birthing book: HELP decide

Posts: 676
1/15/11 9:31 P

I've only read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way but I really liked it. I really want to read Birthing from Within & Ina Mae's Guide - I'll probably get them from the library before I buy them though. :)

Posts: 700
10/25/10 8:35 A

Thanks for the input! I just picked it up from the library. Figured it was as good a starting point as any. I'm doing a natural birth at the hospital's midwife birthing center (it has a birthing tub!), so I guess the setting is fairly similar to what you describedl.

Posts: 16825
10/14/10 2:55 P

I like the Sears birth book. It is most helpful when you are doing a hospital birth naturally.

I would supplement it with a mix of the others that focus much more on NCB, but the Sears book is great. (also much easier for DH's and birth helpers to read;)

Posts: 700
9/24/10 10:01 A

Oh, this is great feedback and info! I never heard of any of these (noob here) and was ready to just get the Sears birthing book and be done with it.

Do I have a lot of reading to do.

BTW, has anyone read the Sears book? Recommend or not?

Posts: 11
9/5/10 10:52 P

I love "Beautiful,Bountiful, Blissful" - I only read up through the first trimester because I want to save something for later. I just started Birthing from Within and the Sears Pregnancy month-by-month book (a little dated on tech stuff, but excellent on the things that remain constant).

Posts: 585
3/7/10 2:17 P

So, I've now read Birthing From Within, Ina Mae, The Sears Birth Book, and am reading Husband Coached Childbirth.

So far Birthing from Within and the Sears books are my favorites. I didn't read much of the Ina Mae book, I just didn't care much for the style. The Bradley book is interesting, I'm not sure I like his tone either, but the information seems a bit better than the Ina Mae book at least.

Posts: 1266
3/4/10 2:56 P

I just finished a wonderful book that I wanted to share, it is by Gurmukh called "Beautiful,Bountiful, Blissful" Just a wonderful book , it does contain yoga meditation practices, but she shares about her pregnancy and birth experiences and the joys of being pregnant and a lot about natural child birth. Good reading, it will totally uplift you. Cindy Crawford wrote the Forward for the book, nice to know women in Hollywood are choosing natural birth!

Posts: 801
2/3/10 11:14 A

I think the 2 funniest books are pregnancy sucks and 9 months to go. I always like a serious book and a funny one to help me deal

Posts: 150
1/12/10 10:57 P

The only two of those I read were "Birthing from Within" and "Ina May's Guide." I read both cover to cover.

My number one choice is "Birthing from Within."

It depends on where you're coming from, and for me, while Ina May's stories are inspirational and fascinating and empowering, I'm kind of glad that's not the only book I relied on. I was not completely comfortable with the idea of home-birthing, and my husband was pretty much immovable on the point of being in a hospital for the birth. We talked about it at length, and agreed that we wanted a hospital birth, but we wanted it to be as natural as possible, and that we would make that clear with everyone we came in contact with during the process, and that we wouldn't be afraid to change doctors or hospitals if they couldn't be supportive and enthusiastic about our plans to birth naturally.

Ina May is awesome -- but I have to say that when I ended up being induced, a lot of what her book had to say would have had to fly out the window. It wasn't the most "practical" guide, in other words.

Birthing from Within, on the other hand, allowed me to prepare for just about anything, and I wore that book out getting prepared.

I used several of the pain management techniques, and I made copies of several of her "arty" reminder images in the book, that I colored myself and added to my "birth binder" as little study guides.

I ended up having a birth experience that I could not have planned for, but I think the techniques in the Birthing from Within book allowed me to maintain my "as natural as possible" birth, without an epidural, without panicking, and with a lot of help and support from my husband, who also found the ideas and techniques in the book practical and helpful.

And her advice on aromatherapy as a technique SAVED me during labor!! I felt silly taking my crock pot to the hospital, but when I hit a rough patch in labor, and I had the option of my husband holding a washcloth (from home) dipped in my mixture of warm water with lavender and clary sage essential oils over my face while I breathed it in and calmed down -- it was awesome. And I never would have thought of that if not for that book. It tells you exactly what to do.

Many nurses commented on how good my room smelled throughout the 30-hour labor. It was like a spa in there, with that crock pot going. So nice.

Anyway, that book has tons of practical tips, no matter how labor goes.

