Brought to bed : childbearing in America, 1750 to 1950 / Judith Walzer Leavitt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leavitt, Judith Walzer.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Obstetrics--United States--History--18th century.

Obstetrics.

Obstetrics--United States--History--19th century.

Obstetrics--United States--History--20th century.

Childbirth--United States--History--18th century.

Childbirth.

Childbirth--United States--History--19th century.

Childbirth--United States--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 284 pages) : illustrations (black and white)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Childbearing in America, 1750 to 1950

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1986.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Based on personal accounts by birthing women and their medical attendants, Brought to Bed reveals how childbirth has changed from colonial times to the present. Judith Walzer Leavitt's study focuses on the traditional woman-centered home-birthing practices, their replacement by male doctors, and the movement from the home to the hospital. She explains that childbearing women and their physicians gradually changed birth places because they believed the increased medicalization would make giving birth safer and more comfortable. Ironically, because of infection, infant and maternal mortality did not immediately decline. She concludes that birthing women held considerable power in determining labor and delivery events as long as childbirth remained in the home. The move to the hospital in the twentieth century gave the medical profession the upper hand. Leavitt also discusses recent events in American obstetrics that illustrate how women have attempted to retrieve some of the traditional women--and family--centered aspects of childbirth.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 "Under the Shadow of Maternity": Childbirth and Women's Lives in America

2 "Science" Enters the Birthing Room: The Impact of Physician Obstetrics

3 "Overcivilization and Maternity": Differences in Women's Childbirth Experiences

4 "Only a Woman Can Know": The Role of Gender in the Birthing Room

5 "The Greatest Blessing of This Age": Pain Relief in Obstetrics

6 Why Women Suffer So: Meddlesome Midwifery and Scrupulous Cleanliness

7 "Alone Among Strangers": Birth Moves to the Hospital

8 Decision-Making and the Process of Change

Epilogue

Notes

Chronology of Events in Childbirth History

Glossary of Medical Terms

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

I

K

L

M

O

P

S

T

U

V

Index

H

J

N

R

W

X

Z.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography: p. [219]-261 and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

9786610523696

9780190281601

019028160X

9781423736387

1423736389

9781601297211

1601297211

9781280523694

1280523697

9780198020912

0198020910

OCLC:

475955786

Publisher Number:

2027/heb04403 hdl