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Summary: A book with another perspective.
Review: My 3 young children attend a small coastal California school where one of the women in this book is the school nurse. She still provides the same loving, calm understanding, but now for bruised knees and sore throats. I read this book before my 3 births but I must admit it took me until the third birth to "get the concept". Now my sister-in-law is pregnant and is approaching it from a very mainstream point of view. I am more than confident that my gift to her, of this book, will give her another perspective so that she can make well rounded choices.
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Summary: A very detailed book on child birth and pregrancy.
Review: My mother handed down a older version of this book to me with my first child. I found it very helpful in understanding more about child birth and pregnancy. I am now pregnant with my third child and have found something interesting and new in reading this book with all of my children. There is a due date chart that has proved to be closer to my acctual date then the doctors. I have recomended this book to all of my pregnant friends and I will pass this book on to my own children.
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Summary: A classic in it's genre
Review: Not only is this book both spiritually inspiring and technichally informative, it's also a really good read. You would expect anyhing written/edited by the woman frequently referred to as "the mother of modern midwifery" to be pompous and formal, but it's charmingly personal and approachable, from the slangy, non-clinical language to the occasional spelling error. It's a breath of fresh air compared with today's slicker - than -slick publishing style. Essential for both the expectant mother and aspiring midwife
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Summary: Timeless Advice
Review: Over eighteen years ago, this book was a guide, a source of comfort and an inspiration when I had my first child at home. The wisdom it contains supported me through the vastly more confrontational process of having my second child in hospital four years later. When a good friend became pregnant last year, I was delighted to find it on the shelves at the local bookstore, and immediately bought a copy to give her.The births of both my children were intervention-free, and I credit that in no small measure to Ina May Gaskin's wonderful book. Yeah, the birth stories are goofy, but in such a homey, loving way! It's like e-mail from your slightly nutso friends. You save it and re-read it because it makes you smile.
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Summary: Spiritual Midwifery changed my life
Review: Spiritual Midwifery changed my life in two ways. First, this book showed me birth scenes that were loving and powerful; it made me want to share in that experience. Secondly, it inspired me to write a book of my own, GIVING BIRTH: A JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF MOTHERS AND MIDWIVES (2002), in order to give women an updated view of midwives today. I interviewed and observed dozens of midwives and mothers, and many, many of them raved about Ina May Gaskin's book and her work. I even interviewed a pair of obstetricians who had gone to The Farm to have their baby with Ina May! I love the window into the lives of birthing women, their partners, their babies, and the midwives who helped them that Spiritual Midwifery offers. It is fantastic.
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Summary: courageous, loving, spiritual, eye-opener, REAL
Review: Spiritual Midwifery is real. It's what childbirth is all about. It allows you to explore all your inner feelings, good and bad and to understand how beautiful birth really is. Read it I think you find the courage, strength and peace needed for birth.
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Summary: A classic. A "must have".
Review: This book changed my life! Iread it about 13 years ago and it was the deciding factor in my going to nursing school. (at that time direct entry midwives were illegal in Florida). This book totally reinforces "birth" as a spiritual and natural event. Ina May also stresses the importance of babies in the birthing process and in our lives, as well as the relationship of the mother and father. This book offers positive affirmations of the birthing process that it should be read by anyone who is pregnant or wants to be.
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Summary: Changed our outlook on birth
Review: This book changed the way my wife and I looked at our daughter's impending birth. Yes, it's very hippy dippy, but it is filled with such good information, and such life- and love-affirming passion, that it got us to re-evaluate how we approached the childbirth experience. It started the journey away from a hospital birth, and despite the rolling of eyes at some of the far-out language, we found we went back to it again and again as a reference before and after the birth. With the coaching of our excellent midwives, and the understanding we had gained through this book (and others such as Active Birth, The Birth Partner, and Childbirth as an American Rite of Passage) my wife had a great birth experience, and our daughter an intervention-free entry into the world.
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Summary: Must have for first time mothers
Review: This book gave me so much confidence in my abilities to give birth naturally! I was a nervous first-time mother-to-be, but wanted to make a serious attempt at natural childbirth due to all the complications associated with epidurals and the like. I read my mother's copy from cover to cover and filed all the wonderful details away for use during my own labor. I was born in the 70's, and found the hippy langauge a little amusing, but brightly descriptive and calming. I like being talked to as a person who has a mind of her own, not someone who cannot make decisions of her own free will, as some other birthing books tend to do. I recommend this book highly to all new mothers that I meet. The message that you are completely capable of giving birth to the child living inside you with little or no intervention, aside from real emergencies, is an invaluable one, and all the actual recounts put you in this frame of mind. Ina May and the midwives in this book create a loving voice in your head that stays with you when you need it the most. With no fear tactics, either! What a novel idea... And I also have to add that I used tons of the information given to aid my labor, and it all worked, at various levels. It gave me the confidence to labor at home for the majority of the first day, and by the time I went into the hospital I was already 7 centimeters dialated, much to my surprise. I gave natural birth to a healthy baby boy the next day. Everyone's labor experience is different- I just wanted to share my real-life labor that was made significantly better by this book.
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Summary: The quintessential text on the spirit of midwifery
Review: This book has become a classic text in midwifery and birth-related circles. It captures an era and a spirit which serves to inspire future generations. Ina May Gaskin, the mother of midwifery in America, shares her personal journey along this path of enlightenment through birth. It is a collection of personal accounts; a journal of sorts. It shows how true midwives are not created in formalized schools, but that the art and science of midwifery are something created within. She paints for us a picture of the spirit of the midwife and how that spirit guides the process of birth. If you aspire to be a midwife, this book will further inspire you. If you are pregnant or a mother, this book will enlighten you. Read these words with an open mind, an open heart, and an open spirit and you will undoubtedly come away from it changed for ever.
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