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Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Block
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $8.82
You Save: $7.18 (45%)
New (24) Used (2) from $8.82
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 173373
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0738211664
Dewey Decimal Number: 618
EAN: 9780738211664
ASIN: 0738211664
Publication Date: April 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New, never read, FREE UPGRADE to hardcover edition!New, ships in 24 hours, 5 star seller, priority shipping available, may have remainder mark.
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Product Description
A groundbreaking narrative investigation of childbirth in the age of machines, malpractice, and managed care, Pushed presents the complete picture of maternity care in America. From inside the operating room of a hospital with a 44% Cesarean rate to the living room floor of a woman who gives birth with an illegal midwife, Block exposes a system in which few women have an optimal experience. Pushed surveys the public health impact of routine labor inductions, C-sections, and epidurals, but also examines childbirth as a women’s rights issue: Do women even have the right to choose a normal birth? Is that right being upheld? A wake-up call for our times, Block’s gripping research reveals that while emergency obstetric care is essential, we are overusing medical technology at the expense of maternal and infant health.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
Another c-section casualty June 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had a completely complication-free pregnancy and planned on a natural birth. Like so many of the women detailed in this book, I ended up with a c-section because of fears of macrosomia (big baby). At my 40 week appointment, when I had not yet started dilating, the OB decided the baby was getting too big and I needed a c-section. When I protested, be brought in two colleagues and the three of them went through every possible complication for vaginal delivery of a large baby: shoulder dystosia, cerebral palsy, even stillbirth (yes, they sat there and told me if I didn't get a c-section it wouldn't be there fault if I had a stillbirth). I felt completely bullied and powerless and had the c-section. My daughter was a health 9 lb 12 oz, but I had terrible problems recovery from surgery, awful breastfeeding problems (my milk took over a week to come in), and postpartum depression that made bonding with my baby and, well, everything in life, difficulty. I still believe I could have had a vaginal birth. And now I'll likely never be able to have a VBAC, since so few hospitals and doctors allow them, unless I go the home birth route. This book showed me I was not alone. And while I don't have conclusive statistics, I can say that among my two sisters-in-law and three friends who were pregnant when I was, all six of us -- yes, all six -- had c-sections either for macrosomia or "failure to progress." And these were all healthy, normal pregnancies. Truly scary.
Never mind "What to Expect"--read this first June 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sixteen years after my own "failure to progress" emergency C-section, Jennifer Block brought it all back in minutes. Intervention leading to intervention was the story of my first son's birth. My second positive pregnancy test jumped straight from joy into abject fear. Fear is a good motivator sometimes--our last two were born at home with two certified (and illegal at the time) midwives. Their beginnings aren't muddled in with my own trauma. The sad fact is, it's all thought of as so "normal" that most women today don't know what they've lost.
This book should be mandatory reading-- I agree with the previous reviewer--America needs a revolution in it's birth practices. I plan on helping start it by giving this book to every woman I know thinking about becoming pregnant. Thanks to Jennifer for all the hours spent researching this material. It is sorely needed.
Everyone should read this book! June 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In the past week I've met 2 women whose insurance companies have refused to pay for a homebirth. I think it's pathetic that someone can walk in and ask for a $6000 c-section while another woman can't give natural birth with a midwife in her home for $1500. This book gives great background information on birth in our society yesterday and today. It's everything you wanted to know after watching 'the business of being born'. Please read it!
Insightful and horrifying at the same time June 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was amazed to read how obstetrics are handled in the USA (as an American woman who's had two children in American hospitals). I have been fortunate. Many other women are not. It is critical to read this book and be informed about your obstetric care if you are or intend to become pregnant (or someone you love is pregnant).
excellent book! June 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My only constructive criticism is that I wish the book had been written with some sort of working outline and/or organized better. Otherwise it is a page turner and a must read for all who care about childbirth in the US.
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