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Summary: Valuable resource for Parents
Review: Elizabeth Noble's vast experience makes this book one that has both breadth and depth. It is a book that will travel with parents as a trusted friend as they travel the joys and challenges of parenthood. It is thought provoking and at times ground breaking in its concepts and propositions, which may challenge some readers to futher research .I think that time will see this book regarded as a beacon of what is possible.
Midwives. childbirth educators and doulars will find the information in this book fascinating and an enrichment to the services that they offer parents.
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Summary: Reality in twin pregnancy
Review: FROM: An Obstetrician who loved the book!Reviewer: Robert J. Oliver, MD, PhD, FACOG: Having Twins and more.Houghton Miffin, Publisher ISBN 0-618-18373-0
I have just completed a review of the finest book on multiple births that I have seen and I have seen a lot of them in my 43 years of obstetrics practice. Frankly, I am upset that my profession did not write this book for my benefit and that of my many mothers who made it through pregnancy with more than one child at a time. I compliment those mothers for I have used just exactly what Elizabeth Noble wrote about and have never had to do a section for twins and none of my mothers have ever had preterm births in all my practice years. Because of what I did, no; the mothers did what the book emphasizes, become knowledgeable and be responsible for your births.
Ms Noble has provided an informed consent book for the mother who must put up with the scare techniques we doctors have been taught so that we can manipulate women into believing they are not capable of safe and secure, full term, unassisted twin or more childbirth. The text is easy to read, there is a good glossary for terms which might confuse, and a most important section or two covers the problems of twin birth, loss of one twin, and psychological issues of loss felt by the surviving twin. I was most happy that she included a reasonable criticism of assisted reproductive technology (the name implies the issue) and the terrible results of male circumcision, condemned by the thoughtful parent.
I would love to have seen more information that would help parents understand what prenatal testing really is about and the trauma that the fetus will experience. Unfortunately, most of the statistics about interventions, VBACs, epidural and elective induction and cesarean section have changed. Instead of lower rates of cesareans, epidural and inductions these interventions which cause increased birth trauma have increased dramatically and especially so for twins. Epidurals are used in 75-90% of all births, and VBACs are now banned in most hospitals for no good reason.
Everyone who is faced with the birth of multiples would do well to study this book. Robert Oliver, MD, PhD
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Summary: In the eyes of a midwife
Review: I am a Certified Nurse-Midwife with 25 years of practice. Having cared for numerous mothers of twins and delivered several sets at home, I feel that Elizabeth and Leo's book is acurate and empowering to any parent of multiples. This lays out the reality of birthing and caring for multiples. The choice remains in the parents hands when they are informed. This book gives you the information needed to make informed decisions about every aspect of the pregnancy and births. I encourage all parents of a multiple pregnancy to stay well informed and make the decisions that they know are right for their babies. This book will give you the knowledge and the power to follow your intuition and heart in making those decisions.
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Summary: Best book on twin birth!
Review: I am delighted to see a new edition of "Having Twins and More," by Elizabeth Noble. Elizabeth's other books, "Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year," and "Childbirth With Insight" were required reading when I taught childbirth classes. "Having Twins" is the only book I can recommend to mothers expecting multiples. Other books gloss over the importance of nutrition and assume you will accept a high-risk pregnancy label and automatic cesarean without protest.
Some of the other reviewers of this book complained that it frightened them and that the dietary information was not to their liking. I looked through the book carefully, but I could not find the source of their concern. On a hunch, I looked at the reviews for "What to Expect When You Are Expecting," a book that I have always considered to be bland and overly deferential to obstetricians. Sure enough, many reviewers complained that this book frightened them and had impossible nutritional expectations. I had to laugh when I read that some folks actually thought that "What to Expect" undermined their doctor's authority!
I guess there is a subset of moms who don't want to hear that what they eat every day is more important than anything their doctor can do to insure a healthy pregnancy and a safe birth. Nor do they want to know that there are controversies in obstetrics, the least scientific medical specialty. Like it or not, there are important choices that every mother must make about birth. Leaving everything up to a doctor is still a choice, but the doctor is not the one who will have to live with the consequences.
