paid offerings’ on Telegram where she talks about
- race-specific bio weapon labs in Ukraine
- Ancient bloodline analysis
- Satanic Ritual Symbology
- Omicron Variant: Secret antidote
- Zionists grip on Israel
- Cryptocurrency deception
Scary right? Christiane Northrup is also increasingly anti-semitic and shares dangerous health advice (such as refusing mammograms which I'm sure many 'natural' folks would love because they're mostly distrustful of all western medicine).
And yes - Northrup had shown her true colours prior to the release of this book.
Anyway, I give this book 2 out of 5 stars as there are some useful takeaways but if you read, please do so with discernment and yyour critical thinking hat firmly on your head.
It's always good to look at WHO an author is referencing, promoting and quoting when deciding if a book is a good resource for you to take advice from.
December 27, 2023
Overall, it was an interesting book and did have some well-researched content that I was previously unaware of. That said, I would not recommend it to everyone. For one thing, the focus of the book as a whole is strongly on physiological (as in no intervention) births. While the author generally did a good job of acknowledging the need for some medical interventions and emphasizing that the focus of the birth should be the woman and her choices (even if that involves medical intervention), the extreme focus on physiological births actually made me feel rather anxious at times as I just finished at about 39 weeks pregnant (and did not have a physiological birth for my first or end up having one for my second). However, I will say that by the end much of that anxiety had eased, but I would not necessarily recommend this for someone who is planning a birth with interventions.
There were some aspects of the book that were strongly worded yet did not correspond to my lived experience or other data I am aware of (which is not to say they don't correspond to the lived experiences of others, but more to say that the points were overstated). However, there were other aspects of the book that I thought the author did an excellent job of expressing. For example, celebrating and embracing womanhood as opposed to denigrating, ignoring, or erasing it is a message that I think deserves greater traction in the world today. Another small example that more specifically illustrates the both of these (at least to an extent) is the section on menstrual cycles. On the one hand, I have actually been aware of the phases of the menstrual cycle and how it purportedly affects many people for awhile. However, in my personal experience, I haven't really seen those impacts (at least consistently) for myself, which made the somewhat authoritative tone though that part of it feel...overdone, I suppose. On the other hand, I strongly agree that treating menstruation in general as dirty, unpleasant, miserable, and needing to be covered up/secretive can be downright harmful. I haven't necessarily had a horrible experience with this myself, but I do think that I'd rather not treat the topic as taboo with my daughters, and would even perhaps like to treat it more as a rite of passage, or something to be celebrated.
There were some aspects of the book that were strongly worded yet did not correspond to my lived experience or other data I am aware of (which is not to say they don't correspond to the lived experiences of others, but more to say that the points were overstated). However, there were other aspects of the book that I thought the author did an excellent job of expressing. For example, celebrating and embracing womanhood as opposed to denigrating, ignoring, or erasing it is a message that I think deserves greater traction in the world today. Another small example that more specifically illustrates the both of these (at least to an extent) is the section on menstrual cycles. On the one hand, I have actually been aware of the phases of the menstrual cycle and how it purportedly affects many people for awhile. However, in my personal experience, I haven't really seen those impacts (at least consistently) for myself, which made the somewhat authoritative tone though that part of it feel...overdone, I suppose. On the other hand, I strongly agree that treating menstruation in general as dirty, unpleasant, miserable, and needing to be covered up/secretive can be downright harmful. I haven't necessarily had a horrible experience with this myself, but I do think that I'd rather not treat the topic as taboo with my daughters, and would even perhaps like to treat it more as a rite of passage, or something to be celebrated.
July 2, 2021
This is not just for birthworkers, this book is for all women who want to understand their body, their bleed and birth on a much deeper level.
Although Rachel is no where near Crone status, I received so much elder wisdom from the words within. I know this information would have been passed down between woman to woman, “witch” to “witch” while sitting in circle. The wisdom is not lost, we simply need to receive it in a different form.
Rachel is a wonderful storyteller, with the passages about Eve’s pregnancy, the way her hormonal system primes her for labour, the descriptions of what is happening with her body and baby while birthing and then preparing for breastfeeding - seriously gorgeous stuff that made my eyes leak and sent shivers down my spine.
I particularly loved reading about the physiology of what is occurring underneath the surface, when waiting in the land of in-between, those final weeks of pregnancy.
As someone who gestated beyond 42 weeks and felt like my body would never bloody go into labour, if I had read these passages in my last days, they would have brought me great comfort.
Of course being Dr Rachel Reed, she’s also included all of the necessary statistics and research and discussed modern birthing practices, while providing the Herstory that shows the bigger picture to it all.
She unpacks policies and procedures that occur in the maternal health system and you will find yourself nodding your head saying “ah that makes sense WHY they are doing something that doesn’t make any fucking sense!”.
It made my brain feel less tortured as we can begin to understand why we are in the mess we are in, with so many non-evidence based practices based on the Herstory of women and birth, social and cultural factors.
