 Rediscovering
birth
Sheila Kitzinger
Little, Brown, £18.99
Definitely not a handbook to steer you through pregnancy and labour,
this is instead an absolutely fascinating international exploration of
birth.
Sheila Kitzinger obviously comes with a ‘history’ – she has
strongly-held opinions on the right of women to choose home birth if
they are not at high risk in pregnancy for example.
This book draws on everything she has learned in her work around
the world on the subject of birth and packs in information on the
different ways birth is managed around the world.
Where else could you learn that the USA has 34,000 obstetricians
and 9,000 midwives, and the UK has 25,000 midwives and 3,000
obstetricians, a bare fact revealing the different ways pregnancy and
birth are managed in these two developed countries?
But the most interesting aspect of the book is the research Sheila
has carried out over the decades in many different countries, many of
them still developing, and how their styles contrast with ours.
In rural Sicily, each birth is attended by a number of godmothers (comare)
with one to look after the baby at birth, one to look after the
booties, one to look after the babyclothes, etc. These women have to
dress the baby in these garments and are responsible for washing them
too!
In Egypt women are fed eggs in labour and after the birth to
increase the body heat and in Mexico at least two women, chosen by the
mum-to-be, attend labour, one called "she who raises her up"
who supports the woman and "one who grabs up" who crouches
to catch the baby.
The contrast in different styles of birth management is never
hammered home in a way that makes you think only one method can be
right, but rather provides an engaging series of narratives that will
make you want to come back again and again to learn more, months and
years after having your own child.
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