Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
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Book Reviews of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Book Review: More than just an updated version of Spiritual Midwifery!
Summary: 5 Stars
The thing I love most about this book is that the birth stories come first, making it clear (to me anyway) that what Ina May thinks is most important is positive birth stories from mothers. After that, the part I will always remember is the Sphincter Principle! It made perfect sense to me as I mulled over what led up to a preventable Cesarean with my firstborn. Could you have a bowel movement with strangers walking in on you to "check you", monitoring you with machines, and telling you *how* to empty your bowels, including when and where?! Ina May's point is not to equate childbirth with elimination, but to illustrate the fact that human bodies usually work wonderfully well without a lot of intervention and scrutiny- perhaps especially in birth. This book is crammed full of invaluable practical information from choosing a birthplace and provider to postpartum issues, including experience and wisdom gathered from decades of births at The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee. Ina May's Guide to Childbirth deserves a prominent spot on the bookshelf of anyone involved with birth and/or research into allopathic/Western medicine for the important experience and statistics from births on The Farm alone. It will be most useful for any woman who is planning a natural childbirth.Book Review: Best Birth Book I've Read
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful book about birth. Easy to read and filled with stories to keep it from being technical or dry. Ina May has such confidence in a woman's ability to birth. It is very inspiring to me and I believe would be for any pregnant woman. I wish I had read this in my first pregnancy, not for the first time in my third pregnancy.
Ina May does practice as a home birth midwife, but she also gives good advice and consideration to the woman who has chosen to birth in the hospital. She does not try to drive home a point about where a woman should birth, but does give a lot of useful advice about how to most effectively cope with the physical and emotional demands of labor and birth. She explains in detail the connection between mind and body, how positive thoughts and continuous, loving support can help a woman's body achieve labor and birth in the way her body is designed. Her stories and the collection of birth stories of many women balance all the "fear stories" about birth in our culture. The "fear stories" that tell women over and over that expert medical personnel and advanced medical equipment are necessary for a safe birth, are quietly and confidently dispelled by all the positive, peaceful stories that Ina May shares.
Book Review: Changed my whole outlook on childbirth... I'm not scared anymore
Summary: 5 Stars
Throughout my pregnancy, I purchase over 12 books covering pregnancy and childbirth, and this book was by FAR my very favorite which completely transformed my fear of childbirth to an experience I am very much looking forward to (the other book I loved was "A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth). Midway into my pregnancy, I decided to visit a Birthing Center and meet with a midwive and a doula and was very impressed with what they had to offer. This coupled with the convincing information in Ina May's book allowed me to completely drop my fear of childbirth! At 6.5 months, I transfered from the care of my OB to that of a Midwife, and have been THRILLED with the quality of care I'm receiving. In addition, my husband and I started Hypnobirthing classesHypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method: A natural approach to a safe, easier, more comfortable birthing (3rd Edition) which we're incredibly impressed with. All the information we've learned from this book comes together beautifully with the Hypnobirthing method and makes perfect sense. Thank you Ina May for allowing me to look forward to what will be the best birthing experience I can possibly have.Book Review: Courageous and Empowering Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
The warmth, intelligence and humor of Ina May Gaskin really come through in this book, as does her concern with safe and supportive surroundings for all women during birthing. Ina May and her fellow midwives at The Farm are responsible for major research demonstrating the safety of home birth and birthing-center births.I value this book primarily for giving me a first-person perspective of labor and delivery, in the words of both midwives and birthing women (and their partners). I also felt that the exploration of aspects of birth not usually talked about was great--orgasmic birth, use of nipple and clitoral stimulation to help with labor and delivery, careful pushing and breathing and laboring positions to prevent perineal tears, the pelvic press to help with shoulder distocia, etc. These are topics you won't find in any depth in "What to Expect," etc!
The underlying assumption in this book is that women can give birth naturally if they are prepared, supported and surrounded by fearless and knowledgable labor attendants. Ina May tells us that our bodies can do this, that we have reserves of body and mind that our indutrialized Western culture has discounted, and that we can each reclaim the feminine power of birth.
Book Review: A great corrective to those "other" pregnancy books!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a relief to read this book and think of other moms and moms-to-be (and dads) reading and learning from it as well. The birth stories are interesting and inspiring, and the explanations of how the birth process works (or can work, if we let it) are clear and do some inspiring of their own. Ina May Gaskin's conversational, down-to-earth style and sense of humor make this book extremely accessible and fun to read. The birth statistics of Ina May and the other midwives on The Farm over the last 30 years are astoundingly good--who ever heard of a 1.4% Cesearean-section rate? They HAVE to be doing something right. (Conversely, American obstetricians, with a 24.4% c-section rate and rising, must be doing something wrong. The c-section rate has been rising along with the use of obstetric technology.)
Ina May Gaskin's way of looking at birth is not new--it's ancient!--but it sure is different. There are many, many great things to learn from in this book, whether you are a birth professional or a parent.
If you are pregnant and wondering how you can have a great birth experience instead of a painful and scary ordeal, READ THIS BOOK!