The Birth House

Have you ever read a book and had it represented by a color? Every time I opened the book and dove into Scots Bay I was enveloped by a salmon-orange color. That is the over all feeling of the book for me.

As a girl that has just given birth to her first child it was so fascinating to read about what women went through circa 1917. I have watched many (many, many) episodes of a Baby Story, Bringing Home Baby, Birth Day, etc. and I am guilty at rolling my eyes at the couples that opt for a home water birth and such. I believe that we are so fortunate to have modern medical technology and we should take advantage of it. More power to the women that choose to have natural births, but please don't feel like you need to tell me about it. Give yourself a gold star and move on with your life. But I digress ::clears throat::

I cannot imagine my options being a home birth or a birth that included being put completely under with horrible drugs and then not remembering a thing. To think that my husband could have more say over whether or not I have another baby is proposterous. These women are not allowed birth control and many of them nurse for as long as they can - just to keep from getting pregnant again (which we know now doesn't always work). My heart broke for them.

The book was like a pop up book for me. Every time I opened it I was able to look down on a small Canadian village through the eyes of a young midwife. It was fascinating to read that Preeclampsia was referred to as "the stranger's face" because women were so swollen that they were hardly recognizable. To read about premature babies not standing a chance makes me realize how fortunate we are. Women can choose to have their baby at home, at a birthing center, hospital, naturally, epidural, scheduled c-section and... if God forbid something should go wrong there's a good chance that modern medicine can save those little souls. All eye-rolling aside, we are truly lucky to live in a society with options... and this book is a great reminder of that.