Latest Reviews

If you’re pregnant or planning to be, read this book! Dr. Kerr’s wise embrace of nature and technology demonstrates that the best births have the right mix of midwifery and medicine.

--Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, creators of the film The Business of Being Born

“Homebirth in the Hospital is a wonderful breath of fresh air! Dr. Kerr’s balanced approach to childbirth is inspiring and very helpful. I highly recommend this book."

--Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom (Bantam, 2005), The Wisdom of Menopause (Bantam, revised 2006), and Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom (Bantam, revised 2006)

Dr. Stacey Kerr's wonderful book of birth stories shows how the midwifery model of care can be provided within a hospital setting. I hope that Homebirth in the Hospital reaches a wide audience of parents-to-be and physicians, as it's just what the midwife ordered! It should be required reading for all obstetric and family practice residents.

--Ina May Gaskin

Homebirth in the Hospital is an outstanding book and a must read for all expectant parents as well as the providers who care for them.  We are in an era where women are fearful of trusting their bodies to birth normally and many medical care providers are equally uncomfortable and often unfamiliar with trusting natural childbirth. Dr. Kerr has truly integrated concerns for safety and the use of appropriate technology of the medical model with the skills and comprehensive wisdom of the midwifery model, thereby using medical interventions only when truly necessary.

Dr. Kerr clearly illustrates with detailed examples how women and their clinicians can work through the challenges that are unique to each woman's individual birth. Caregivers and women will benefit by seeing how empowering and healthy normal and natural childbirth can be when using skillful hands-on maneuvers, instilling confidence and facilitating the woman's own ability to understand what her body can do, the choices she has, and the confidence to communicate her needs. This book is a significant contribution to modern and normal childbirth.

--Phyllis Klaus, MFT, LCSW Perinatal therapist, reseacher, co-author of The Doula Book, Bonding, Your Amazing newborn, When Survivors Give Birth

A must read for the expectant parents who want a natural birth but also want to have the security of a safe and happy delivery.  Dr. Kerr is an impassioned advocate of patient empowerment in the birthing process.  She has always practiced what she so eloquently believes.  Congratulations to Dr. Kerr for writing this very timely and much needed book on natural childbirth in a hospital setting.

--Bob G. Field, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.

A much-needed book showing that women can have real choices in hospital childbirth, and that the key ingredient in their ability to give birth as they wish is the ideology, the wisdom, and the heart of the practitioner. In this case, that practitioner is Stacey Kerr MD, who, like the best of midwives, is there to guard, guide, and inspire the women she attends to help them achieve their desires. A must-read for any woman interested in giving birth normally in the hospital setting--usually very difficult to achieve, but entirely doable, as this book beautifully demonstrates, when the doctor is truly on and by your side.

--Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, author, Birth as an American Rite of Passage

Homebirth in the Hospital

Integrating Natural Childbirth with Modern Medicine

Homebirth in the Hospital is an engaging journey through birth stories of all types with only one similarity: the doctor in charge. The author of the book and primary caregiver in each birth story is Stacey Marie Kerr. Dr. Kerr has an incredible background for a medical doctor. Not only did she spend time on The Farm, a spiritual community founded by renowned midwife Ina May Gaskin – she actually lived there. During that time, Dr. Kerr learned the power of letting Mother Nature take its course in the birthing process. Her humble approach towards childbirth makes each story very touching.

Each story is incredibly unique. They range from all-natural births to c-sections, some with drugs and some with minor interventions, and women who had health problems to those who were in perfect health. There is even one very sad story of a baby that didn’t make it. Collectively, they give the reader a bird’s eye view of what twists and turns Mother Nature can throw at a woman in labor and the integrative solutions at hand. The way the doctor handles the births is wonderful and always seems so right, putting to shame many other doctors who treat pregnancy exclusively as a medical condition.

The stories in Homebirth in the Hospital are awe-inspiring and may leave you in tears of joy and grief as you share in these women’s most intimate moments. A very good read for first-time mothers interested in natural birth, it shows you that nothing is set in stone and even the a typical pregnancy can end unpredictably. The book provides the reader with insight into a woman’s intuition during pregnancy and labor as well as what to look for in a doctor. Homebirth in the Hospital is a captivating book that is rich with emotion and often difficult to put down.

Parenting Weekly – Mommy Media – September 2, 2008

www.community.parentingweekly.com  Online magazine (ezine) with a membership community you join. #3 on recommended book list.