Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

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I believe that pain during childbirth is something that shouldn’t be attempted to be eliminated out of fear or the belief that you cannot handle it, but we should learn to cope with it, something in Gaskin’s book with which I agree.

With Gaskin’s timeless wisdom, you can approach birth with confidence and excitement, wherever and however it happens. if you are an older mom to be as well as younger this is a good starting point on your journey to motherhood. I didn't like him because my legs weren't shaved and I was cold and because he had two, pretty, tiny nurses (whose legs probably were shaved) stare at me the whole time (I'm sure for our mutual protection, but still), and because he said "now try to relax" which has to be the most useless, most insensitive thing to say, ever (implication: there's something wrong with you if under these oh-so-pleasant circumstances you can't relax), and I wanted to give him a hard kick, pull down my skirt, and go home.There are many women who refuse to give birth without an epidural and therefore, have no desire to have a midwife or intervention-free birth. She covers all the important primal and spiritual aspects to natural birth that are important, but she also does so in a way that might not be deemed by certain people as overly fluffy or 'hippie'-like as other books - I know some people don't like or aren't used to that. I do definitely recommend this one, but I also recommend reading other books to fill out a more balanced view, unless you are definitely giving birth under the stars on a hippie commune and your chances of winding up in a hospital are extremely low.

There was also a lot of practical midwifery information that I'm glad I read before making my second attempt at a natural childbirth. 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. The best thing about this book is that it describes birth as a completely natural thing for a woman's body to do and that it's not at all scary, which is a relief after our culture's fear-mongering around birth. This book is one of the most frequently recommended resources I’ve seen mentioned to mothers who are considering a natural childbirth.These verses do not say that pain during childbirth begins at the Curse, but only that it is multiplied. But there are many good insights, ideas, and a good look at a more natural/alternative approach to the typical medical/hospital care women are more commonly accustomed to.

For twenty-two years she published Birth Gazette, a quarterly covering health care, childbirth and midwifery issues. Founded in 1971, by 1996, the Farm Midwifery Center had handled more than 2200 births, with remarkably good outcomes. As long as readers don't lose sight of that, and start viewing doctors as the enemy and medical intervention as failures, this book contains a lot of useful information.Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body. With Gaskin's timeless wisdom, you can approach birth with confidence and excitement, wherever and however it happens. So while I appreciate Ina May's mind/body approach to childbirth, I think she's promoting a culture of mommy shaming. After having an antibody scare myself and following women who deal with anti-D antibodies during pregnancy, the few sentences she had on sensitization were not enough to fully understand the risky (and potentially heartbreaking) future pregnancies of those who are sensitized.