The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

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Summary: an amazing book
Review: As a Doula (professional labor assistant) and future childbirth educator, I recommend this book to everyone!

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Summary: A must-read for all pregnant women and their partners!!!
Review: Truely opened my husband's and my eyes to how much we did NOT know about childbirth. This is far too important an event to put blind faith in doctors and a medical system that don't always have your best interests at heart. Education is your most valuable weapon against unnecessary intervention. Read everything you can get your hands on about labor and birth, but if you can only read one book, read this one!!!!

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Summary: Valuable research statistics
Review: This book has valuable research about medical procedures common in birth that can be valuable to someone wanting to learn more about their options. The author is biased - she declares this at the beginning - so read it with a grain of salt. Realize that she is trying to convince you that her viewpoint is the only correct one, based on the research. If you are a "thinking woman" as the book title proclaims to be a book for thinking women, then read her information and read other information and then sit down and THINK about what is best for you. No one can tell you what is best for you, but this is an accessible guide to some research studies that have been done so that you can feel you are making an educated decision for the health and well-being of you and your baby.

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Summary: You should know your options....
Review: As a doula and aspiring midwife, I have found this book to be very eye-opening. I think every pregnant woman should read it!

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Summary: Insightful, Well-Researched
Review: So many women trust their OB/GYN implicitly; this book forces a woman to think for herself and make her own decisions in regards to her prenatal care. OBs are surgeons, and as such, tend to follow a medical model of care. Pregnancy and childbirth is not a disease, and should not be treated as such. This book offers thought-provoking statistics and information that allow a woman to carefully consider the type of prenatal care she wishes to receive.

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Summary: Very frustrating book
Review: I bought this book thinking that it would give me a good perspective on how to balance my interest in a natural childbirth with my expectations of having to have some medical intervention based on my high-risk pregnancy. The back cover of the book says, "...helps you compare and contrast your various options and shows you how to avoid unneccary procedures..." By this she apparently meant "don't do anything the doctor wants, refuse any medical intervention." I did appreciate all the research presented in the book, she quotes many studies on the use of medications vs. none, the use of doulas, etc. However, this was balanced with the auther putting down any sort of medical procedure during birth. Every time I picked this book up I got so angry that my husband finally made me get rid of it. Even my cousin, a labor and delivery nurse who is very into natural childbirth hated this thing. The auther basically says that anything that your doctor wants to do is bad (and she obviously has very little respect for them). I agree that there are probably doctors out there that are very gung-ho on using any medical procedure available, I would also say that as a consumer, it's my responsibility to shop around until I find a doctor that fits my philosophy on childbirth. Also, I made several attempts to figure out what the auther's credentials were, and I still am unsure. I don't think she's even a certified doula. My opinion after reading the book is that if you really agree with her, you should be giving birth in a birth center or at home with a midwife because you're going to absolutely second guess everything being done in a hospital.

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Summary: Birth as it should be
Review: Learn how to experience birth as it should be rather than the bastardization of nature women experience in hospitals. Every mother-to-be should read this book. if the author is angry, as another reviewer suggests, well - it's justified. Women should be angry at the way they, and their babies, are treated by the medical establishment.

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Summary: Wonderful Book!!!
Review: This book is the greatest! I received a lot of information that is so useful in the practical approach to child birth. I will be having my second child in a couple of months, and I see now what went wrong last time. After reading this book I am confident that I will indeed go natural this time. I also am able to deal with the problems I had last time much better thanks to this book. So much better than another book I just read. I just finished another book "Husband Coached Birth" by Dr. Bradley. If you want to know what the real story is read this book. If you want to know what labor was like in about 1940, read the one by Bradley.

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Summary: Empowering and Informative!
Review: While the author definately has a very strong opinion on her subject, I believe she does a very good job of backing up her statements with numerous studies and statistics. After a very disappointing birth experience with my first child, which ended with a C-section, reading this book gave me the knowledge and courage to leave my OB and hospital in the fifth month of my second pregnancy. This book focuses mainly on interventions such as pitocin, fetal monitoring, epidurals, etc., and there links to complications and c-sections. I would recommend this book to any healthy women that believes that childbirth is a natural process that should not be interfered with unless medically necessary.