Open Season: A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and Vbac in the 90s

by Nancy Wainer Cohen

Book Overview

For counselor Nancy Wainer Cohen, this book is the sibling to Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention and Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (Bergin & Garvey, 1983) her critically-acclaimed expose on America's growing reliance on cesarean sections. Open Season provides fresh insights and new information on the subject, offering guidance to childbearing couples, educators, health professionals, and scholars who value the natural path of childbirth...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0897892720
• ISBN13: 9780897892728
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 438 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Oh my god!

I didn't even have a cesarean and still this book made me laugh, cry and shake with rage. If I have another baby I will require my midwife, doula or whatever to read this book! The first question on my list of midwife interview questions is "Have you read Open Season?" Yes, Nancy is angry, and I think it is completely justified. This book made me realize that everything I had suspected about American childbirth was true, and that a lot of the horror stories such as women being tied to the bed are still happening today.

Very Thoughtful

I know Nancy, and this is an example of how seriously she takes her support of women through the birthing process. She is wise, bright, clever, strong, and tells the truth, just as this book does. She will give you that same support if you are one of the lucky people she "midwives" through labor, delivery, and the life that comes after.

Wonderful Book, Wonderful Woman

Nancy Wainer Cohen is THE pioneer of VBAC in the United States. Thanks to her activism in this area, Once a c-section, always a c-section no longer applies.This book is a marvelous collection of thoughts, insights, experiences, and tools for helping women avoid cesarean, either primary or secondary, and is well worth the reading.

C-sections Rise to 22 percent in the States

In the May, 2001 issue of "Parent" magazine, an article states that the c-section rate has risen to 22 percent. Why do ob's prefer to do sections? This is an alarming rate that cannot be ignored. This book helped me. I had a cesarean my first birth and this book helped give me courage to birth my next 3 children as VBAC's in my home, along with a good midwife. I've met the author when she visited our city on a speaking engagement and she is the salt of the earth. Although she may come across angry at times, she comes from her heart. AND for gosh sakes...these women are being cut up and having their God given rights stripped from them! By the current statistics, we still have a problem here people!! I had hoped this book would be out of date by now, but in reference again to the May article, not much has changed. Read the book. Be informed.