Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

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That said, though, there are perfectly valid reasons why some of us do give birth in hospitals, and not all hospital births are the nightmare that natural childbirth books make them out to be.

I also love the pictures throughout the book which fill me with a nice feeling of anticipation and excitement long before I even got pregnant.

Ina May pushes back against the idea that midwives can only be present for “normal,” non-complicated births and includes stories of breech babies, shoulder dystocia, women who were told they had a too small pelvis, etc. There was a story about abortion that while interesting, really didn't go into very much detail about the birth. Ina May, while informative and practical, describes giving birth as something delightful, hilarious, and super-power-esque to look forward to.

Ina May made me terrified of mainstream medicine's approach to birth, and the book got hard to read at a certain point because I was like, "Yeah, sure, this birth would be wonderful if I were doing it on Ina May's hippie commune, but since I'm doing it in a shitty Miami hospital those doctors are going to cut me up into pieces and mess up my baby with all kinds of unnecessary and frightening interventions. With Gaskin’s timeless wisdom, you can approach birth with confidence and excitement, wherever and however it happens. And if one more person tells me how great the Moosewood Cookbook is, I will heave a bag of whole grain flour at her. Con fotos de mujeres que no sufren durante el parto, consejos para prepararse y todo desde un punto de vista natural.

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. 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.

Highly recommended, i have stopped attending labor classes in my village cause this book is far more updated and gives a view positive (and not scary or bloody) about having a baby.

I'm not squeamish, I'm a nurse, but as a woman trying to prepare to have a baby in a few months I don't want to fill my head with stories and statistics about women who die in the process of labor; unnecessary stress and certainly not empowering for me. I learned a lot and would even recommend this book as long as it is not the only book a future mother reads. Hospitals and doctors have come a loooong way in being more patient centered and accommodating women's wishes with childbirth. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body. In the case of Ina May, I'm a little embarrassed that the whole thing kind of makes my blood run cold.