Hw # 39

Vincent, Peggy. Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife. New York: Scribner, 2002. Print.

1)

- detailed explanations of various complications that can occur during birth

- not every birth is the same: many stories to prove this

- gives women independence and in many mothers even thought they could do it on their own; which can be very dangerous

- extreme cases the baby can die; from her own to one of her patients

- the idea of a spirit baby

- teenagers tend to have difficult labors, but usually go very fast.

- Sometimes the women who come to midwifery aren't actually pregnant ( One case of a women stomach full of tumors not a baby:( )

2) Not much of a new major insight but again birth stories showing the reader that every pregnancy is not the same. The major insight in 2 of the chapters in the second 100 pages is letting readers & future mothers know that the death of baby can occur, not that it means one should expect for the worse but it can happen. That not even a midwife or hospital can help it. It also shows the hurt a mother goes through when losing baby, for example author tells of her loss but before she did, all she thought about was how could it have happen when she was too "old" to have a normal pregnancy. But the minute Peggy lost the baby she mourned child, wishing the baby had been born. For me, it showed me that the trauma a mother faces after losing baby can be very hard on them and tends to never go away no matter how years go by.

3) First aspect that should be addressed is the agony of mother has when losing her baby and how this even occurs. Which author explains using her own experience to using one of her patients. Her twelve year old son helped her in a way that made it seem losing a baby was magical, "Don't you know about Spirit Babies?..... Well Mom, here's how it is. See I was one myself, so that must be how I know. Anyway, every woman has a circle of babies that goes around and around above her head, and those are all the possible babies she could have in her whole life.Every month one of those babies is first in line. If she gets pregnant, ten that's the baby that;s born... now listen, Mom because here's the really cool part. It goes back into the circle, but it becomes a spirit baby, and all the other babies give it cuts. Each month it's always first in line. Isn't that great?" - pg. 126

4)http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/medicalresources_teenpregnancy.html

"A teenage mother is at greater risk than women over age 20 for pregnancy complications, such as premature labor, anemia and high blood pressure (7). These risks are even greater for teens who are under 15 years old (7)." This proves true what this midwife says about teenage mothers; they give birth more quickly but most have difficult labors due to them having more risks. She retells a couple of teen pregnancies and even mothers who are still children when giving birth. Her evidence I believe is factual because one can't make up such a story and make it seem so realistic.