Gentle Birth Choices

FAMILY / CHILDBIRTH "Should I give birth at home, in a birth center, or in a hospital? Should I see a midwife or an obstetrician for prenatal care? What approach to pain relief should I use during labor? How does a waterbirth work?" Expectant parents are faced with a daunting array of choices to make about prenatal care, labor, and birth. In Gentle Birth Choices Barbara Harper, renowned childbirth advocate, nurse, midwife, and mother of three, explains all the available choices and shows how to plan a truly meaningful, family-centered birth experience. She dispels the medical myths that so often shift control of birth away from women and reimagines birth without fear or violence and with minimal pain. Harper reveals the abundant range of gentle birth approaches, including: - giving birth in an independent birth center, at home, or in a hospital birthing room - finding a primary caregiver who shares your philosophy of birth - deciding how to best use current technologies She also provides practical advice for couples wishing to explore options such as hiring a doula or laboring in water to avoid the unwanted effects of drugs and epidurals. "Exactly the sort of guide that pregnant women have been needing to help them sort through the myriad choices and options that confront them today." --Robbie Davis-Floyd, author of Birth As an American Rite of Passage "Gentle Birth Choices provides a new model of maternity care that reduces the need for high-tech crisis intervention and focuses instead on preparation and health." --Healthworld "A must-have for expectant mothers and their loved ones. . . . Gentle Birth Choices is an intelligent and sympathetic guide to birthing options that explores nontraditional ways that put women and their babies first." --New Age Retailer The author's accompanying 60-minute Gentle Birth Choices DVD blends interviews of midwives and physicians with footage of six different birth experiences--including a home birth, waterbirths, vaginal birth after a prior Cesarean section, and birth with other children present. The DVD vividly demonstrates the strength of women during childbirth and the healthy and happy outcome of women exercising gentle birth choices. It is a moving and powerful instructional tool, not only for expectant parents, but also for midwives, hospitals, birth centers, and doctors. "Brace yourself for a powerful experience. This remarkable production combines art, education, and politics. Highly recommended." --Mothering Magazine BARBARA HARPER's passion for natural birth led to the founding in 1988 of Global Maternal/Child Health Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and research about natural childbirth. She lectures worldwide on maternity care reform and waterbirth. She lives outside of Portland, Oregon.

Barbara Harper's passion for natural birth led to the founding in 1988 of Global Maternal/Child Health Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and research about natural childbirth. She lectures worldwide on maternity care reform and water birth and is the author of Gentle Birth Choices. She lives in Florida.

Foreword by Robbie Davis-Floyd Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 Gentle Beginnings Wonderfully Made Ingredients for a Gentle Birth Chapter 2 The Medicalization of Childbirth Our Legacy of Birth From Midwife to Physician The Promise of Science Pain Relief: The Era of “Twilight Sleep” Hospital Births for Everyone Unmasking Prenatal Testing Medical Legal Dilemmas The Results of Medical Intervention Chapter 3 Dispelling the Medical Myths Myth: The Hospital is the Safest Place to Have a Baby Myth: Maternity Care Should Be Managed Only by a Physician Myth: The Electronic Fetal Monitor Will Save Babies Myth: All Babies Should be Born On or Before Their Due Date Myth: Drugs for Pain Relief Won’t Hurt the Baby Myth: Once a Cesarean, Always a Cesarean Myth: An Episiotomy Heals Better Than a Tear Myth: Birth Needs to be Sterile Myth: The Older You Are the More Difficult Your Birth Will Be Myth: It’s Better Not to Eat or Drink during Labor Myth: Family and Friends Interfere during Birth Myth: The Baby Needs to be Observed in a Newborn Nursery Myth: Baby Boys Need to Be Circumcised Chapter 4 A Gentle Revolution Birth without Fear Birth without Pain Birth without Violence Birth Reborn Birth without Rules Birth with Consciousness Women Take Back Their Births Chapter 5 Midwifery In America: A Growing Tradition The Midwives Model of Maternity Care The Evolution of Midwifery Midwifery Revolution The Politics of Midwifery A Midwife for Every Mother Chapter 6 Waterbirth Why Waterbirth? Waterbirth History Beyond the Leboyer Bath Labor Pools in France Making Waves in the United States The United Kingdom Takes the Plunge Waterbirth around the World Questions Everyone Asks About Waterbirth Just For Providers The Future of Waterbirth Chapter 7 The Mind-Body Connection Womb Ecology Mind-Body Response Listening to Your Body Listening to the Baby Mind-Body Preparations for a Gentle Birth The Sexuality of Childbirth Holistic Prenatal Preparation Mind, Body, Spirit in Unity Chapter 8 Creating Gentle Birth Choices Planning Your Birth What Women Want Consumers Create Choices Health Care For All Women and Children by 2015 Appendix A: Questions to Ask a Doctor Appendix B: Questions to Ask a Midwife Appendix C: Sample Birth Plan Appendix D: Sample Letter to Hospital Appendix E: Resources Notes Bibliography About the Photographs and the Photographers Index