Good luck!
Deb

Posts: 24
1/5/10 9:39 P

I have all the books except the hypnobirthing one. And the one that had the greatest impact on me was Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. She helps you look at childbirth in a very helpful way, as a trip/journey that is spiritual and holy and not an arduously, painful, contraction-filled experience that you have to get through. The stories emphasize the mind-body connection and encouraging the woman to surrender to the power of her body's work with a grateful heart. It was very inspiring. I think all the books you have chosen are great. The bradley method book is very vivid with its pictures. Birthing from Within has a lot to do with getting emotionally prepared and cleaning out the cobwebs of your psyche through birth art. But Ina May had a nice balance of real birth stories and practical advice.

Posts: 720
12/8/09 11:04 A

I loved and recommend both the Bradley Book and Ina May's Book. However, I always tell anyone I'm recommended Ina May's book that it does have some disturbing pics in it. But the stories from the moms are so encouraging and inspirational. I labored for only 4 hours with my first and although I was a little uncomfortable, I wouldn't describe it as painful using the Bradley method, but as I was pushing, we found out he was breech so I had to have a C-section last minute. I might have gotten out before I experienced the real pain. I just wouldn't know. I only know, I loved my labor and hope to try it again this time VBAC. I owe it to the Bradley Method.

Posts: 1386
12/6/09 11:59 A

I have read both the Bradley book, and the Birthing from Within book. Bradley, I love. I think it had lots of great stuff, and it was the only book I used with my last pregnancy, and I had an (almost) painless labor and delivery. I love that book. As for "Birthing from Within", it was ok, but it just wasn't my style. I am an artsy girl, but it just didn't work for me.

I have never read ina may's book, or hypobirthing, but The Ina May book does sound interesting. I may have to scoop it.

Posts: 120
8/4/09 2:30 A

I don't know if anyone has suggested this one but OMG!! I have this amazing book by Jackie Mize!! You've got to get it. I got my copy from Amazon, new, for like 5 something, $3.99 for shipping. It's called 'Supernatural Childbirth'. I haven't gotten the actual book yet, but I got the little book with the prayers and confessions. I've already finished reading it, but I can tell I'm going to be reading this over and over. It talks about having the faith to get pregnant, carry to full term, with no complications, and have a pain free, drug free childbirth!! Because we've been redeemed from the curse, we no longer have to endure the curse of pain that came with child bearing that Eve deemed for all women. Jesus saved us from that pain. So, I'm believing for pain free, drug free childbirth! I think you'll like this book. It also talks about dealing with fear of miscarriage. You would really get alot from this book. I know I have. The prayers are the best part to me, because they speak directly to your situation and even your body. So anyway, I hope you'll check it out. It's well worth it. Sorry if I offended anyone with this, but I believe fear is a big problem when it comes to child birth and what better way to get rid of it. "Perfect Love (God is Love) Casteth out fear!!" Right?

And as always...

Sow Love, Reap Love.

Carla

BabyPoints: 215
Posts: 31
5/7/09 3:51 A

I just picked up the least old-looking birthing books at my library (not much selection...)

The Gentle Birth Book (Leboyer)

and after watching "The Business of Being Born" I grabbed "Birth as an American Rite of Passage" because I thought it looked pretty interesting.

I plan on doing whatever method will help me relax the most, and I'm hoping a mix of a couple birthing methods will be most effective =)

Posts: 1340
4/19/09 1:29 A

1)birthing from within
2)bradley
3)ina may
4) hypnobirthig

Posts: 714
2/17/09 10:49 P

I second the Birth Partner.

Posts: 150
2/9/09 5:19 A

Hi! This is coming from someone who hasn't birthed yet, so take it FWIW!

I have only read Ina May's and Birthing from Within. Of those two, I think my favorite was/is Birthing from Within. I loved Ina May's book, and maybe her book got me prepared for BfW, but I have found that BfW has many more useful "day of labor" tips. I am actually using it to put together a "birth binder," with copies of pages to have during the birth, for myself and my husband.

Thanks to your note, though, I think I'm going to try to take a look at Hypnobirthing...sounds interesting.

Good luck!

Posts: 120
1/23/09 11:33 P

SPEEDMUMA~ Check your library...if they don't have Hypnobirthing, I would be happy to send you my copy. Unfortunately it is a hand me down and I never received the CD with it. I also have the Bradley Method Book and the Sears Birth book I would be willing to share. Some do have highlighting, like I said they are hand me downs to me. I feel everyone deserves the best chance at reaching their goal of a peaceful birth. Let me know if you are interested in the above, message me your address and I will send them out early next week. If not, my feelings won't be hurt :)

Posts: 65
1/21/09 12:22 A

All such great books! I want to echo the Penny Simpkin recommendation, though! Anything by her is fabulous!!


Another WONDERFUL book is "Active Birth"