Airing my own {unresearched cray cray} opinions

I like to be crunchy, or at least pretend to be crunchy.  I like to read about and research google mom blogs about crunchy activities.  You know, the natural childbirth, cloth diapering, anti-vaccination, CSA type moms.  I think it's fun to read about raising chitlins pioneer style out on the farm in the middle of the city in 2014.  For me, it's all just fun and games and it's your kid, do what you will--until I read a Granola Book "for fun" and it turns out to really grind my gears. (That's a Peter Griffin reference, for all you peoples who are also forced to watch Family Guy with your mens).  That's what happened last night when I checked The Business of Baby out at the public library, thinking it would be like a fun crunchy mom blog in book form.  It.Was.Horrible. So horrible that I cannot ignore it and I have to say something.  And because I have a blog I get to air my opinions on the internet while sparing my facebook friends annoying status updates. Are you ready?  Ok!

•   By the time I was 3 pages into the book, 3 c-section moms had died from post-surgery complications.  That is one maternal death per page, people.  The author was trying to illustrate that the United States has a high maternal death rate compared to other industrialized nations.  But by the first 3 pages, her book had a 75% maternal death rate.  Instilling fear into pregnant mothers is not helpful, it's mean.
•   The picture on the title page of the introduction shows doctors holding a baby up to show it's mother, who is undergoing a c-section.  There is nothing wrong with the picture, but on the following pages the author completely blasts c-sections.  I can only assume the picture was intended to support the "barbaric," "unnecessary" practice of c-sections and the author meant for her readers to cringe at the sight of the bloody, goopy baby who was so wrongfully torn out of his mother.  As a c-section mom, the imagine of my bloody, goopy son after he had been "torn" out of me is one of the best images I have ever seen in my life.  Ever.  So...so there! 
•   The problem with prenatal care is that it exists.  Apparently lots of women are supremely unhappy with their Ob/Gyns?  I don't know.  I haven't talked to a single mom who didn't really like, if not "love" their practice. Maybe all the good doctors are in Raleigh and everyone just needs to move here?  Also, prenatal vitamins make some women sick, so NO ONE should take them.  Sounds smart.
• Chapter Three was on the "real" cost of childbirth. Did you think it was free?  Doctors need to make money and support their families too, you know.  Also, of course hospitals are "businesses" trying to make money.  So is the grocery store.  So are farms.  
•   C-sections suck and are barbaric and horrible.  Unless your baby is transverse, or has some other medical reason which requires a c-section.  In those cases, I'm sorry, but you need to undergo a barbaric, horrible practice and will probably die from complications.  So sorry.  Ugh.  I hated this chapter.  
•  The author talks about how pediatricians like to "rush" through well-baby visits because the code is the same whether they spend 5 minutes or 25 minutes on your child. There is no chance for them to profit from spending time with you.  Ummm...Max's well baby visits have always been 30 minutes or more and our pediatricians take lots of time to answer questions.  His sick visits are always the short ones.  Once again, maybe people with kids just need to move to Raleigh?  All the good doctors are here?
• One chapter was filled with horror stories of botched circumcisions which resulted in additional surgeries and even death.  Definitely the exception, not the rule.  Ridiculous and horrifying, causing moms to make a fear based decision rather than a rational one.  And listen, I can understand how when presented with statistics, parents may opt-out of circumcision.  But "I don't want my son to die during surgery" is not one of those rational, logical reasons.  It just isn't.
• If you use plastic diapers, be prepared to care for a child with respiratory problems and bizarre, bleeding rashes, you unfit, uncaring mother.
• Vaccinations are scary and can cause serious reactions.  Umm...you know what else is scary and serious?  Your child dying from vaccine-preventable diseases.  The weekend we weren't positive whether or not Max had pertussis (he wasn't old enough to be vaccinated yet) was one of the worst, most stressful weekends of my life.  Vaccinate your child.  Listen to your doctors, not a former playboy playmate on this.

And there you have it.  My titillating thoughts on one of the worst crunchy mom books ever written.  In all honesty, I don't care if you cloth diaper or not, bottle feed or breastfeed, or whether or not you circumcise your son.  I do hope that you get prenatal care, take your child to well-baby visits, and I hope that if your birth doesn't go as planned, that you have access to a life-saving c-section.  My biggest problem with the book was that the author only presented the very worst of all outcomes to prove her points, appealing to a parents sense of fear, rather than their sense of reason and desire to do what is best for their child.

In closing, Happy Juanuary!