Inside Look: “Babies Are Not Pizzas” by Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN.
Book Review:
Length: Medium - pretty quick read
Topics: Labor, Hospital Hierarchy, Homebirth, Autobiography
Current Status: Available
Can I just start out by saying, Rebbeca Dekker is a gift to the birthing world. She is the owner of Evidence Based Birth, a research based website that offers phenomenal resources for parents and professionals on a huge variety of birth-related topics. To the point that, when I need to look further into a topic, I always start with EBB. And so do many other birthworkers that I know.
This book is her story. While it is filled with good information about giving birth, it isn’t something I would recommend someone read when trying to learn what to put on their birth plan. Her birth stories are wonderful and detailed, and she does a fantastic job describing consent, but for the most part it is a story of how EBB came to be.
One unique aspect of this book that I was pleasantly surprised by was her focus on NOT vilifying birth workers that do not follow evidence based practices. She explains the hierarchy system in hospitals and the risks these practitioners would face if they deviate from unwritten hospital rules, despite many of these rules being based in tradition and not science. I absolutely loved this and I learned a lot about the internal structure of the hospital hierarchy.
The goal of my practice is to build an informed and supportive birth team, from the birther, to the practitioner, to the birth photographer. I want my families to feel relaxed in their birthers, secure in their knowledge and their support. Unforchunately, this doesn’t always happen, and this section of the book opened my eyes as to why. I have long understood that most of these practitioners aren’t bad people, but I failed to fully grasp their motives for refusing evidence based practices.
On the whole, I absolutely loved this book. If you are planning to become pregnant, are already pregnant, or wish to support a pregnant person this book is an awesome read.
As always, thanks for reading and God Bless!