Synopses & Reviews
For childbirth activist and birth counselor Nancy Wainer Cohen, this book is the "sibling" to Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention &Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (Bergin &Garvey 1983) her critically-acclaimed expose on America's growing reliance on cesarean sections. Open Season provides fresh insights and new information on the subject, offering guidance to childbearing couples, educators, health professionals and scholars who value the natural path of childbirth. Readers will find this book timely, informative, funny irreverent, and extremely readable. Cohen's intimate writing style presents a compendium of knowledge on childbirth in the fashion of a "personal letter". Her aim: to lower America's shockingly high cesarean section rate, to increase the number of VBACs, and most importantly, to re-awaken women to the positive nature of pregnancy and childbirth. To help the reader gain a full understanding of the disparity between what childbirth has been turned into vs. what it truly is, Cohen not only discusses the most obvious violation--cesarean section--but also shares her knowledge about other unnecessary interventions, such as fetal monitoring, intravenous feeding, and drug administration. Happily, the reality of hospital birth is contrasted to the beauty of natural childbirth. Despite its critical look at the medical establishment, Open Season is a hopeful book. It is valuable to the general reader because it is informative and enlightening, and indispensable to women because it instills confidence in their ability to birth naturally, and reminds them that birth is a positive, empowering experience.
Review
Just as Immaculate Deception was the expose of birth in the 70s, and Silent Knife in the 80s, Open Season will be the wake-up call and rallying point for women in the 90s . . . Women pregnant for the first time, experienced mothers, childbirth educators, midwives, nurses and doctors--no one can read this book and remain the same. Thank goodness!Rahima Baldwin Author of Special Delivery and Founder of Informed Homebirth
Review
"Just as Immaculate Deception was the expose of birth in the 70s, and Silent Knife in the 80s, Open Season will be the wake-up call and rallying point for women in the 90s . . . Women pregnant for the first time, experienced mothers, childbirth educators, midwives, nurses and doctors--no one can read this book and remain the same. Thank goodness!" - Rahima Baldwin Author of Special Delivery and Founder of Informed Homebirth
Review
After Silent Knife, after my own two VBACs, after years of spearheading the Canadian VBAC movement, I honestly thought I had no more tears to shed over cesarean section and VBAC. Nancy, you've done it again. With Open Season, you have helped me discover new depths and soar to new heights. Don't ever stop writing!Caroline Sufrin Disler Founder and Director, VBAC/AVAC Canada and Cesarean Birth Committee, Ontario Ministry of Health
Synopsis
"Obstetricians would be wise to read this book before their patients get their hands on it. The rate of unnecesary cesarean sections would be significantly reduced if Open Season were required reading for everyone taking childbirth education classes. Nancy Cohen's witty handling of a very serious subject may well be a turning point in American obstetric care." Doris Haire, Chair Committe on Maternal &Child Health Former Chair, National Women's Health Network
Synopsis
Child Health Former Chair, National Women's Health Network
Synopsis
"Nancy Cohen's witty handling of a very serious subject may well be a turning point in American obsteric care." Doris Haire, Chair Committee on Maternal &Child Health Former Chair, National Women's Health Network
Synopsis
For counselor Nancy Wainer Cohen, this book is the sibling to
Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention and Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (Bergin & Garvey, 1983) her critically-acclaimed expose on America's growing reliance on cesarean sections.
Open Season provides fresh insights and new information on the subject, offering guidance to childbearing couples, educators, health professionals, and scholars who value the natural path of childbirth.
Readers will find this book timely, informative, shocking, irreverent, and extremely readable. Cohen's intimate writing style presents a compendium of knowledge on childbirth in the fashion of a personal letter. Her aim is to lower America's alarming reliance on cesarean section, which is currently at 25 percent of all births, and to return the responsibility for childbirth to women by encouraging them to choose the kind of birthing experience they wish to have. In addition to cesarean section, Cohen discusses many other generally unnecessary interventions performed on women during pregnancy and childbirth--such as fetal monitoring and routinized hospital procedures.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [401]-402) and index.
About the Author
NANCY WAINER COHEN founded CSEC, Inc., the first and largest cesarean prevention organization in the country, in 1973. Since 1972, she has counseled thousands of women in the areas of cesarean prevention and "VBAC" ("vaginal birth after cesarean"--an acronym she coined). She continues individual counseling and also speaks throughout the country to pregnant women, childbirth educators, midwives, health professionals, and consumers. Ms. Wainer Cohen is the co-author of Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention and Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (Bergin &Garvey, 1983).
Table of Contents
Introduction
Hello Again!
The Cutting Edge
Open Season?
Caught, Red-Handed!: The Status of Cesarean Section in the United States, Revisited
Voices Lowered
Birthcrap! Interfearences and Interveintions, Once More
My Aching Feet
Bless the Beasts
Divine Nonintervention
Hospitals: Cesarean Baby Factories
"The Tears are the Healing"
Part I Dying/Birthing
Part II Grieving
Part III Healing
Learning as We Live! Childbirth Classes in the 90s
Birth!
Part I Beliefs!
Part II Spirit!
Part III Labor!
Part IV Baby!
Not for VBACs Only
Voices Raised!: Starfish
Open Season!
Postnote
Appendixes
Index