40 Insights from part 3

Hey Peggy Vincent, thanks for writing Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a midwife. Your main argument which compared the differences between a doctor and midwife made me rethink birth and pregnancy and how I will pursue my birth when the time comes.

Well, in the last third of the book you focused on the do's and don't of being a midwife which connected back to the first 2/3rd's of the book. But let me be more specific.

1. Why didn't you have personal limitations on the people you would give home births too? What about your beliefs made your boundaries so broad? Page 220

2. What about being a midwife affects the decision for insurance not to cover you? page 233

3. When assisting in a hospital birth why aren't you allowed to give/ say your opinion to the mother in labor? What about having a midwife license changes the privileges you have in the hospital? If you good go back on repeat any hospital birth you had a part in which one would you change? page 244

"But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?" You answer,

Well, lets be clear your text sought to provide historical analysis of how midwifery has grown over the years, and policy analysis by explaing all the privileges midwives have gained since they first started their practice. From the perspective of a midwife who struggled to gain the respect from not only your peers but from respected doctors you have done a great job portraying your beautiful journey as a midwife. Given that aim, and your book, the best advice I would give for a 2nd edition of the text would be, to describe experiences were you went against the hospitals authority and it resulted in a better ending then if everyone would have followed hospital protocol. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I appreciate the immense amount of labor you dedicated to this important issue and particularly for making me think about the struggles midwifes had to go through in order to gain all the respect they have now and what it truly means to be a midwife emotionally and physically. In fact, I'm likely to do more research on the privileges midwifes are allowed due to the stories you recapped in your book.

The author replies, "Thanks! Talking to you gives me hope about our future as a society!"