Oops! I meant for this contest to run until April 10th, not 3rd. Feel free to enter until then!
When I was pregnant my childbirth educator recommended her favorite books to the class: The Birth Partner, and Birthing from Within.
I'll bet that she will soon be adding Your Best Birth, by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, to that list.
Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein's film The Business of Being Born has been called the "Inconvenient Truth" of birth. Their new book, Your Best Birth, continues in that spirit - enlightening, advocating, and trying to "take back" birth for mothers and families.
Your Best Birth is devoted to helping mothers "explore the full spectrum of choices you have in giving birth." The authors define a "best birth" as "one where you feel empowered because you know all your options and are confident in the decisions you have made about your birth." They state, "we believe that you can place the health and well-being of your newborn as your highest priority and still have an optimal, empowering experience that is right for you both - whether that is in your bed, in your bathtub, in a hospital room, or on an operating table."
Ricki and Abby talk frankly about the current record high c-section and induction rates, the disappearing VBAC, and describe what a "typical" hospital birth looks like now. They share their own birth stories and the stories of a number of celebrities along the way, as well as profiles of some well known birthing pioneers. I'm very pleased that they include a chapter on sexual abuse survivors and birth, and Ricki even shares her own story of abuse and its connection to her experience of motherhood. I found many of the birth stories very moving.
They offer practical advice on assembling your 'dream team,' including doulas and other support people, and walk you through questions to ask of providers and how to create a birth plan. They debunk some of the myths about midwives, and explain what different interventions mean and how they affect your experience. Of course, I was pleased to see that they address how birth affects breastfeeding.
To be clear, this is not a general pregnancy/birth guide book. It doesn't walk you through the stages of labor, or show pictures of labor positions, for example. For basic birth information you'd still want to take a childbirth class or at least read a more general book. And I think it's fair to say that this is a book that would be most useful for women who are trying to have a vaginal birth with few interventions, and those who are open to exploring their options.
Most importantly, this book addresses the current state of birth in the U.S., which has changed dramatically in the last ten years. If you're reading a book that was written longer ago than that, chances are it's describing a world that no longer exists.
Ricki Lake says that she has been so inspired by learning about birth that she's considered becoming a midwife. Whether that's in her future or not, I'm grateful that she used her talents and time to bring her film and this book into the world.
I'm pleased to be able to give away five copies of this book, once it's available in May. I want these copies to be put to good use, so I'll be choosing winners from among entries from expecting mothers, childbirth educators, doulas, midwives/OBs, and anyone else who can really use a copy to help mothers. To enter, leave a comment below explaining how you'd use the book. U.S. addresses only, please. Enter by April 3rd 10th, 2009. Winners will be chosen using random.org, and announced in the comments section of this post.
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