Ina May's Guide to Childbirth "Updated With New Material" Paperback – March 4, 2003

This book was recommended to me by a new mom when she heard I was pregnant. I have been very impressed with the book. I am going to be doing a water home birth and hearing the stories from others that used midwives and had homebirths had been great for my mental prep. It provides all types of stories; good, bad, and ugly. It also has stories from moms that have done both hospital and home births and the differences they experienced. The second half of the book shares knowledge and information about pregnancy, birth prep, and so many other things. I would recommend it to anyone considering an out of hospital birth.

I have three boys and am pregnant with #4 (a girl) due in a few months. I gave birth to my first two boys vaginally w/ medical intervention ("stalled" at 4 cm and agreed to pitocin and epidural mainly because I had no clue what was going on and wanted to indeed see my babies..and be done w/ labor!! We live 35-50 mins from the hospital and I went in both times at the first twinge of labor fearing that they baby would be born in the car if I didn't go in. BIG mistake!! I fell victim to "the system" and b/c of the pit the contractions were excruciating! Thank goodness I was healthy and my babies were healthy and we were able to withstand the interventions w/out scare and the baby's heartrate going down from pit and ending up in a c-section.)Someone told me before I had my third son to imagine my cervix opening with each contraction and to let my body go as loose as possible - not to double over and tense my body etc. esp in the stomach/uterine area. I had polyhydramnios with my 3rd son (estimated 10 lbs of extra fluid for unexplained reasons, although I think now it had to do with diet/nutrition etc. and my schedule, plus the fact I started the pregnancy off 20 lbs overweight) and went into labor on my own at home at 36 weeks 2 days. I labored at home (unknowingly in a way b/c it was so early) using these suggestions from my friend (waiting to see if I was actually in labor b/c we didn't want to be, it was still early) to deal w/ the contractions. I tried to imagine "opening" but everything else came naturally (the vocalizing/sounding like a cow lol b/c that was the only thing I *could* do if I was trying to relax my body during contractions!). I told my hubby in the car on the way to the hospital that if I was at 4 cm I would likely ask for an epidural when we got there so that gives you an idea of my pain threshhold. I had been laboring about three hours. When I got to the hospital and was checked I was at 10 cm and 100 % effaced!!!! I couldn't believe it! Unfortunately due to the polyhydramnios, when I was laid on my back and the OB broke my water, the baby turned from head down to the side and the cord came first requiring an emergency c-section. :( I wish I would have been told to squat and asked that my water break naturally to up the chances of head engaging before the cord came etc. I know the cord still could have come first but then again, maybe it wouldn't have, only the Lord knows.I am planning to vbac and came across this book and am SO glad I did. I finally understand *how* my body did what it did with my third son because of this book and am confident that I can vbac w/ out any medical intervention (because any inducing drugs raise the risk of uterine rupture esp. with scar). Because my body was "ready" to have my third son, my labor went more quickly, was way less painful (pitocin is evil LOL), and even though I did have an emergency in the end the feeling of knowing I could do it "on my own" was very empowering and amazing! There are books like "Silent Knife, Cesearean Prevention and VBAC", and others that tell you the "why" of the benefits of natural birth etc. but THIS book (Ina May's Guide to Childbirth) helped me with the "how" (along with the why) but the "how" throughout the book. I feel this was largely due to many of the beautiful, authentic, and what should be the NORMAL birth stories of so many woman. This book helped me mentally and emotionaly with the "how" for myself and what I need to know and do for my next birth. I am going into this next birth with very, very little concern of the "pain" of laboring and childbirth and with full confidence that my body knows exactly what to do because it was designed to do so! It def. helps that I have three boys already - but really I sincerely wish I had this book to read 8 years ago before I had our first son. I would actually just love to give birth at home (I would have NEVER thought I would say this, I can remember listening in terror to a story of a woman who, "oops had her baby at home because there was no time!" before I had my first son lol) but feel the hospital is where we need to be b/c of where we live and this being my first vbac. I hope this review helps you buy this book. If I could buy a thousand or more of them and give them to every pregnant woman I ever saw, I would!! Highly rec.!Disclaimer: I know that just reading this book doesn't garauntee anything but it will give you the knowledge you desperately need to know about childbirth. Childbirth in the U.S. truly is in a sad, sad state and we women need to educate ourselves. There will always be a small rate of true "emergency" so be flexible but don't give your power to birth as your body knows how to away! :)

So many amazing ideas and tips for a natural birth. Every woman should read this book. Thankful I found it.

This book helped me so much. I gave birth 1 month ago completely unmedicated and it is truly because of this book that I was able to do that. This book gave me confidence in my body and my ability to give birth. Ina May wrote this in such an inspiring and beautiful way. If you are considering unmedicated labor and birth, definitely read this book.

WOW, TOTALLY RECOMMENDED. This is a COMPLETELY different outlook on birth than what most American mothers-to-be are familiar with hearing about from the medical community and media, and what an eye-opener it was! The first half of the book is filled with inspiring stories of natural births, where the pain/anxiety we've all been trained to expect take a back seat to the beauty and joy of the experience of bringing a new life into the world. The second half was the real meat of the book, with a very informative, straightforward, non-preachy guide to having as close to a natural birth experience as you can regardless of whether you're planning to deliver in a hospital, birth center, or at home. I found this book to be the absolute most helpful thing I read (and I read A LOT) in understanding what my ideal birth scenario would be like and how best to (hopefully) achieve it. EVERY expectant mother should read this at least once to understand that there ARE choices in the way you give birth and you DON'T have to have the typical hospital experience if that's not what you want. Thank you Ina May!!Update: Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that there's one glaring omission from this book (and pretty much every other major pregnancy book on the market) - stillbirth. Despite occurring in almost 1% of pregnancies and affecting 70-80 families *every day* in the US (that's 10 times as many babies as SIDS), I'm pretty sure the word "stillbirth" is not used once in this book. Needless to say, my husband and I were pretty blindsided when we showed up at the hospital in labor at 39.5 weeks only to be told after a perfectly uncomplicated and healthy pregnancy that our daughter did not have a heartbeat and there was nothing they could do (it was later determined that she died of a cord accident). I understand that most stillbirths are not preventable and that there's nothing anyone can really do to prepare you for the death of a child, but I at least would have liked to have known that this even was a possibility before it happened to me. I feel really duped by the entire pregnancy industry considering I read pretty much every major pregnancy book published, subscribed to multiple blogs and magazines, and took a 12 week natural birthing class, and it never came up once. Like SIDS, it can happen to anyone (I'm 28 and in the peak of health with zero genetic risk factors or family history), so I really will never understand the silence surrounding this devastating tragedy that affects 30,000 undeserving families in this country every year. I wish the publishers of this book would use their considerable reach to educate more families about this risk and how to cope if it happens to you.