Even if you yourself never expect to use the helpful information in this very practical book on pregnancy, labor, and delivery, you will find it a "can't put it down" type of book. Patti has united her skills of storytelling with the knowledge and experience of her profession to produce the most useful book of its kind on the market.
     While she does not burden the reader with unnecessary scientific detail, she gives adequate information on structure and function for proper understanding by the pregnant woman or the student midwife. It is also sufficiently broad to fill the needs for the practicing midwife. For them it is essential reading. The section on unusual happenings in labor and delivery is competently dealt with along with many illustrative case histories. From these the experienced midwife can gain much practical information to augment the skills and training gained elsewhere. But the person I believe will be the most thrilled and compelled to study the book is the mother or the prospective mother and father. For this group, the step by step explanation of the entire experience for pregnancy, labor, and delivery will be both an enlightening and deeply spiritual experience.
     Pregnancy is probably the most instructive experience a woman can have concerning the special feminine equipment with which she has been endowed. To have this equipment explained, and to relive the true story emotional and social experiences of others Patti has helped is a broadening study.
     I have always been dedicated to home births, ever since my medical school days when our favorite professor of obstetrics told our class that the principal advantage hospital delivery has over a home delivery is the convenience of the obstetrician. I have, however, caught afresh from The Ministry of Midwifery the sense of mystery and awe, of the very special nature of this common event. It is such a privilege to be in on the ground floor of a new life beginning on earth. A home birth blends all the excitement of a patriotic parade, the privacy and the intimacy of the bedroom, the science of anatomy and physiology at its finest, and the ministry of women helping women. Patti has captured the pageantry of this unique experience and expressed it in readable form. I could not suppress a "Hallelujah" several times as I was reading it. Indeed, "What hath God wrought!"
     If The Ministry of Midwifery had been available during my years of training lay midwives and delivering or supervising several hundred home births, I would have required the students to read it, and would have supplied it to our patients for the childbirth training classes. The Lord has blessed us with an excellent book, long overdue.

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.

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