Contra Costa Times, California, November 4, 2006
Education in childbirth
Research turns up answers and questions
By Ann Tatko-Peterson
IN TWO YEARS, Tina Cassidy has become the nation's resident expert on birthing babies. The first-time author spent considerable time in hospitals, birth centers and a HypnoBirthing class. She interviewed midwives, doulas, health educators and parents. She watched births -- in homes and in hospitals, natural and cesarean, twins to triplets.
Yet when the research was done and her book was written, Cassidy found she still couldn't answer the most-asked question:
What's the best way to give birth?
Cassidy laughs as she sits near the pool at the Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley. "Not to be cute," she says, "it's really whatever way the woman feels comfortable."
"You can't advocate home birth if the woman's going to be freaked out by having the baby at home. By the same token, someone could go blindly to the hospital without really thinking about it and when they get there, their labor stalls because they're scared."
Colette's comment: This is promoting a new book. While I'd hardly call Tina Cassiday our "nation's expert" in birth, she does seem to have a sensible attitude about why the mother should be the one to choose the type of birth she wants. Disclosure: I have not read the book.
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