Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

Aside from my doula, this was the most indisposable wealth of information that I found during my pregnancy. Ina May is an amazing woman, a down-to-earth writer, and an inspiration for pregnant women. With the information in this book, I was aided in having an amazing labor and completely natural birth, exactly what I had hoped for. Throughout my pregnancy I worked in a book store, where I reccomended this book to every pregnant women whom I spoke with. Excellent book!

I've found the book overall very informative on natural childbirth. It is anti-hospital unless deemed necessary. I totally agree with that. Many of the birth stories are enjoyable to read. Some are a bit weird for me. 

 

I am not hippy, spiritual, whatever. So, those parts annoyed me a little bit. I'm a Christian - firm in my beliefs. But, overall the book was quite good and I feel it was one of the best books related to birth that I've read in my 4 pregnancies. I'm looking forward to my second homebirth. 

I was so thrilled to read this book. While I wanted a home birth, I was so afraid that every book I would encounter on the subject would be too hippy-dippy for me... especially one that was written when it was by Ina May (from her hippy-dippy commune started in the seventies - LOL). The whole "don't judge a book by its cover" thing really applied here for me. The whole first half of the book is full of home birth stories and it really managed to shift my mindset away from the fear that had been driven into me since childhood that childbirth is painful and needs to be tended to by a doctor, that women can't do it themselves without help... after reading this I really believed that I could do it, have a home birth... right to my core. Remembering those stories during labor really helped strengthen my resolve and I was able to do it too!!

 

When I first got this book, I wanted to skip all the birthing stories in the beginning of the book and get to the second half of the book, the "science" of birthing.  But, I forced myself to read all the stories and I am SO SO glad I did!!  It allowed me to have a MOST AMAZING, EMPOWERING birth.  Even my 11 year old daughter wanted to read the book.  We were fighting over the book! It helped her a lot too since she ended up having to assist the birth of her baby brother...  He decided to enter the world in a rush and he beat the mid-wife and my husband so she was the main one who attended me and she did an AWESOME job!

Stop reading reviews and go pick up this book.  I think every woman of childbearing age should read the birth stories.  They may not be for everyone (i.e. calling contractions "rushes") but this books provides an amazing perspective of what birth can be like.  Ina May's information is evidence based and it would be great if more women knew the knowledge she tries to impart through this book.

This book is a MUST for all women even thinking of having a baby!  It contains information that you will not find anywhere else(that I know of).  I already had one child and I thought I had researched pretty well last time about labor/delivery.  I really wish I would have found this book last time, because I didn't know anything compared to what I know now!

And I did not think that this book was anti-hospital at all!  It definatly talks about when a woman needs to go to the hospital and when it is not safe to give birth at home.

I bought this book shortly after we found out I was pregnant. I thought I'd probably finish it by the time I gave birth to our DS. Nope! I finished in about 2 weeks! I loved every part. Especially the birth stories. They were all so beautiful, some had me in tears. This book is very positive and empowering. It is the one book I would recommend to all pregnant women. And even though I finished it in 2 weeks, I found myself rereading many chapters of the book. I can't say enough good things about it.

This book changed my feelings about birth from insecurity and worry to confidence.  This book was the turning point in my pregnancy - I started out pregnancy thinking I would have a medicated hospital birth, but later switched to a homebirth.  I had an amazing birth experience at home, which would not have been possible without the attitude change that started with Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.

I'm really glad I read this book before I had my son. I had him in a hospital with a doula. I think that the real birth stories and information in this book really got me through some of the tough parts of my labor, because I knew that what I was going through was normal. I used some of the things that the women in the real birth stories used like changing positions and the sphincter law. I am sure this book helped me achieve the birth I wanted. Yes, this book is a bit "crunchy" as another reviewer put it and occasionally a little graphic, but I think natural childbirth is that way in real life anyway. It's good to read about the reality of birth instead of going into labor without understanding how it works.