Hello Forum Members -
I'm a scholar (among other hats I wear) who is wondering if anyone can point me to a source that summarizes contemporary non-medicalized thinking about basic prenatal care.

I've got a number of sources that discuss non-medicalized childbirth (including, of course, Henci Goer's work), but many of the books/articles/chapters I've found focus on the birth (home birth vs. hospital, fetal monitoring, epidurals, episiotomies, c-sections, VBACs, etc.). I'm a staunch advocate for normal birth, but the paper I'm working on right now is more focused on prenatal care. I'd like to talk about issues like weight gain and nutrition, excercise, sexuality, and alcohol consumption. My own experience (a physician-attended c-section for my first birth when I was 25 and a VBAC when I was 35 - how's that for high risk?- attended by a DEM in my home) suggests that a normal birth advocate is likely to give different advice from an obstetrician on all of these issues.

I've been doing some web research and I can piece together relevant information, but it would be helpful if I could refer to and reference published sources.

I sure would appreciate any advice! Kim By: Kim

A superb book for pregnant women that covers prenatal care is The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence. The authors, Judith Lothian and Charlotte DeVries, have a blog you may want to visit. Another excellent soup-to-nuts book is Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn by Simkin, Whalley, and Keppler. And if you want something scholarly on the failures of prenatal care as currently practiced, I recommend Dr. Thomas Strong's Expecting Trouble.

-- Henci By: Henci Goer

I would also recommend looking into the Centering Pregnancy model of prenatal care, in which women receive their care in a group setting that emphasizes empowerment. There is interesting stuff coming out in the literature about how this approach decreases the risk of preterm labor, low birthweight babies, etc. There is going to be a presentation on Centering at the upcoming Lamaze Annual Conference in Boston. There is also some good info on their web site.

Best,
Amy By: Amy Romano