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

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I found it irresponsible and cowardly to say that she recognizes the need for modern medicine, but then dumps all over it. She checked me and informed me that I was three centimeters dilated and that I would probably give birth that same night. There was a of useful advice and if the whole book would have been like that, it would have easily been a five star book!

While a lot of her outrage seemed justified to me, it wasn't very helpful in a book that was supposed to be a "guide" to childbirth.Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention. In the case of Ina May, I'm a little embarrassed that the whole thing kind of makes my blood run cold. This is all well and good, I guess, if you are planning an all-natural home birth, but far from true for hospital births.

By the time I was done, I no longer saw childbirth as a terrifying and improbable medical event akin to removing a highly delicate ship from a design-flawed bottle; instead, I was convinced that childbirth is an awesome natural process, something I was built to do and totally capable of accomplishing. The first part consists of a collection of birth stories from women on The Farm and women who interacted with midwives from The Farm. It may not be for the squeamish, but if you're going to be popping a baby out of your body one day, it may help to not be too squeamish about these things. Gaskin’s center is noted for its low rates of intervention, morbidity and mortality despite the inclusion of many vaginally delivered breeches, twin and grand multiparas.The international bestseller that has helped millions of women trust in their body – and their baby – and give birth without fearDrawing on over 40 years’ experience, internationally acclaimed midwife Ina May Gaskin shows you how to use the mind-body connection to help labour progress calmly and safely. That said, the book did a pretty good job of convincing me that the mother's mental approach to childbirthing and expectations for the experience are the single most important indicator of how it will all go. You can't deny shes a bit of a hippie and some things she says you may not be able to get on board with, but for me (having given birth twice) her words reflect largely what ive learnt in hypnobirthing and this book filled my head with positive, empowering and exciting feelings of birth! However when talking about hospitals, doctors, nurses or anything else remotely “medical” she is short, terse, detached, and extremely clinical in her descriptions and quick to downplay their benefits whilst highlighting their every possible, minute flaws.

The days and weeks following my son's birth should have been the happiest of my life (well, barring the hormones rocking my boat, of course), but instead I had to spend the first year of my baby's life wrestling with guilt and shame and a sense of inadequacy, and that's just stupid.

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. Finally, we both decided to go visit with an open mind (although I must admit I wasn't quite as open-minded as Ron; I simply knew I wanted to be at The Farm). And if one more person tells me how great the Moosewood Cookbook is, I will heave a bag of whole grain flour at her.

Really helpful for people who fear birth, see it as a scary medical event, or just want to be inspired as to the sacred and spiritual event that birth can be. These verses do not say that pain during childbirth begins at the Curse, but only that it is multiplied. A lot of information on the professional merits of midwifery, so I admit skipping some chapters for the time being to learn content more directly related my partner's pregnancy. While she does in many places provide good information, do not be fooled into thinking she is at all, in any way an objective or unbiased resource!Drawing on over 40 years’ experience, internationally acclaimed midwife Ina May Gaskin shows you how to use the mind-body connection to help labour progress calmly and safely. Here's the birth plan: We go to the hospital, and we come out with a healthy baby, and two healthy moms. And this insane social pressure on moms begins even before kids are born, in the Natural Childbirth movement that this book represents. So much of what I read just made me more scared (even though I tried to avoid the triggering stuff, the loss stories, the bad outcomes). But here's the thing -- I wonder sometime how often our deference for what we're told is good for us gets in the way of what really makes us comfortable.