More Birth Books

I've read a lot of birth books in the last two weeks.

First, I read through Pam England's Inanna's Descent Journal. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but interesting, as her work always is to me.

I also finished reading Pregnant Feelings, another 80's birth book with some interesting content and ideas. The subtitle is "developing trust in birth," which I think is such an important piece. It has a nice emphasis on birth being unique to each individual, so not to base your experience or expectations on anyone else (or on specific coping "techniques"). It is by Rahima Baldwin, who wrote Special Delivery--another 80's birth book that I enjoy a great deal. I have a special interest in postpartum care and I found it particularly interesting to read that postpartum hemorrhage is most common between days 10 and 17 postpartum!

Speaking of postpartum, I marked a section in another birth book I finished recently--Fathers at Birth. In it, the author says there is an old saying in the East: "The way a woman takes care of herself after a baby is born determines how long she will live." While not meant literally, I find it a very powerful quote and I will incorporate both things into my "planning for postpartum" session that I give periodically. I really enjoyed this book and have blogged about it at CfM (twice) and ICEA (twice) already, so you can read more of my thoughts there!

Then, I finished reading one of my holiday gifts from my dear husband--The Labor Progress Handbook, by Penny Simkin. It had been on my wishlist for absolute AGES, so it was fun to finally get and read. Picked up some ideas about coping with long labors/back labor/fetal malpositioning to incorporate into my classes. I also posted some thoughts from it at Talk Birth.

My copy of the new film Pregnant in America arrived today and I'm eager to watch it!

I also read Twilight (teenage book about vampires--not birth related at all!), which was my guilty pleasure of the month--I read it WAY too fast and am casting about for the other books in the series.

Yoga for Your Pregnancy

I wanted to quickly post about a prenatal yoga DVD I got for my birthday and absolutely LOVE! It is Yoga for Your Pregnancy by Yoga Journal & Lamaze. The video has multiple practices, which makes it a wonderful value for your money--there is an energizing practice, a relaxing practice, a postpartum practice and then quick practices of meditation for pregnancy, pranayama for pregnancy, and birthing room yoga. I adore the birthing room yoga segment. So good! It is only five minutes long and is perfect to use in birth classes. I've already incorporated it into my classes and it is wonderful. I bought this video specifically for ideas to use in birth classes--which is fulfilled perfectly with that great little segment--but was pleasantly surprised that I LOVE doing each of the practices as my own morning yoga routine. I'm not pregnant and find the practices really, really good even for not-pregnant people. They have a great balance of some challenge along with restorative, gentleness (they have modifications for people further along in pregnancy). The postpartum practice is really quite a workout, which was a surprise to me. Anyway, I just really enjoy this video!

There is an interview with the instructor as one of the bonus features and she talks about her planned homebirth which progressed very quickly and so she ended up having an unplanned unassisted birth, which I thought was cool. She also talks about using hypnosis to prepare for birth. Ever since I "met" Sheridan online, my ears perk up whenever I hear someone mention using hypnosis in labor!

As far as books, I only finished reading The Very Important Pregnancy Program by Gail Brewer. I didn't really like it that much. The emphasis on nutrition was intense! I recognize that nutrition is very important, but I wonder if it is the total end all be all that this book presents! Also, basically I collect books like this in order to glean new information or coping techniques to share in birth classes. I was interested that in this ENTIRE book there was basically ONE coping strategy, which was to do progressive relaxation in which a "wave" of relaxation passes through your body during each contraction. She even says that this technique might get "boring" since you have to do it for several hours of contractions, but doesn't really offer anything else! I forget that some approaches to birth preparation are much more passive than my own approach--the emphasis of this book, and in the Bradley book, is to lie still on your side basically the whole labor doing this relaxation technique the whole time. No thanks!

Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy & Birth

Last month I finished reading and reviewing the new book from Our Bodies, Ourselves. Focused exclusively on Pregnancy & Birth, this book is a fantastic new resource! I would particularly recommend it for a first time mother.

From my review:

"Many women view the original book Our Bodies, Ourselves as an essential women’s health resource and also as a radically transformative influence in their lives. New this year from The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective is a confident volume specifically about pregnancy and birth. I hope Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy & Birth will become to pregnant women what the original book has been to women’s health and empowerment."

The book opens with a discussion about the Climate of Confidence and Climate of Doubt, which I really connected with as a way to look at the messages swirling around pregnant women today.

In addition to being a basic pregnancy book, this book also goes beyond in that it acknowledges the reality of violence against women during pregnancy and offers resources for seeking help if you are living with a violent mate. This book is also willing to address some unpopular or largely ignored subjects such as depression during pregnancy, HIV, STDS, and sexual abuse. It also has two wonderful closing chapters about advocating for changes in maternity care and advocating for mothers and families.

Regarding parental leave: "The United States is one of only five countries out of the 173 surveyed in a recent study that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the other four countries are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea." (emphasis mine, because these countries are not usually one that the US really considers "trend setters" or "peers"! The US often prides itself on being a leader and a model for other countries and I think we should be embarrassed not to be doing better by our country's mothers and babies!)

New blog!

Yes, I started another blog! I noticed when looking on the hits on this blog that an often searched for term is "pregnancy art." I occasionally post about birth art here, but the posts are kind of lost amongst all the other posts and other topics. So, I started a dedicated blog where I can share photos from my birth art collection/presentations. I will add to it gradually, so as not to overload the reader/viewer all at once. Comments are welcome!

Who Made the Lamb?

Let me begin by saying, I do not really understand why this book was called Who Made the Lamb? Ah, well. Maybe such things are not for me to know. The subtitle is "A Journal of Childbirth" and it was written in the 60's by Charlotte Painter. This book was given away by a fellow midwifery advocate at the recent Retreat, which is how I came to have and read it (I finished it on Monday). I'm also confused why the back of the book claims that the book is an "exploration of natural childbirth," when the author actually has a scheduled cesarean after only minimal and halfhearted attempts to learn about natural childbirth (such as a taking a hospital class in which she quickly realizes that the instructor is really only preparing them to be "good girls" and follow their doctors' orders--classes of the type that I refer to as "hospital obedience classes").

A thoroughly still true and unfortunate truth quoted therein: "Tom [her husband] laughed at this idealism. 'You don't understand,' he said, 'Pregnancy is not regarded as a process of creation. It's a disease of the uterus.'"

How true this is--a disease of the uterus. This is absolutely how the medical system continues to view pregnancy (and birth is the excavation of the disease. This reminds me of our "friendly" neighborhood doctor testifying at the Capitol against the midwifery bill that pregnancy can be viewed as a foreign object in the body and therefore "babies are like tumors that need to be removed").