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Hey Ina May, thank you for writing your own guidebook on childbirth. I think that if everybody read your book then they would also see how flawed the hospitals are and start using midwives. For me personally I've learned so much about how birth works and how it is connected with everything around us. The idea that reading positive birth stories is excellent and must definitely help change the mind set that woman have of birth being painful and horrid. 

In the last part of the book you described how the hospitals aren't really doing the right things for child birth. Unnecessary cesarean section surgery, unnecessary epidurals and other drugs, wrong positioning for the woman, and the list goes on. Sometimes these procedures may be necessary but not most of the time. Treating child birth almost like its nothing which for the doctor it isn't but for the woman giving birth it may be the most important thing of their life."The FDA banned DES for use in regnant woman in 1971, after it was found to be the cause of rare vaginal cancers in young women as well as genital abnormalities in both young women and men whose mothers were given the drug." (280) Knowing this why does the U.S. still continue to use unnatural products on the mother? Maybe in 20 years from now all people who got an epidural or were born by a mother who used it will have get a rare cancer as well. It just doesn't make sense, people are dying because the doctor is too busy to stick around for the whole day with his patient if needed. "One of the greatest influences on what happens to you during labor (especially as this relates to medical interventions, procedures, and medications) depends on whom you choose to be your caregiver." (305) If this not so difficult decision can make the difference between being strapped to a bed and cut into for extra money or having a birth that will connect a child and mother forever then why do so many woman not know? How is it possible that the public is so hidden from the truth that they cant make a decision like that? Of corse there are some exceptions for people who may need to go to a OBGYN but the other Americans need to wake up.

This book was very well formatted and interesting as a student to read. But as a normal teenage guy I don't think that I would ever pick this book off a shelf. The book doesn't need to be made better as much as who its targeted to. Pregnant woman are what it is targeted to and the most important but in order for an action like this to take real affect everybody needs to know about it. If everybody knew how wrong our system really is they would be astonished maybe even ashamed of letting this happen. As bad as that sounds it's how to start a revolution. Maybe even get on television to really let the true American know.

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So far Ina Mays Guide to childbirth has been an interesting book so far. The way it is set up is alright. It doesn't really have a strong introduction because it goes straight into birth stories. But in a way the birth stories set up the books own introduction in a unique way. Its not as much of Ina May talking at this point but as the table of contents says right now its all birth stories. This book doesn't as much ask a question but has you question yourself about what you know about birth. It makes you question stories or experiences that you have heard about or had. I think the most important point this book is trying to make is that everybody's birth experience is different. That there is no way to know what your experience will be like weather you go to the hospital or to "The Farm". It is also trying to prove that to significantly improve your birth experience a midwife may be your best choice. To prove her point Ina May gets many happy birth stories that try to empower woman to be positive when in labor. She tries to show that having a completely natural birth with a positive attitude can give you an amazing experience. I am very convinced by this because not only does she support her point with hundreds of stories as evidence but she is also "Simply put, midwife Ina May Gaskin is the most important person in maternity care in North America, bar none." As said by Marsden Wagner, M.D., M.S., former director of woman's and children's health, World Health Organization.

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Stephen- I think that it was very smart how you started by compairing people who had one kid to those who have given birth more then once. Its interesting how people shun the 17 year old was shuned. You would think that she would get more attention and help because shes so young. Its very nice to here about Brooks son. That is a huge choice to make and to know your baby might come out with problems may very well be a good reason to get an abortion, but since hes normal it shows that there is a chance and one may be depriving a perfectly fine baby of life. I would like to here more on how brook was scared she could die. Its a bit funny and typical for the guys to mention the mood swings. What did the guys have to say about the mood swings?

Beatrice-it seems that in our culture the immediate thought is to go to the hospital as if there were something wrong. did you think to ask the mother whether she ever considered a home birth, as it seems from your story that she was fairly relaxed about the procedure. i like the way you told the story in a nostalgic way, as its a more interesting format to read rather than just informing the reader. although obviously it is procedure and routine to take the baby away it seems strange that immediately after birth the baby gets taken off you. we recently read something in class that talked about the 'sewing up.' this is because they make an incision between the vagina and the anus so that its easier for the mother to give birth. also i think they have recently gotten rid of the stirrups but woman are still more likely to be in the laying down legs up position. also- a vaccum extractor?!!