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Ina May's Guide to Childbirth | 
 enlarge | Author: Ina May Gaskin
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $10.04
You Save: $6.96 (41%)
New (43) Used (16) from $10.03
Avg. Customer Rating:  213 reviews
Sales Rank: 553
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0553381156
Dewey Decimal Number: 618.45
EAN: 9780553381153
ASIN: 0553381156
Publication Date: March 4, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
What you need to know to have the best birth experience for you.
Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.
Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs--and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
• What really happens during labor
• Orgasmic birth--making birth pleasurable
• Episiotomy--is it really necessary?
• Common methods of inducing labor--and which to avoid at all costs
• Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
• How to avoid postpartum bleeding--and depression
• The risks of anesthesia and cesareans--what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
• The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
• How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
• And much more
Ina May’s Guide to Natural 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 208 more reviews...
This book can help you avoid the slippery slope to a c-section October 2, 2008
I loved, loved, loved this book. I read it to prepare for the natural birth of my second child (vaginal breech), and then again to prepare for the natural birth of my third. I chose to have all three in the hospital, and wanted to avoid the slippery slope to a c-section. At Virginia Hospital Center (Arlington) and Inova Fairfax Hospital, where my children were born, the c-section rates are 40%. How is this acceptable?? C-sections are major surgery.
Inductions start the slippery slope. Few women can or choose to cope with pitocin-induced contractions, so an induction almost always means an epidural, which means no early laboring in the comfort of your home, no moving around, and the inability to get into positions that help the baby descend. Pitocin can also affect the unborn baby's heart rate, which causes great concern to all, OB included. So the baby either does not arrive quickly enough or goes into crisis, and the result is a c-section.
Epidurals and c-sections both negatively affect the chance of baby breastfeeding well early on, which means baby is given formula in the hospital and early days post-birth - another slippery slope, this time to early weaning. With strong evidence that breastfed babies have higher IQs, fewer allergies, get sick less often and less severely, have decreased rates of SIDS, etc., this is no small matter. "The AAP Section on Breastfeeding, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Family Physicians, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, and many other health organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life." http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;115/2/496 Also see http://kellymom.com/index.html for lots of great breastfeeding advice and info.
This book will give you the information you need to trust your body to give birth naturally. The birth stories at the beginning will help you to see that there are a wide range of "normal" births, both in terms of duration of labor and pain. Many coping strategies are discussed, along with the overarching theme that birth is a natural process. The pain of natural birth is not like the pain of an injury or something gone wrong. It has a purpose, and this book will help you learn to surrender to the purpose, rather than fight against it.
PS You probably can't hire Ina May, but you should hire a doula or at least find a friend who has given birth naturally to help coach you and support you through your labor.
Must have for anyone that is pregnant September 20, 2008
Absolutely a must have. Very informative and down to earth!
I wish I would have bought the book early on in my pregnancy! Will forward this book on to a fellow co-worker at work!
Absolutely Awesome September 19, 2008
I'm a first time mom and my midwife recommended this book. Unlike other pregnancy books this one is not geared towards all of the things that can go wrong. Rather its about all the things that can go right with a pregnancy. This book gives women the confidence they need to approach birth with a calm attitude. Gaskin teaches women that their bodies "are not lemons." That we don't need shiny instruments or machines that go "bing" to help us birth our babies. What we need instead is love, patience, and the confidence to bring our children into this world. This book would be great for anyone contemplating a homebirth, an intervention free birth, or for anyone who has fears about the birth process. I give it five stars.
Helped me get my "perfect" birthing experience September 10, 2008
My first birthing experience was everything I didn't want: induced, heavily medicated, and then a c-section. I was determined to have a completely natural v-bac the second time around. Our doula recommended this book, and it really gave my husband and I the information we needed that we never got from our first ob. I recommend this book to any woman contemplating a natural childbirth, especially those whose doctors are not supportive of such a move.
Enlightening and useful--a must-read September 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I rarely review anything, but this book inspired me. Although I had heard about it many times, I initially resisted reading it because I was worried it would be preachy and/or only applicable to people planning a birth with midwives. While I will still have a hospital birth with an OB, I learned numerous highly useful things from this book. Ina May is a very experienced and intuitive midwife, and the book is based on her experiences as well as a lot of research.
First, the book emphasizes that we women are highly capable of having a natural birth, and the whole first half is stories from women who have done so (I read these selectively). The second half of the book goes into well-researched and -documented detail about how our bodies work during a natural birth, which greatly appeased my logical mind. It also covers the various inappropriate and scary procedures that may be recommended to you in the hospital. This last part was not always an enjoyable read, but helped me make a list to ask my doctor of things I didn't even know I needed to ask. In my opinion it is crucial that we and our partners have this information so we can advocate for proper care in the hospital. Just because a procedure is commonplace, doesn't mean it is beneficial or even safe for the woman. When I finished the book, I was dwelling a little on "I really hope I don't need a [fill in procedure]" so now I'm flipping through the stories again to leave a better taste in my mouth.
This book is definitely geared toward people who are considering a natural childbirth or already know they want one. If right now you think you want an epidural the second you walk in the hospital, I don't know if you will want to read this book. But if you do read it, I suspect it will cause you to rethink some things. I also recommend reading "The Birth That's Right For You" (Ness, et al), which helps you decide what you may or may not want during your birthing, depending on your personality and how you operate when you're not in labor.
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