Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife

Each time she knelt to "catch" another wriggling baby — nearly three thousand times during her remarkable career — California midwife Peggy Vincent paid homage to the moment when pain bows to joy and the world makes way for one more. With every birth, she encounters another woman-turned-goddess: Catherine rides out her labor in a car careening down a mountain road. Sofia spends hers trying to keep her hyper doctor-father from burning down the house. Susannah gives birth so quietly that neither husband nor midwife notice until there's a baby in the room.

More than a collection of birth stories, however, Baby Catcher is a provocative account of the difficulties that midwives face in the United States. With vivid portraits of courage, perseverance, and love, this is an impassioned call to rethink technological hospital births in favor of more individualized and profound experiences in which mothers and fathers take center stage in the timeless drama of birth.

In this engaging account of her career as a midwife, Vincent describes the hilarious, sometimes frightening, events surrounding the appearance of a new human being. More than a collection of unforgettable stories, "Baby Catcher" is a clarion call for a less technological, more personalized approach to childbirth in this country.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 330-331).

Contents

PART I

~ As it was in the beginning

You Have to Lie Down

Babies, Babies, Babies

Mrs. Purdue

The Hippie Effect

PART II

~ The meditation of my heart

Painless Childbirth?

To Be or Not to Be

Only If You Can Be There

Fog

Adidas to Birkenstocks

PART III

~ The wine of astonishment

Rubber Ducky

Good News and Bad News

We Couldn't Have Done It Without Him

Huh?

Hallie's Reputation

Only What's Necessary

The Perineal Cry

PART IV

~ Not only with our lips but in our lives

Spirit Baby I

Practice What You Preach

My Little Helper

Spirit Baby II

When Mom Is a Midwife

PART V

~ Who walketh upon the wings of the wind

One More Soul

Pragmatism in Action

Sneak Attack

Uh-oh

A Friend

What Flowers Are These?

Labor's Not So Bad

Goose Abuse

Wall Art

It's Just So Interesting

Okay, Okay, Okay

Is My Mommy Happy?

PART VI

~ Devices and desires

Wrongful Life

Cut Me!

You'd Better Sit Down

PART VII

~ The measure of my days

Guardian Angel

Allah's Blessing

End of the Drought

You Can't Be Serious

I Just Forgot

Soccer Mom

Hello from Rosie

A Bitter Pill

Happy Birthday

Shift Work

Passing the Torch

~ Epilogue

The Current Situation

~ Appendices

I Pearls of Wisdom

II Home Birth Supplies

III Studies on Midwifery Safety

IV Statistics on the Economics of Midwifery

V Resources

VI Sandi's Famous Caramels