"Having Twins and More" is the best book available for expectant parents of multiples, and the health professionals who work with them.
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Summary: Having Twins and more is full of misinformation,
Review: I bought this book a few days ago, and returned it the next day after trying to read some of it. The first sign something was wrong is in the introduction of the book. The author has a degree in Physical Therapy, and how that makes her qualified to write on the subject of Twins is beyond me. She uses her personal opinions on the subjects of circumcision, cesarean section, nutrition and ultrasound examinations to make the reader believe these things are bad and even harmful. I am a clinical nutritionist in a pediatric hospital and I found her stance on "no dairy products, as they cause disease", just plain
unfounded and misinformed. It is scary to arm people in a very exciting time in their lives with the wrong information. The fact that she wants all twin mothers to strive for a natural birth is great, but not wholly realistic. To advise busy people to not use a microwave is another unrealistic admonishment this author uses. I actually laughed out loud. This book is a joke.
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Summary: Hard to find good info
Review: I received this book as gift when I found out I was pregnant with twins. I am horribly disappointed. The author just fills the book with her radical left-wing opinions (like we should not drink another animal's milk, even cows!) She makes you feel like if you have to have a cesarean- you are already a failure as a mother! She also highlights people's regressed memories of fertilization and their loss of a twin before birth! Throughout the entire book she keeps reiterating the fact the having children in Europe is so much better than here in America. Well, like most people, I do not have a choice! The only reason I have finished the book is I kept hoping for some useful information. I never really found it!
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Summary: Thorough, but not unbiased
Review: I tend to be somewhat of a "natural" sort of person (I prefer organic food, cloth diapers, etc.) but even I felt that the author's unabashed judgements of certain issues, like circumcision, dairy products, bed rest, home birth, and medical care to be extreme. I would love to have been able to have used a midwife for my pregancy, for instance, but it's probably unsafe for multiple pregnancies. As for what she believes about "excessive" ultrasounds, the benefits for multiples outweigh the risks. It wasn't till my 7th ultrasound that my babies were diagnosed with twin-twin transfusion syndrome (it didn't develop till then), and they would have died if I'd been more skeptical about the benefits of ultrasound. However, there are a whole lot of good things in this book. I read it straight through, and did feel very good about the possibility of a "normal" delivery, breastfeeding, and so forth, when others were criticizing (not my doctor) my hopes of doing so. The nutrition section also made me feel good, since it teaches women to not be afraid of gaining weight with multiples. Also, something that stuck out to me were the stories of prenatal recovered memories of twins. It probably gets filed in the "too weird to be true" box, but it was really interesting to read. Overall, this wasn't a great buy, but not a total bust, either. Sorry.
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Summary: my review was submitted by Eliz Noble
Review: I worite the reveiw which is credited to Elizabieth NOble. Please change it with her and my permission. Robert Oliver, MD, PhD
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Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!
Review: I've never taken the time to write an on-line review about anything, but I don't wan't anyone else to waste their money!This is my second pregnancy and I'm expecting identical twins. I read somewhere on the internet that this book was a good resource. I bought it without reading any on-line reviews... BIG MISTAKE. So many one-sided opinions and views expressed by the author that you can't distinguish what is factual. The pages on circumcision were a joke (I had to look at the copyright date b/c I thought it must be from the 1950's). The author also writes that it is so easy to breastfeed two twins at the same time that you can simultaneously have both of your hands free to help DRESS another child!!!! That's when I sould have stopped reading. I have yet to find a twin book that I really like, but this is by far the worst!
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Summary: Out of date statistics - up to date politics
Review: If you're looking for a nicely packaged sermon - you've found it. If you'd like to have someone tell you how to think, feel, reason, etc., Ms. Noble is game for that too. Unfortunately, I bought this new third edition book hoping to better educate myself about our upcoming twins. The advice ranges from judgemental to downright nasty. Some of the statistics are also FRIGHTENINGLY out of range from what I've read in recent studies. If you happen to have used any sort of assisted reproductive technology (from IVF to aspirin), make certain you don't read the introduction as it is particularly damning. I would say that the new addition has been updated in its political idealogy only, with little focus on improving the accuracy of the information.
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