A Midwife's Story

I found this book. A Midwife's Story, at a Friends of the Library book sale where I happily shoved it into my bag on bag day. I love to read anything about giving birth and nursing and I am also interested in the Amish as I live near a large population of them. The book takes place in the 1970s and has apparently been republished. My copy that I read was a Bok Club Edition from 1986. This is the review I put up on Amazon after reading this delightful book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A fabulous yet touching story of a woman's desire and willingness to become a midwife during a time in our history that midwifery was looked down on, but she persevered. The most amazing thing I found was midway through the book when the midwife herself miscarries a child and her reaction to this loss of a child she never even expected to have was touching.


As a nurse myself that loved labor and delivery the most as a student, I found the stories realistic, especially the comparison to a hospital birth intertwined with a home birth story from the day before. I felt almost every pang she did for the hospitalized mother as that was mostly my story of giving birth, while what I really wanted was what she had with her home deliveries.

Her love of her Amish families, since as a midwife she ministered to more than just the mother and baby, was touching and we got a significant look into the life of the Amish. I found this BCE copy at a sale and was so glad I stuffed it into my bag as this one kept me up way past my bedtime reading as it was so interesting. If you love stories of nurses, babies, midwives or reading about the Amish you should enjoy this book.