1. Women and society / Caroline Squire -- 2. Women and sex / Sandy Nelson -- 3. Women, poverty and childbirth / Caroline Squire -- 4. The family / Valentine Dunn-Toroosian -- 5. 'Race', ethnicity, culture and childbirth / Caroline Squire and Dave Sookhoo -- 6. Asylum seeking and refugee women / Caroline Squire -- 7. Domestic violence in pregnancy / Caroline Squire and Sally Cottrell -- 8. Female genital mutilation / Comfort Momoh -- 9. Transition to motherhood / Nicola Winson -- 10. Maternal-infant attachment -- 11. The medicalisation of childbirth / Dr. Alys Einion -- 12. The socialisation of student midwives : rewriting the landscape / Dr. Alys Einion -- 13. Social support and childbirth / Christine McCourt -- 14. Unhappiness after childbirth / Christine Grabowska -- 15. Childbirth and sexual abuse during childhood / Caroline Squire -- 16. Teenage motherhood / Louise Hunter -- 17. Women in prison / Julie Jones -- 18. Assisted conception : threat or opportunity? / Marilyn Crawshaw -- 19. Fetal surveillance / Christine Grabowska -- 20. Breastfeeding : a natural phenomenon or a cultural construct? / Cathryn Britton -- 21. Experiencing disability / Harriet Clarke
Summary
No woman has an "uneventful pregnancy"--A phrase which is commonly heard in western medical birth settings in the UK. Each woman births her child within a social context of her own. Midwives and other health care professionals need to have a deep understanding of the various lives childbearing women live in order to support them insightfully and practise in a nuanced manner
