Birth Prepardeness « Back to Group Discussions

[eirual]

I've been thinking more and more about birth and would like to better prepare myself for birth "emergencies". I had done a ton of reading when I was pregnant with DS (Ina May's Guide to Childbirth was as technical as it got though) but find it hard to find the time this time around.

Are there any good places to gather this type of information (how to deal with hemmorage and any other emergies)? I expect to have the care of a midwife during labour and birth, but also want to feel confident that I could handle things on my own if it came down to that for any reason.

[swelldoula]

Check out Gregory White's Emergency Childbirth Manual

Also, probably just doing as much general reading on the physiology of birth as you can, so that you understand the range of "normal" and what to look out for. "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin has a great section on emergency childbirth as well. 

[LionessMom]

i also read "heart and hands" or maybe it was the other way around. it was a guide to being a midwife. a textbook for one. very nice info. 

[MamaInTheDesert]

Thanks for this thread. I'm in the same position in that I'm -hoping- that my midwife makes it to my birth, BUT she's over 4 hours away, BUT my last labor was 12 hours, BUT I'm still nervous about it anyway. Hope that's more clear to others than it is for me. lol.

[swelldoula]

I couldn't find it the other day, but here is a link to the PDF of Gregory White's Emergency Childbirth Manual (to read for free)

http://www.rixafreeze.com/pdf/gregorywhite.pdf