Pregnancy, childbirth and the newborn: the complete guide.

摘要

Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn: The Complete Guide, an award-winning book, began as a grassroots effort, a childbirth class manual. The year was 1976, an exciting time in the young childbirth movement as women recorded in words and images alternatives to medicalized childbirth and critically analyzed hospital birth practices. Since that time medicalization has increased: in 1970 the cesarean rate in the United States was 5 percent; in 2008 the rate was 32.3 percent. Despite the statistics, the authors state that their book "promotes the fundamental truth that many aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period remain unchanged" (xi) (emphasis added).These words provide the bedrock that supports the book as a whole.