As well as covering the various rites of passages naturally built into women’s bodies, and the rites of protection that humans enact to somehow feel they are in a level of control when it comes to traversing the ultimate unknown of birth, life & death.
I loved this book. Please, go and buy this book. ⭕️🌹
Although Rachel is no where near Crone status, I received so much elder wisdom from the words within. I know this information would have been passed down between woman to woman, “witch” to “witch” while sitting in circle. The wisdom is not lost, we simply need to receive it in a different form.
Rachel is a wonderful storyteller, with the passages about Eve’s pregnancy, the way her hormonal system primes her for labour, the descriptions of what is happening with her body and baby while birthing and then preparing for breastfeeding - seriously gorgeous stuff that made my eyes leak and sent shivers down my spine.
I particularly loved reading about the physiology of what is occurring underneath the surface, when waiting in the land of in-between, those final weeks of pregnancy.
As someone who gestated beyond 42 weeks and felt like my body would never bloody go into labour, if I had read these passages in my last days, they would have brought me great comfort.
Of course being Dr Rachel Reed, she’s also included all of the necessary statistics and research and discussed modern birthing practices, while providing the Herstory that shows the bigger picture to it all.
She unpacks policies and procedures that occur in the maternal health system and you will find yourself nodding your head saying “ah that makes sense WHY they are doing something that doesn’t make any fucking sense!”.
It made my brain feel less tortured as we can begin to understand why we are in the mess we are in, with so many non-evidence based practices based on the Herstory of women and birth, social and cultural factors.
As well as covering the various rites of passages naturally built into women’s bodies, and the rites of protection that humans enact to somehow feel they are in a level of control when it comes to traversing the ultimate unknown of birth, life & death.
I loved this book. Please, go and buy this book. ⭕️🌹
June 15, 2024
Thought provoking, empowering, and unnecessarily divisive.
The information in this book is worth its weight in gold. It's well researched and paints a starkly clear image of the American birth environment. It provides a voice for birth as something other than a medicalized event (even in a medical birth), and offers women the opportunity to reclaim their power through the experience of childbirth.
I've had three home births myself, and am planning my fourth, and have never viewed birth as a rite of passage. This mindset shift, for me, was the best thing about this book. A view like this really helps women understand the purpose of each stage of labor, and gives the birth team a more woman-centered focus.
But, the overarching tone was unnecessarily biased and even inflammatory. Usage of terms like "herstory" and glorification of a female-only birth space were abundant and unnecessary. None of this really supported the core message of the book, but the author made sure her viewpoint was shared.
It was a good read, and I enjoyed the writing style. I did take some real value from this book, and would recommend it to any pregnant woman
The information in this book is worth its weight in gold. It's well researched and paints a starkly clear image of the American birth environment. It provides a voice for birth as something other than a medicalized event (even in a medical birth), and offers women the opportunity to reclaim their power through the experience of childbirth.
I've had three home births myself, and am planning my fourth, and have never viewed birth as a rite of passage. This mindset shift, for me, was the best thing about this book. A view like this really helps women understand the purpose of each stage of labor, and gives the birth team a more woman-centered focus.
But, the overarching tone was unnecessarily biased and even inflammatory. Usage of terms like "herstory" and glorification of a female-only birth space were abundant and unnecessary. None of this really supported the core message of the book, but the author made sure her viewpoint was shared.
It was a good read, and I enjoyed the writing style. I did take some real value from this book, and would recommend it to any pregnant woman
October 14, 2022
This book has been on my radar since it was released but I haven't been able to bring myself to read it. I'm a midwife in Australia having a career break after working primarily in tertiary hospitals and I felt that if I had read it while still practicing, it would just increase my rage and feelings of helplessness stemming from working within the system. I'd deliberately stopped consuming anything midwifery related while trying to work through my feelings over the last 12 months working in a completely different, mundane occupation. I am planning a return to midwifery once I birth my second baby, and in the lead up to my birth decided to get my head back in the midwifery world. This book has really inspired me to come back to midwifery in some way in the future. Thank you to the author for everything she does, I've quietly followed her work since my student midwife days and am so grateful she's out there maintaining the rage and campaigning for better care for women abd families.
This book is awesome. Read it.
This book is awesome. Read it.
April 17, 2025
I’ve had this on my TBR shelf for a while, I finally purchased my copy and got stuck in. I was first introduced to Rachel through social media I came across one of her quotes that helped me reshape my anger towards the current medical maternity system. She says the current system is designed to fit how our society views and treats women. So much of maternity care women’s health care is the way it is because of cultural views and norms. While I am ‘woke’ and know what ‘the system’ is, I have been taught and work within it. It was nice to read the herstory, the origins of things, I liked Eve’s story the most, reading how the physiology worked the way it worked and why was great. I really liked how Rachel reference the evidence and included other voices other than her own. Reading about work can be hard but I didn’t struggle with this one. I will rebind this paper back into a hardcover and give its beautiful cloth bound red glory it deserves.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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