Cut, Stapled, and Mended: When One Woman Reclaimed Her Body and Gave Birth on Her Own Terms After Cesarean

"At least you and the baby are healthy."

That’s what they said when they handed him to me. And they were right. Why then, so long after my body has healed, do I still feel broken? A whisper inside of me insists: Birth is more than a means to a baby. There was something I was supposed to do, something I was to receive through giving birth.

Pregnant again, when the doctor tries to schedule another cesarean, I refuse. I will not submit to being tied down, cut open, and having my uterus extracted again without a fight.

That's why I ask a midwife to help me give birth. I tell her that I’m determined and strong. But she sees through my tough-guy armor. She smiles, saying, "Birth isn’t a battle to win or lose. It’s the result of delving into your vulnerability and finding your true feminine power."

In exquisite detail, Roanna holds nothing back in her powerful birth memoir, plunging the reader deep into the intimacy of this universal rite of passage. Part memoir, part manifesto, this is a must read for anyone who has given birth, will give birth, or who loves someone who will give birth.

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• Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers
• Where's the Mother?: Stories from a Transgender Dad
• Reproductive Justice: An Introduction (Reproductive Justice: A New Vision for the 21st Century)
• Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy, and Childbirth
• Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation
• Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
• Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
• When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing Women
• The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother