
eBook - ePub
The Women's Doc
True stories from my five decades delivering babies and making history
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Women's Doc
True stories from my five decades delivering babies and making history
About this book
Funny and poignant stories from the labour ward and from the frontline of campaigns for women's reproductive rights, from Australia's best known obstetrician.
'We never train women in Sydney,' Caroline de Costa was told in 1974 when she applied to become a junior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology. She and her husband packed their bags and their children, and headed for Dublin.
When Caroline first started in medicine, being an unmarried mother was frowned on, cane toads were used for pregnancy tests, and giving birth was much riskier than it is today. Her funny and poignant stories of bringing babies into the world show that, while much has changed, women still work hard and it remains a bloody business. A birth plan is no guarantee of a normal birth (whatever that is).
Men have always wanted to control women's bodies, and Caroline has been instrumental in giving Australian women of all backgrounds the opportunity to resist, and to choose when and how they have babies. Her behind-the-scenes stories reveal it's often the little things that win a campaign.
'An enthralling and at times eye-popping ride through her brilliant career as an obstetrician and fierce advocate for women's reproductive freedom.' - Anne Summers
'Caroline de Costa has lived an exciting and unusual life, is a brilliant doctor, a fierce and trailblazing feminist and now reveals herself as a gripping and evocative writer!' - Jane Caro
'We never train women in Sydney,' Caroline de Costa was told in 1974 when she applied to become a junior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology. She and her husband packed their bags and their children, and headed for Dublin.
When Caroline first started in medicine, being an unmarried mother was frowned on, cane toads were used for pregnancy tests, and giving birth was much riskier than it is today. Her funny and poignant stories of bringing babies into the world show that, while much has changed, women still work hard and it remains a bloody business. A birth plan is no guarantee of a normal birth (whatever that is).
Men have always wanted to control women's bodies, and Caroline has been instrumental in giving Australian women of all backgrounds the opportunity to resist, and to choose when and how they have babies. Her behind-the-scenes stories reveal it's often the little things that win a campaign.
'An enthralling and at times eye-popping ride through her brilliant career as an obstetrician and fierce advocate for women's reproductive freedom.' - Anne Summers
'Caroline de Costa has lived an exciting and unusual life, is a brilliant doctor, a fierce and trailblazing feminist and now reveals herself as a gripping and evocative writer!' - Jane Caro
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Yes, you can access The Women's Doc by Caroline de Costa in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Medicine & General Health. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- DEDICATION
- CONTENTS
- NOTE
- ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS BOOK
- 1 DR JIM
- 2 FROGS
- 3 BACKING INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
- 4 WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
- 5 THE TERM BREECH TRIAL
- 6 SOMERSAULTING THE BABY
- 7 SUBMARINE BABIES
- 8 SURGEONS
- 9 FIRST IMPRESSIONS
- 10 UNDER THE SKIN
- 11 PUTTING ON THE WHITE COAT
- 12 BRAINS IN BOTTLES
- 13 THE CONTRACEPTIVE TRAIN
- 14 THE PILL
- 15 THE DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY
- 16 JEROME
- 17 ‘ILLEGITIMACY AND THE CHURCH’
- 18 PORT MORESBY GENERAL HOSPITAL
- 19 ‘WE NEVER TRAIN WOMEN IN SYDNEY’
- 20 IN RESIDENCE
- 21 BECOMING DR JIM
- 22 THE AMBULANCE
- 23 A YELLOW MASK WILL DROP FROM THE CEILING . . .
- 24 BABY MURPHY
- 25 THE CASE OF MRS MONTGOMERY
- 26 CAESAREAN SECTION 101
- 27 BIKINIS AND BRAZILIANS
- 28 THE CRICKET, THE FISHING AND THE FOOTY . . .
- 29 WHAT HAS JULIUS CAESAR GOT TO DO WITH IT?
- 30 VICTORIA’S SECRET
- 31 WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG?
- 32 THE FIRST MODERN CAESAR
- 33 ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND QUEEN ELIZABETH II
- 34 A BLOODY BUSINESS
- 35 PLACENTAS IN CONCRETE
- 36 FAILURE TO PROGRESS
- 37 CHARMAINE
- 38 WHAT WOMEN WANT
- 39 ‘TEST TUBE’ BABIES
- 40 VEE-BAC
- 41 KATE MEETS WILL
- 42 WHEN THERE ARE NO CAESAREANS
- 43 BORN WITH BARBECUE TONGS
- 44 THE HOOVER
- 45 STUCK
- 46 THE EMPEROR’S WIFE WHO BLED TO DEATH
- 47 DR BAKRI’S BALLOON
- 48 THE MAGICAL PROPERTIES OF ERGOT
- 49 TO EAT, OR NOT TO EAT
- 50 SEND HOPE NOT FLOWERS
- 51 POP AND THE MESH CONTROVERSY
- 52 ‘NORMAL VAGINAL BIRTH’?
- 53 IT’S STILL BIRTH
- 54 FARAH
- 55 BILLI
- 56 IN PRAISE OF MIDWIVES
- 57 DAME ELLA
- 58 ‘HI LUCILLE, I’M DOCTOR GOLD’
- 59 THE LONG ROAD TO DECRIMINALISATION
- 60 THE AUTOPSY
- 61 HARD LUCK
- 62 SAN FRANCISCO, 2005
- 63 THE ABORTION PILL
- 64 POLICE IN THE BEDROOM
- 65 CAIRNS—A HOTBED OF ABORTION RADICALISM
- 66 ‘Q’
- 67 21ST-CENTURY LAW FOR 21ST-CENTURY WOMEN
- 68 SPACIM PIKININI
- 69 NAURU AND DARWIN
- 70 DIMA
- 71 TWO YEARS IN THE DESERT
- 72 O CANADA!
- 73 IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS
- PICTURE SECTION
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS