Pleasing Birth

Raymond De Vries is Professor of Sociology at St. Olaf College and Visiting Professor at the Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota. He is the author or editor of seven previous books, including, Birth by Design: Pregnancy, Maternity Care, and Midwifery in North America and Europe.

"In this detailed and thoughtful study, De Vries does much more than introduce us to the peculiar maternity care system of the Netherlands; he forces us to reexamine our assumptions about the way health care systems are organized, and offers new, and revolutionary, ways to think about health care reform. This is sociological analysis at its best."-Charles L. Bosk, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania "A Pleasing Birth provides the most comprehensive look yet into the history, the philosophy, the social attitudes, the structures, and the institutions that underlie the Dutch maternity care system. Raymond De Vries explains why and how health policymakers in the Netherlands continue to put such importance on midwifery, home birth, and everything needed to support them."-Ina May Gaskin, author of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery "De Vries provides the definitive work on the Dutch obstetrical system, showing how this system not only reflects strong cultural values, but also has become entirely evidence-based, pointing the way toward better birth for all nations. A Pleasing Birth is essential reading for social scientists, birth professionals, birth activists, and educated consumers-a masterpiece of insight!"-Robbie Davis-Floyd, Ph.D., author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage "De Vries goes beyond why birth is pleasing in the Netherlands to larger questions about the role of maternity care in the health care system, how the political system influences health care, who pays for and who profits from the provision of health care, and the effects of culture."-Judith Rooks, author of Midwifery and Childbirth in America "[R]eaders from across the spectrum of participants in childbirth are urged to read this critical and important contribution to the literature, bearing witness to women's physiological capacity to give birth without assistance, to experience 'a pleasing birth.'"-Birth "This is a rewarding book to read."-Sociological Research Online "[DeVries'] book is a close examination of the attitudes, statistics, traditions of resisting professional interference, politics, and legislation of healthcare and much more, and it gives the reader a full understanding of The Netherlands' remarkable achievements in the realm of healthy pregnancy and birth."-Midwifery Today "The insights that [DeVries] brings are fascinating... [I]t provides a greater understanding for those who wish to influence and change health policy."-Sociology of Health and Illness

• PrefacePart I. Birth Care/Health Care1. Dutch Birth and the Shape of Health Care2. Uniek, bewonderd en verguisd (Unique, admired and reviled)Part II. Forms3. Structuring Care4. The Politics of CarePart III. Forming5. Doe maar gewoon (Just act normally): Dutch Culture/Dutch Birth6. Two Sciences or No Science? Obstetric Research in the NetherlandsPart IV. Re-Forming7. Is All This Suffering Still Necessary? Pressure to Change the Dutch Way of Birth8. Re-forming Health Care: Culture and Health PolicyGlossaryReferencesIndex