********** 10 Stars!
Price: US$ 15.00, Available worldwide on Amazon.com
Check Availability from: Canada or from United Kingdom
ISBN: 0399525173

Description

If you are pregnant you should read this book!  Whether you are planning a Hospital Birth, or a Homebirth this book  will empower you, help you be safer and quite possibly improve the outcome of your and your child's birth experience.  It is an amazing book that will empower you with knowledge and choice in any setting, hospital, home, or with midwife.    Individuals with no interest in Natural Childbirth will find information in this book that will enable them to have a much better hospital birth experience. 

Individuals intent on home or midwife birth, even those who've read a lot of  other books (and I have Ina May's books, Mothering Magazine's book, Birthing from Within, etc) will not want to miss this one!!  I found the nuts and bolts information this book provides really empowers you with accurate information on which to base your birth choices.  After reading this book,  the previous Natural Childbirth books I'd read, (including the ones mentioned above), seemed quite incomplete.  You'll feel shocked and be glad you made the move to get this one!! 

The first half is clear and plain explanation of the labor process and of birth management options (both standard medical and management by midwife) and medical outcomes common to them.  It's very easy to read and understand.  The second half of the book  is excerpt after excerpt (200-300 pages, I think) from main stream medical studies, detailing the actual studies and their results.  Real hands on facts for your doctor or midwife.

Most  of what I'd gleaned from other books on Natural Childbirth  was confirmed and documented in this book.  I was also surprised to find significant information that the others had left out (or  in some cases gotten slightly wrong).

Henci Goer specializes in birth issues.  Every pregnant woman should read her book The Thinking Woman's Guide to a better Birth .  It's all about birth choices from the very empowering postition of being self educated by actual  medical facts, statistics.  Having decades of scientific studies at your fingertips, and real information on Modern Birth practices.  When you read this book you will feel shocked, awed, and more than anything more empowered and optimistic about birth than ever before. The Below is an excerpt from her website:
Henci Goer, award-winning medical writer and internationally known speaker, is the author of The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. Her previous book, Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities, is a highly-acclaimed resource for childbirth professionals. An independent scholar, she is an acknowledged expert on evidence-based maternity care. Goer has written consumer education pamphlets and numerous articles for magazines as diverse as Reader's Digest and the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing.

She is currently a resident expert on Lamaze International's website, the Lamaze Institute for Normal Birth. Now concentrating on writing and speaking, Goer was a doula (labor support professional) for over 20 years and a Lamaze educator for ten.

Join Henci Goer in discussing common practices and policies in pregnancy and childbirth. Learn about the evidence supporting normal birth. Get information that can help you -- or your students or clients -- make informed decisions about care. Find out the characteristics of providers who practice according to the best evidence.