Labor of Love: A Midwife's Memoir - Hardcover

Cara Muhlhahn

3.37

636 ratings by Goodreads

9781427798213: Labor of Love: A Midwife's Memoir

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1427798214 ISBN 13: 9781427798213

Publisher: Kaplan Publishing, 2008

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Single mom, jazz singer, salsa dancer, traveler, and midwife to more than 700 babies, Cara Muhlhahn holds nothing back—in her life or in this memoir.

As a teenager, Cara's family home burnt to the ground. That tragedy led her on a journey that would span a variety of countries and cultures. While she was in Morocco, a woman suffered from a fatal injury. Grieving the unnecessary death, Cara resolved that, next time, she would know what to do to save a life.

In this fascinating and searingly honest memoir, Cara reveals what eventually led her to support women in one of the most significant experiences of their lives. Balancing science with intuition, parenthood with her work, and sacrifice with joy, Cara shows us what it means to be alive and to live a life of purpose.

Just as readers are fascinated by Carly Fiorina's or Elizabeth Gilbert's journeys, they will find great inspiration in Cara's journey to live her calling. Whether you read about her in Vogue or the New York Times; saw her in the documentary The Business of Being Born, by filmmakers Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein; or are learning about her for the first time here, you are sure to be inspired by her remarkable story.

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About the Author:

Certified Nurse Midwife Cara Muhlhahn, CNM, has been learning and practicing midwifery for 30 years, and she now runs a private practice that specializes in home delivery. Cara is featured in the documentary The Business of Being Born, which was executive produced by Ricki Lake and directed by Abby Epstein. Cara is the mother of a 12-year-old boy who was delivered by a midwife.

Ricki Lake is an actress, television host, and the executive producer of the documentary, The Business of Being Born. She is also the author of Your Best Birth. She lives with her two sons in Los Angeles.

From Booklist:

A practicing certified nurse-midwife in New York for more than a dozen years, Muhlhahn has the battle scars to prove it, in the form of piles of paid and unpaid parking tickets as well as enough emotional dings to give her plain-speaking single mom’s memoir an edge. Not the stereotypical Birkenstock-shod, granola-munching earth mother, she has nonetheless always unapologetically marched to the beat of her own drummer. From the moment she decided a life of service was her destiny, she never looked back. A series of life events seemed to send her headlong into midwifery, often in the face of harsh disapproval from many in the mainstream American medical arena. She stood her ground and demanded her propers as someone who empowers women during the crucial process of giving birth—and she was featured in Ricki Lake’s documentary The Business of Being Born. Although midwifery is beginning to enjoy greater mainstream medical approval, Muhlhahn still wants more, especially special license plates to avert all those pesky parking tickets. --Donna Chavez

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