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 The Blue Cotton Gown
Patsy can't sleep.
There are too many worries swirling in her head; too many
responsibilities weighing her down. But she wasn't always like
this. She once led a simple life.
Back
then Patsy was a hippie living on a communal farm with her
beekeeper husband. Life was uncomplicated, and they were dirt
poor. But she had a calling. She was meant to catch babies and
trained to become a nurse midwife. Her husband followed soon after
and enrolled in medical school.
Now
they are middle aged living in West Virginia with grown children
and an ob/gyn practice. Recently things have changed. Skyrocketing
malpractice insurance rates have forced them to stop delivering
babies. With big hearts, but not much business savvy, they can
barely seem to keep the practice afloat. Poor choices of business
partners and accountants, along with generosity to their staff and
patients, have them alarmingly behind in taxes and constantly
struggling to meet payroll. And, not surprisingly, these troubles
have stressed their marriage.
Patsy
also has her own personal issues. She encounters serious health
problems. A close friend suffers a heartbreaking loss. And she
resents her husband's optimism while she lays awake at night
worried over finances, threats of malpractice, their children, you
name it.
As
Patsy shares her life with us, she tells the interesting and often
unexpected stories of several of her patients. Young and old,
affluent and poor, highly educated and high school dropouts - she
sees them all. No matter the circumstances, each is vulnerable in
her own way, naked beneath the thin blue gown, needing her help.
Thoughts of them keep her up at night, yet also keep her going
during the day. It's all getting to be too much, though, and
Patsy's on the verge of breaking down and leaving it all behind.
Patsy
wrote this book because she felt her patients' stories needed to
be told. However, it is her story that is tender and real and eye
opening. She is an imperfect but endearing heroine and healer.About the
Author: Patricia
Harman, CNM, has published in The Journal of Midwifery &
Women's Health and The Journal of Sigma Theta Tau for Nursing
Scholarship, as well as alternative publications, and is a regular
presenter at national midwifery conferences. Harman got her start
as a lay midwife on the rural communes where she lived in the '60s
and '70s and went on to become a nurse-midwife on the faculty of
Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, and West
Virginia University. The author lives and works in West Virginia
and has three sons. This is her first book.
 The Blue Cotton Gown
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