Book Review: Memoirs of a Singing Birth

I received a free copy of Memoirs of a Singing Birth by Elena Skoko.  I love a good birth story, so I was excited to have a chance to read and review her book.

It was interesting to read about Elena’s birth in Bali.  I love to learn about different traditions and cultures.  Most moms in Bali birth in hospitals, but as Elena learned more about birth she knew she wanted something different.  She saw The Business of Being Born and realized moms didn’t have to birth in a hospital.  She found a midwife and had a birth center birth.

It was interesting to read her journey from being a patient to being an empowered mother all before her baby was even born.

In the 36th week of pregnancy, we flew back from Italy with Singapore Airlines. We were going to Bali because of Ibu Robin. Because of us, she cancelled her trip to US, saying,  “I feel I have to stay”. Deep inside I was thinking, “Everything will be as it should. All will be done in the best possible way”. I felt confident. I could not imagine myself explaining to any hospital staff what lotus birth was. I was no longer a patient, “bearing or enduring without complaint” (from Latin word patientem).

She sang throughout her birth (hence the title) and had wonderful support as she birthed her baby girl.  She also had a lotus birth (where the placenta detaches on its own days after birth).  I love the beautiful pictures at the end of the book which include pictures with her daughter still attached to the placenta.

I t was interesting to read this insight into the craziness of formula companies in all parts of the world.

In Indonesia, as it was in Europe some time ago, hampering the breastfeeding is a usual  practice in the hospitals. “Formula”23 is given instead, even against parents’ will. The manufacturers of infant formula use despicable methods to sabotage breastfeeding in favor of powdered milk, which babies start to prefer to the mother’s. Ibu Robin told us she had to physically escort from Bumi Sehat an agent of one manufacturer who tried to bribe the Balinese midwives by offering them a motorbike, if they agreed to feed babies the formula as first thing after birth.

This is an interesting book to read if you enjoy reading birth stories.  I love the inside view of birth in a different culture.  It was poetically written, very descriptive and I enjoyed the love story of Elena, Roberto and their baby Koko.  Thanks for sharing your birth experience with the world!