My dissertation is online and publicly available!
I've been waiting for ProQuest to put my dissertation online. In the meantime, here is a link to the manuscript, Born Free: Unassisted Childbirth in North America (PDF document). It's actually a more recent version than the one I submitted to ProQuest, since I have recently changed several typos and made a few minor corrections. I'll be periodically updateding the manuscript as I find more typos or small items that need clarification or correction. Like any published book, the dissertation is copyrighted so, obviously, no quoting passages or paraphrasing without an appropriate citation.
I would love to have detailed feedback, comments, and/or criticism on the manuscript. Feel free to email me about anything from typos to major conceptual or organizational issues. My next project is submitting a proposal to publishers, so I would especially appreciate input related to turning the academic dissertation into a book.
Happy reading!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
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30 comments:
I'm so excited to check it out!
And I just HAVE to share: I just had my second unassisted birth today!!! He was born at 3:10am. We are so excited!
Thank you so much for sharing! I'm fascinated by this subject (although I happily had an OB-assisted fantastic hospital birth experience).
I'm also writing my dissertation at the moment with a toddler at home so this is inspiration to me to get it done!
Congrats on finishing!
Thank-you for writing this Rixa! I am so excited to read it (and getting a little bit too nerdy excited about reading good quality academia. Mmmm academia)
Brilliant! I couldn't put it down (close it out?). A very well-balanced and comprehensive view. I'm glad that someone is finally putting this stuff down all in one place. There are a few little typos and consistency things I noticed, but I'm too sleepy now to go over them bit by bit. I'll get back to you on that.
Yay! I've been wanting to read this for over a year! I can't wait to get on it. Thanks for posting the link.
Thanks for sharing this! I'll get to reading it later today. I'm really excited that you put this together and are making it available to everyone.
Thanks for posting this! I'm very interested to read what you have written.
*squeeeeeeeeeee*
I'm so utterly excited you have put this up for us to read! Thank you so much, I've been hoping to read this since I first learned you were writing it!
Off to begin!
Wow! I am so excited that you have shared! Cant wait to sit down after the house is asleep and READ!
THANK YOU!
Oh, how exciting!! Thanks, Rixa!
Looking forward to reading it!
My heartfelt congratulations go out to you, Rixa. Now that it's done, I wish you happy gestating, for the next little "bun" in the oven ;-) and look forward to reading about the upcoming birth (as I wade through, and soak in, your glorious dissertation !).
x
Wow, thank you so much for sharing this with us! You've done a great job!
One thing I find interesting is the proportion of UCers that are sexual abuse survivors. It also seems that the top reasons for choosing an unassisted birth are related to fears of loss of control from assisted births and mistrust of birthing assistants; fear of loss of control and mistrust are (understandably) characteristic of abuse survivors. There certainly seems to be a link here that, IMO, merits further investigation. (From what I know of Laurie Morgan this seems to be her experience, particularly in light of her delayed dissatisfaction of the midwife assisted birth of her first daughter.)
Have you thought much about why there seems to be a disproportionate amount of UCers that are sexual abuse survivors compared to the general population?
Again, thanks for sharing... fascinating research!
Anne,
Good points. Whether there is a "disproportionate amount of UCers that are sexual abuse survivors compared to the general population" is less certain. I don't have any hard numbers about the percent of UCers who have experienced sexual abuse, so it's hard to say if it's disproportionate or not. And we know that rates are high among the general population...Difficult to quantify, but definitely worth studying.
congratulations! how wonderful, that is a great accomplishment.
This is a fantastic read!! Rixa sent it to me last month, and I spent much of Dec. sitting in front of the fireplace taking it all in. I thought perhaps it would be a dry, scientific treatis but it wasn't at all. It was really interesting! Congratulations, Rixa!! And congratulations Kathryn on your birth!!
Thank you so much for linking the world to your study. I am so excited to read it in whole. The abstract alone got me really excited. I can feel a pregnancy in my near future, and I am glad to have some fresh reading material to help me better understand UC, which intrigues and entices me so much.
And if an emergency arises that requires immediate attention?
Anonymous--read the dissertation to see how women address this, both ideologically and in real-life birthing situations.
I started reading it last night - big mistake, because I couldn't stop and I didn't get to bed until late! I'll need to find a lot of of time, soon, to reading it, but what I had time for has already provided me a lot of food for thought. Thanks so much for posting it!
Thanks for sharing, Rixa, I've read the first 100 pages, and I'm finding it absolutely fascinating! As a professional editor, I'll probably have some suggestions once I've finished :-)
Why not invite a midwife to be present but not intervene unless the need arises?
i'm about 200-something pages into your dissertation. i'm in turkey so buying books off the internet is very costly. i've learned so much. thank you for sharing.
ummSanaa,
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!
i finally finished it. my most prevalent thought was this: chapter 5 (i think it was ch5) was the crux of the whole dissertation. in it you explained the frame of reference of each group: the medical model, midwife model and UC model. doing this made it absolutely clear for me where each group's motivation came from. i believe this analysis was essential!!! in recommending your thorough dissertation, i'd probably tell the person that if they read nothing else, to read ch5.
thank you again, congrats, and continued success.
Kori,
Thanks for your input and for taking the time to read the whole thing.
Thamk you so mudh for this work. I have been struggling with this whole "how much is too much, how much is enough" in my midwifery for a long time. This will help me think it through and discuss it with my partners.
Kip
Kip,
Thanks for taking the time to read it. I'd love to hear more about the conversations this sparks with your midwifery peers and perhaps what conclusions you've come to about your own practice.
Rixa
I am presenting on Unassisted birth in less than a month, at a local conference, can I use parts of your dissertation if needed?
Please?
Mary Siever
kmsiever@gmail.com
PS always close to my heart since I have birthed my four UC
Whenever i see the post like your's i feel that there are still helpful people who share information for the help of others, it must be helpful for other's. thanx and good job.
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