Book Review: Get Me Out

Book Review: Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth From the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank
By Randi Hutter Epstein, MD
W.W. Norton & Company, 2010
ISBN 978-0-393-06458-2
302 pages, hardback, $24.95
http://www.randihutterepstein.com/

Reviewed by Molly Remer, MSW, ICCE
http://talkbirth.wordpress.com

Since it shares a subtitle about the history of childbirth, I expected the new book Get Me Out to be very similar in content to the recent book Birth Day by Mark Sloan or to the book Birth by Tina Cassidy. I wondered how much more could possibly be reported about the history of childbirth. It turns out there is plenty more and I was delighted to discover that Get Me Out stands alone as a unique and interesting contribution to books of this genre.

Written by a physician and mother of four, Get Me Out focuses on some very recent elements of birth history including assisted reproductive technologies (ART), ultrasound, and freebirth, subjects not addressed in the books referenced above. Aside from familiar content about things like the Chamberlen brothers and the Twilight Sleep movement, the remainder of the text was fresh and engaging. Part one included an interesting and disturbing chapter about Marion Sims and his research and experiments with fistula repair on enslaved women. A later chapter explores Sims’ research with artificial insemination (this time with middle class white women). In fact, the latter half of the book contains an extensive historical look at artificial insemination, moving into present day history including an exploration of sperm banking and cryo-preservation of eggs.

Unique among birth history books is Epstein’s chapter on freebirth (more commonly known as “unassisted childbirth”) followed with a chapter about ultrasound including content about 4D and “novelty” ultrasounds. There is also a chapter exploring DES and its effects on reproduction.

Also different than Birth Day and Birth, is the total absence of memoir or personal reflective content. Epstein is a medical journalist and Get Me Out is written in that voice. There is a light, personal tone to the text, but nothing personal aside from occasional descriptions, observations, or quotes from interviews with sperm bank mangers (for example). I found myself feeling a little curious about her personal history of childbirth, an element freely interspersed throughout the texts of other recent birth history books.

As the author says, “…the way we give birth is a story about our deepest desires and our fundamental concerns about life, death, and sex.” Get Me Out is a fascinating tale focusing on our collective, cultural story about birth in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as dip into the story that continues being written today.

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.

Grief & Taking a Break

Well, shortly after I posted last week my life took a sad and unexpected turn. I was 14 weeks pregnant with my third baby and we found out on Friday afternoon that the baby had died. Very early Saturday morning, he was born at home. Though it was different in some ways than a full-term birth, my experience of miscarriage was very much a birth--my water broke, I had "normal" contractions for about two hours, the baby was born, we saw the tiny umbilical cord, and so forth. I was surprised to discover that some of the same feelings of empowerment were also present after a "natural home miscarriage" as with a natural home birth--I felt strong and brave and like "I did it myself!" as well as amazed at how well my body worked and knew what to do. We learned the baby was our third boy and named him Noah.

I did have what I felt like was some excessive bleeding and ended up visiting the ER for about 4 hours on Saturday morning. Luckily, it turns out that I can lose way more blood than I ever imagined possible and still be okay (my trusty body DID know what it was doing). I am physically and emotionally wiped out, however, and will as such need to be taking a break from blogging here regularly. I was already trying to minimize my posts (while keeping to the once-a-week schedule I've faithfully maintained for quite some time), but now I need to just put this blog on "hold" for a short while. I may set up some posts to post automatically while I'm away, so it doesn't become too stale (I have some book reviews already written and waiting in a file, for example).

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Molly
CfM Blogger

Articles

As always, interesting articles have come to my attention this week and I want to share some of them.

First, I just saw the cover of the September 2008 issue of Chemical & Engineering News in the letters to the editor section of Mothering Magazine. I think it is amazing! So, of course, I went looking for the accompanying article, which is available here. It is a dense and scientific read. I liked the final line in the conclusion: "Much still remains to be understood about how many of milk's natural components are synthesized and delivered, how synthesis is controlled, and the effects of the mother's diet on the final product. 'It is a remarkable fluid,' German emphasizes. 'It's extremely embarrassing how little we still know about it.'"

When people try to analyze mother's milk, I am always struck anew by the realization that no matter the hows and the whys and the chemical components, women's bodies all over the world make food for their babies day in and day out on their own and with their own inherent wisdom. She doesn't have to know how it works, or what exactly is in it. She lifts her shirt, baby nurses, and all is right with the world. And, of course, it isn't just human women who have this body wisdom, but female bodies all over the world are giving their babies species-specific milk right now--my cat is nursing her three new baby kittens in the lawnmower as I type (analyzing why she chose to give birth to them there can be the subject of another post...).

Returning to birth issues, The National Partnership Daily Women's Health Policy Report has posted an article about the Time article about repeat cesareans. Apparently this report is widely read by politicians involved in women's health policy and most of their stories are about abortion, contraception, and sex education. So, it is good to see birth and maternity care brought to their attention!

From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Building Human Capital newsroom, there was a quick article about Laborists. It says, "In response to a shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists, some hospitals are turning to a new type of physician, dubbed a laborist or OB hospitalist, to provide hospital-based obstetric services.."

Hmm. I can readily think of another professional that is more perfectly poised to provide quality maternity care!

Finally, there was an article called Freebirthing published on the Examiner.com website yesterday.

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Molly Remer
CfM Blogger