Late one night in a busy St. Paul hospital, a nurse midwife drags Hannah Larson out from behind her reception desk to assist with a birth. When Hannah witnesses that baby tumble into the world, her secure, conventional life is upended by a fierce desire to deliver babies. So begins Hannah’s journey away from her comfort zone. In a midwifery apprenticeship in New Mexico, she befriends a male midwife, defends a teenage mom, and learns to trust women’s bodies, then moves back to Minnesota to start her own illicit birth practice.
Hannah’s need to stay safe proves both an asset and a liability: homebirth isn’t legal in Minnesota in the 1990’s. To deliver healthy babies, Hannah risks jail time, her community’s respect, and her career. The key to unlocking her fear rests in one birth---her own.
Hannah, Delivered tells the story of how inexplicable passion, buried strength, and professional skill deliver one woman from fear into a rich and risk-filled life.
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Birth!!! The beautiful process of bringing into this world those that most bring us joy, our little children.
It isn't always something easy, we have all heard of horrible stories, but in general, birth is beautiful, and I have always been fascinated with the world of midwifery. I have so much respect for these women, from old fashioned to the more modern midwives.
When I agreed to review Hannah, Delivered by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, I knew it was a book that peeked my interest, but I had no idea just how much I would love this book.
The minute I started reading, it became all I wanted to do, I didn't want to put it down and I carried it with me everywhere I went.
The story follows Hannah, who works at a desk office in a hospital, and one night has to help the midwife on call. She is thrown into a situation that she never expected and had no idea how to deal with, but one experience that dramatically changes her life and impacts her tremendously.
From that moment on, Hannah decides to become a midwife and heads off to Midwife school in New Mexico. When she returns home, she is faced with having to practice midwifery in a State that considers home birth midwifery illegal.
When I say that I couldn't put this down, I mean it, truly. I was so caught up in the book that I read through to the very last page before even realizing that was it, that there was no more.
This book touches on all the aspects of birth, the joyful, the good and sometimes the political and not so good side. Either way, you can't read it and come away unchanged.
Check out Elizabeth Jarrett Andrews website for more info. And if you wish to read Hannah, Delivered for yourself, be sure to get your own copy on Amazon.
I was sent the book for review, but all opinions and views are my own.
This sounds good, Sandra. Have you read "The Midwife of Hope River"? I'm sure you'd love that one!
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