Description
Book SynopsisIn No Perfect Birth: Trauma and Obstetric Care in the Rural United States, Kristin Haltinner examines the institutional and ideological forces that cause harm to women in childbirth in the rural United States. Interweaving the poignant and tragic stories of mothers with existing research on obstetric care and social theories, Haltinner points to how medical staff’s lack of time, mother’s need to navigate and traverse complex spaces, and practitioner’s reliance on well-trodden obstetric routines cause unnecessary and lasting harm for women in childbirth. Additionally, Haltinner offers suggestions towards improving current practices, incorporating case models from other countries as well as mothers’ embodied knowledge.
Trade ReviewKristin Haltinner’s book provides a salient analysis of the institutional and ideological practices that routinely traumatize birthing people in the United States. Her work not only illustrates how capitalism intersects with patriarchy, classism, and racism within medical institutions, but also, most importantly, gives us the tools we need to understand and intervene on the actions and beliefs that lead to obstetric violence. By centering women’s voices and experiences, this book provides us with discursive and tangible ways to improve care for birthing people in the U.S. This book is an urgent and timely intervention that can be used to help improve birth experiences and outcomes.
-- Alison Happel-Parkins, University of Memphis
In her detailed account of birth trauma, Haltinner underscores the structures that put mothers, and sometimes even their doctors, in systems that hurt women's bodies, minds, and souls. Focusing on rural communities, this book is grounded in a sophisticated theoretical framework that pushes us to situate birth trauma within a political, economic, and gendered social structure. A profoundly insightful examination of birth that centers women, their experiences, and voices while laying bare the impact traumatic birth leaves, this is a powerfully written and totally heartbreaking book.
-- Ryanne Pilgeram, University of Idaho
Table of ContentsChapter 1: “The Most Horrible Part:” The Trauma Imposed by Time
Chapter 2: “Worse Than the Birth:” The Trauma Imposed by Space
Chapter 3: “That’s Problematic:” The Trauma Imposed by Routine
Chapter 4: “Open Your Legs:” Time, Space, Routine and Obstetric Violence
Chapter 5: “We Perpetuate the Patriarchy:” The Trauma Imposed by Societal Knowledge
Chapter 6: “I Just Hated Him:” The Impact of Trauma on Women’s Relationships
Chapter 7: “He Was So Supportive:” Using Power and Restructuring Obstetric Care
Conclusion: Changing Knowledge
