Baby Catcher

She never tired of the miracle. Each time she knelt to "catch" another baby, beloved California mid-wife Peggy Vincent paid homage to the moment when pain bows to joy, one person becomes two, woman turns to goddess, and the world moves aside to make room for one more soul. Trained as a nurse at Duke University in the early 1960s, Vincent begins working in the delivery room of a local hospital in the San Francisco Bay area. Even after establishing an alternative birth center at the hospital, however, she is still frustrated with her lack of autonomy. Too often she witnesses births changing from normal to high risk because of routine obstetrical interventions. Vincent then devotes herself to creating unique birth experiences for her clients and their families. She becomes a licensed midwife, opens her own practice, and delivers nearly three thousand babies during her remarkable career. With every birth comes an unforgettable story. Each time Vincent "catches" a wet and wriggling baby, she encounters another memorable woman busy negotiating her unique path through the labyrinth of childbirth. Meet Catherine as she rides out her labor in a car careening down a mountain road, her husband clueless at the wheel. Megan delivers on a leaky sailboat during the storm of the decade. Susannah gives birth so quietly and effortlessly, neither husband nor midwife notice much of anything until they see a baby lying on the bed, and Sofia spends her labor trying to keep her hyper doctor-father from burning down the house. More than just a collection of birth stories, Baby Catcher is a provocative, moving, and highly personal account of the ongoing difficulties midwives face in the United States. With vivid portraits of courage, perseverance, and love, this is a passionate call to rethink today's technological hospital births in favor of a more individualized and profound experience in which mothers and fathers take the stage in the timeless drama of birth and renewal.

Peggy Vincent became a licensed midwife specializing in home births in 1980, after fifteen years as a delivery room nurse, ten years as a natural childbirth teacher, and three years as the director of the first alternative birth center in the East Bay. Five years later, she became the first completely independent nurse midwife to be granted hospital privileges in the Berkeley area. Vincent lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and teenage son. Visit her online at BabyCatcher.net.

PART I ~ As it was in the beginningYou Have to Lie Down Babies, Babies, Babies Mrs. Purdue The Hippie Effect PART II ~ The meditation of my heartPainless Childbirth? To Be or Not to Be Only If You Can Be There Fog Adidas to Birkenstocks PART III ~ The wine of astonishmentRubber Ducky Good News and Bad News We Couldn't Have Done It Without Him Huh? Hallie's Reputation Only What's Necessary The Perineal Cry PART IV ~ Not only with our lips but in our lives Spirit Baby I Practice What You Preach My Little Helper Spirit Baby II When Mom Is a Midwife PART V ~ Who walketh upon the wings of the windOne More Soul Pragmatism in Action Sneak Attack Uh-oh A Friend What Flowers Are These? Labor's Not So Bad Goose Abuse Wall Art It's Just So Interesting Okay, Okay, Okay Is My Mommy Happy? PART VI ~ Devices and desiresWrongful Life Cut Me! You'd Better Sit Down PART VII ~ The measure of my daysGuardian Angel Allah's Blessing End of the Drought You Can't Be Serious I Just Forgot Soccer Mom Hello from Rosie A Bitter Pill Happy Birthday Shift Work Passing the Torch ~ EpilogueThe Current Situation ~ AppendicesI Pearls of Wisdom II Home Birth Supplies III Studies on Midwifery Safety IV Statistics on the Economics of Midwifery V Resources VI Sandi's Famous Caramels