Ina May's Guide to Childbirth: Updated With New Material

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Finally, in the middle of a Star Trek rerun, while my body was positioning itself in contorted ways all over the chair I was trying to sit in, I concluded that I had better see a midwife. The whole intense experience was deeply invigorating and actually GAVE me the energy I needed to cope with the first couple of difficult weeks with a new baby. I found this to be true of most natural childbirth books (with some exceptions, including my favorite Birthing from Within): the confidence they gave me in my body's ability to give birth came at the cost of a raging fear of hospitals and "non-natural" childbirth.

For example, Rhogham does not have any mercury whatsoever any more, and the danger from amniocentesis is vastly overstated. If you’re pregnant, I would recommend skipping her chapter on maternal mortality in the US if you think this may increase your anxiety. It helped me tap into the ancient intuitive practises that women have been using for centuries to birth their babies.Overall, I'm glad I read this book and I truly believe that it has better equipped me for my son's upcoming birth. And I get it - I gave birth circa 2013 with a spa tub and a birthing ball and hypnotic mantras and an anaesthesiologist standing by. When reading you do get a clear idea of how experienced of a midwife Ina May is and you can respect her talent and expertise in her field.

For all intents and purposes, it appeared that we were people geared toward state-of-the art technology, people who would accept the latest and greatest, even when it came to childbirth.I would recommend-- no REQUIRE-- this book for anybody who wants to have kids, or who has had kids, or --shoot-- anybody with reproductive parts.

We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. The science cited here, along with hospital procedures generally, is pretty outdated, which works nicely for the book's preferred method of persuasion: scare tactics.I will continue to read the birth stories, though I only needed a dozen of them or so before I wanted to hear what she actually had to say (this may partially be because I am a male reader who's brain learns slightly differrent that the target audience). Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention. I find it refreshing to read something so real that attempts to turn our stereotypical hospital birth routine upside-down. That said, though, there are perfectly valid reasons why some of us do give birth in hospitals, and not all hospital births are the nightmare that natural childbirth books make them out to be.

Commenting on the fear many women have of birth, his fictional character observes, "Believe me: if you are told that some experience is going to hurt, it will hurt. With Gaskin's timeless wisdom, you can approach birth with confidence and excitement, wherever and however it happens. In the end (I had my baby two days ago), I think this hysteria about hospitals did ultimately help me.Women have a special bond with their babies given to them by God, and childbirth is one of the times in life when this is abundantly clear. When I asked to not have an episiotomy, he skirted the issue entirely by asking me what kind of episiotomy I meant, never once saying whether he would or would not give me one. This book does give some good information about helping labor progress and some of what she says makes sense to me.