History of maternal care and childbirth in the U.S.

March 18, 2018 6:57 PM

I'm looking for books about the history of maternal care and childbirth in the United States. How did invasive medical interventions become routine procedure? What precipitated the shift (at least in California, and then only in some hospitals) away from unnecessary medical intervention? How are these dynamics connected to views of religion, feminism, economics, etc?

The ideal recommendation would present a balanced view of the history (if possible!), be evidence-based, accessible for a layperson, and cite studies by multiple professionals in their respective fields.

I found a couple of studies that piqued my interest:
First Do No Harm: Interventions During Childbirth
Healthy Birth Practice #4...
Women's position for giving birth without epidural anaestesia
Safe, Healthy Birth: What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know

...it would be great to read a book that pulls the history together into a complete picture.

Book-wise, so far I've found these:
Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America
Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born
Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth From the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank

Any more recommendations?

Thanks, AskMetaFilter!

posted by onecircleaday to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

Born In The USA
posted by twoplussix at 7:50 PM on March 18, 2018

This one is great: For Her Own Good -- an early book by Barbara Ehrenreich co-authored with Deirdre English.
posted by velveeta underground at 8:04 PM on March 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

This might not be meaty enough for you, but here's a good basic rundown on the history of Twilight Sleep in America. Modern birth practices can still be largely understood as reactions to the generation of women who had twilight sleep and the natural birth movement particularly arises directly in response to that.

Also, it's fiction, but Elissa Albert's After Birth has a fascinating section that details the history of the drug DES, which was prescribed to prevent miscarriage and caused reproductive cancers in several generations of women.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:45 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Deliver Me from Pain: Anesthesia and Birth in America by Jaqueline L. Wolf

It may also be helpful for you to be familiar with the Midwifery Model of Care, as some principles contained therein address some of the current standards in medicalization and demedicalization of birth. While not a book resource, the American College of Nurse Midwives have available many informative position statements - on everything from “Appropriate Use of Technology in Childbirth” to “Induction of Labor” to “Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Delivery” - and much more.
posted by sutureselves at 9:09 PM on March 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

There’s a whole lot of shaky science in this area. A book like Push Back may help you recognize claims in need of substantiation.
posted by lakeroon at 5:45 AM on March 19, 2018

A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich reproduces and analyzes Martha Ballard's journal with substantial essays on just about everything mentioned including the beginning of male doctors' involvement in childbirth at the beginning of the 19th century.
posted by Botanizer at 6:26 AM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

The American Way of Birth by Jessica Mitford.
posted by JanetLand at 7:20 AM on March 19, 2018

it's good to remember that modern gynecology was founded on non-consensual, un-anesthetized invasive surgeries performed on black women who were considered the property of the man known as 'the Father of Modern Gynecology'

there's a book specifically in relation to this called Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology
posted by runt at 7:33 AM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don't know of specific books, but I do know about the shift in care. California has definitely been a leader in this area. Basically, people started looking at the outcomes and realizing that more moms and babies were either dying or having other poor outcomes, they did some studies into why, and they started shifting practices of care to prevent the bad outcomes. (I know the general idea is that everyone in medicine just wants to intervene as much as possible and/or make a ton of money, but there are actually a lot of very passionate, intelligent people working to make care better! And willing to admit where medicine was wrong! This is also an area of medicine that has much improved since more women, i.e., the people getting this care, have gone into it, such as the elimination of episiotomy and the "husband stitch" as a standard of care.) For California specifically (and their ideas have tricked out to the rest of us), you want to research the California Maternity Quality Care Collaborative. Dr. Elliott Main, one of their leaders, is a true hero if I've heard of one. I've heard several professional presentations on their work and history but don't know of any books about it. Looks like their site has some info, however, as well as links to lots of research, journal articles, etc.
posted by john_snow at 7:34 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @John Snow: Yes! I saw the website for the CMQCC. I first read about their work on best practices and quick response specific to the preeclampsia toolkit in this Vox article. Learning about their organization and their work inspired my question.

I know the general idea is that everyone in medicine just wants to intervene as much as possible and/or make a ton of money, but there are actually a lot of very passionate, intelligent people working to make care better! And willing to admit where medicine was wrong! This is also an area of medicine that has much improved since more women . . .have gone into it . . .

Agreed; I'm really curious as to where this idea came from (and yet I've heard so many horror stories about childbirth that I've internalized the idea myself, and I come from a family of incredibly compassionate nurses). Hence my reason for asking the question - I'm so curious about the history that I want to know the real facts. Not anecdata. (There's enough of that out there - especially when you're pregnant!).
posted by onecircleaday at 8:29 AM on March 19, 2018

Starting in the 1960s an increasing number of American women chose to have home births. I had one in 1975. Obstetric care has changed a lot since then. I believe that my generation of feminist women who didn't want to be told how to give birth by male doctors, men who generally considered us inferior beings incapable of making intelligent decisions about our own bodies, had an impact on obstetrics.

Apparently the percentage of home or birth center births is continuing to grow, here are some stats.

I remember reading that Barbara Ehrenreich book mentioned above years ago when it came out. The other obvious book is Our Bodies Ourselves. Spiritual Midwifery was another one that had a big impact.
posted by mareli at 5:03 PM on March 19, 2018