"Each woman has a story, each a sound, each a birth--" A husband holds a lantern while his wife pushes in labor during a hurricane. A woman vows to kill her newborn child when he is born. A middle-aged lady receives her fossilized baby after two decades. A teenager tosses her murdered newborn over a fence in a red bag. A woman giving birth does not allow her face to be seen. A family votes whether to accept the doctor’s advice to perform a Cesarean. A woman must undergo brain surgery and birth simultaneously. A woman in shock from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy has HIV. A man stares at his three babies in the nursery, all born through different women. A full moon night. A specialized birth plan. A strange gallbladder attack. A new basketball team. A Christmas stillbirth. A strange humming sound in the delivery room. A woman with numerous pregnancy losses finally gives birth wearing Scooby Doo socks--

In Birth Sounds, Dr. Moraczewski presents 45 narratives based upon characters and events from his twenty years of obstetrical practice in both the civilian suburban and military hospital settings. Nearly all aspects of childbirth are depicted in his collection subtitled Tales from Labor & Delivery, the range spanning the routine, the rare, and the ridiculous. Most women and their birth partners will quickly identify with the pushing, panting, complications, and delirium of giving birth. The stylized medical stories include women presenting without prenatal care, ectopic pregnancies, breast cancer in pregnancy, unusual prenatal office visits, an abdominal pregnancy, normal births, Cesarean deliveries. He recounts the wide-eyed wonder and anxiety of his first night on call as an intern, his initial observation of childbirth, the learning of medical procedures in pregnancy, a classmate’s experience of delivering his first baby. Dr. Moraczewski, affectionately called ‘Dr. M’ in the book, even cites some of the new consumerism entering the birthing arena, including satirically humorous depictions of exotic birth plans, videotaping the baby’s birth, family feuds in the birthing room, and doulas.

In Birth Sounds, Thomas Moraczewski, M.D. lyrically recounts the sights, quirky language, sounds, triumphs, and heartaches of having babies in the modern hospital setting. He weaves the stories of birth in a poetic and haunting realism, the tales often humorous and stark. Each story is the celebration of new human life, the sounds gritty, the music of humanity a non-repeating score.