Post-war Mothers: Childbirth Letters to Grantly Dick-Read by Mary Thomas ( : )

This is a collection of letters written to Dr. Grantly Dick-Read from 1946 to 1956 edited and introduced by Mary Thomas. Grantly Dick-Read was a British physician who is credited with revolutionizing childbirth in the 1940's and 50's because of his theories on natural childbirth. At the time, it was normal for women to be highly medicated and often unconscious during childbirth. Following publication of his book, Childbirth Without Fear, Grantly Dick-Read received thousands of letters from women all over the world. There are 3,400 letters with Dick-Read's reply kept in the Medical Archives of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London, England. Thomas reviewed the letters and has presented in this book 64 that are representative of the collection.

The letters are a testimony of the turning point in the history of childbirth. Post-war Mothers examines women's perspectives on the way they were viewed by society, hospital staff and family. The book begins with a brief but insightful history of childbirth. Thomas notes the changes from the end of the 17th century when childbirth was a social event until the 1940's when medication and instrumentation were routine. The introduction of scopolamine around 1914 significantly altered women's role during childbirth. Scopolamine created the "twilight sleep" and required hospitalization and the attendance of a physician. Although it was intended to help women, it shifted the view of childbirth from a natural event to a pathological one. Women had no control over themselves or their bodies. Thomas asserts that when childbirth became a hospital-centred event, women lost their voice in where and how they gave birth. By the 1950's, total management of childbirth outside the hands of pregnant women was complete.

Grantly Dick-Read argued that informing and educating women about what was happening to their bodies during pregnancy and labour would help them to relax. If women were not afraid and tense during labour, pain would be eliminated and thus the need for medication. He believed that the advantage of natural childbirth was that women could experience "overwhelming joy" during birth.

In the letters to Dick-Read, women reveal their expectations for childbirth, the impact of childbirth on their lives and their role in society as women and mothers. Dick-Read's responses indicate his attitudes regarding the proper qualities for women. To a woman in Indiana in 1948 he wrote:

...[I] remind you of the three great virtues which I preach to those who invite my attentions. They are not only applicable in labour, but throughout motherhood - patience, self-control, and the ability to work hard cheerfully.

Thus Dick-Read's theories were not intended to empower women but rather to exert control over the definition of what was acceptable and expected at that time. Dick-Read's antenatal advice literature served to reinforce women's roles and society's expectations of mothers. However, his theories directed woman toward making a choice to give birth without analgesia and the women who wrote to Dick-Read reveal an involvement in the process of giving birth as well as with the physiological functioning of their bodies. Thomas demonstrates how Dick-Read's theories of natural childbirth changed the boundaries within which women operated. Women were offered the option to chose to give birth consciously and experience a sense of accomplishment for a successful delivery. The women's letters reveal a desire to attain autonomy in childbirth and their lives. Writing to Grantly Dcik-Read gave the women a voice to express what they thought of themselves and society's expectations of them.

In Post-war Mothers, Thomas provides an interesting and informative analysis of the collection of letters to Grantly Dick-Read. The 64 letters are lengthy and a bit monotonous to read, but this book makes an valuable contribution to the examination of women's place in society during the post-war period in England and North America.

Patty McNiven
Assistant Professor, Midwifery