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brekkeh 's review for:
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
by Ina May Gaskin
It's pretty good. The first half is all birth stories from the 1970s, which felt very dated and also a little too "hippy-dippy" or "woo" for me, so I ended up skipping most of them. I don't know why they're there, honestly. There's not enough information in most of them for them to be useful anecdotes.
Anyway. The second half of the book is a step-by-step look at the process of labor and birth, and what kinds of medical interventions may be necessary or applied at each step. She uses a lot of statistics, which I like. I'm going to read the book a second time, more thoroughly (I kind of inhaled it this read-through), and take notes.
My take-home message so far is this: I want a home birth. At the very least, I want a birth center birth. I don't want to be in a hospital. I want a midwife (or three), not an obstetrician. I knew this before, but now I'm resolute.
I also know that, in the last month, every time I've mentioned not giving birth in a hospital, my friends have FREAKED OUT. So, re-reading this book is going to give me the mental fortitude and confidence to keep telling those friends that hospitals aren't necessary for every birth, and to please calm down.
Anyway. The second half of the book is a step-by-step look at the process of labor and birth, and what kinds of medical interventions may be necessary or applied at each step. She uses a lot of statistics, which I like. I'm going to read the book a second time, more thoroughly (I kind of inhaled it this read-through), and take notes.
My take-home message so far is this: I want a home birth. At the very least, I want a birth center birth. I don't want to be in a hospital. I want a midwife (or three), not an obstetrician. I knew this before, but now I'm resolute.
I also know that, in the last month, every time I've mentioned not giving birth in a hospital, my friends have FREAKED OUT. So, re-reading this book is going to give me the mental fortitude and confidence to keep telling those friends that hospitals aren't necessary for every birth, and to please calm down.