There is nothing more exciting than to recieve a book in the mail, except recieving a BIRTH book in the mail.  I got it on Friday and had finished the book by Sunday. 

The Labor of Love was written by Cara Muhlhahn, was the midwife who is shown in the movie, The Business of Being Born.  It was interesting to read about her journey into midwifery and her experiences as a homebirth midwife.   

Cara started her studies assisting lay midwives, went onto nursing schools and spent time working in L&D as a nurse.  Cara was often disturbed by what she saw going on at births in the hospitals.  

The flip-flopping of obstetrical absolutes is a disturbing trend to me.  There is something suspecious about “truths” that change every few years, especially regarding a physiological process that has not changed much since the beginning of time. 

She ended up going on to become a nurse-midwife and after working in a birth center eventually chose to go on her own as a homebirth midwife.  

The satisfaction I get from midwifery makes it worth the high degree of dedication and sacrifice.  My work takes a lot out of me.  But I like the adventure that midwifery brings to my life.  I like having to drop everything to answer to a higher calling, the ruggedness of hard work and the idea that when nature calls, there is no choice but to answer. 

I really liked this quote.  While I don’t have the same level as stress as a midwife does, I get a taste of “when nature calls” and having to respond when it does.  Birth is very unpredictable and being on call as a doula is quite an adventure.

Labor of Love was an easy, enjoyable read.   I think that this is a great book for doulas, midwives or anyone working in the birth field.    So I am thrilled to be able to do a give away of a copy of Labor of Love on my blog! 

To enter leave a comment saying why you want to win this book!

You can earn another entry by blogging about this give away and letting me know, you can either e-mail me at sheridan AT enjoybirth DOT com or leave a comment.

You can earn another entry by adding the Enjoy Birth Blog to your RSS and letting me know, you can either e-mail me at sheridan AT enjoybirth DOT com or leave a comment. (What is this? Here is a great explination in video form.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU]

You can earn another entry by posting about the give away on e-mail groups or bulletin boards and letting me know, you can either e-mail me at sheridan AT enjoybirth DOT com or leave a comment.

Good luck!  The last entry will be accepted at midnight on March 21st.

 *I don’t know that I would recommend Labor of Love to expecting moms as Cara does share her scariest birth and saddest birth in the book.  As a Hypnobabies Instructor I think it is important for pregnant moms to read positive birth stories only!

Before I was ever a doula or Hypnobaibies Childbirth Instructor, I created my first webpage.  Pregnancy Birth and Babies.  I was a member of this great Hypnobabies Yahoo Group and moms kept sharing their wonderful birth stories.  I wanted a place where everyone could read them.  I also wanted them divided into sections, so moms could choose the types of stories they wanted to read.  It started off with 3 sections, Enjoyable (completely pain-free); Comfortable (some manageable discomfort mentioned); Other (I then had a short description of the birth and situation)  It has grown to include, Induced Births, Cesareans, VBACs.  It also has other pages about, believe it or not, pregnancy, birth and babies. 

Actually I guess I actually made my first web page 9 years ago when Devon was a baby, using Front Page then too.   But that no longer exists.  I of course have a blog about my family, which is way more fun and easier than building a website.

I used Front Page to create Pregnancy, Birth and Babies too.  I checked a book out of the library to relearn the program.  It was fairly easy, it took some time to learn it, but once I figured it out, I was fine.  It was good practice for when I created my Hypnobabies Web Site, Enjoy Birth. 

Then 9 months ago I started this blog.  Again, blogging is EASY compared to building a site.  But I had a system wtih my Front Page program, life was good.  I would sometimes make changes to my Enjoy Birth site and continued to add birth stories to the Pregnancy Birth and Babies site. 

I made a HUGE mistake when I switched from Go Daddy to 1and1 to host my site.  Luckily I left Pregnancy Birth and Babies at Go Daddy, but I moved Enjoy Birth.  Long story about why, but I did it.  AFTER I moved it, I noticed they no longer support Front Page.   Which meant my whole site, which I had on my computer was not able to be uploaded onto the internet.    This was probably 3 weeks ago now, right before school let out. 

I was so grumpy about it.  I really don’t have extra time to learn something new when my boys are all home.  I really didn’t want to spend my energy with this.  But I did some research and found that Coffee Cup was a good program, with a supposedly easy learning curve.  I got something simple up and started transferring all my files from Front Page into Coffee Cup. 

What I realized is that to really have my site look good I needed to learn HTML.  What I also realized is that you can’t do that well by reading things on the internet.  I needed a good book.  I checked one out from the library, but that was just frustrating me. 

I then ordered 2 books off of Amazon, but for some reason chose free shipping.  (The cheapness in me sometimes overpowers my logic.)  So when I was freaking out yesterday I realized I needed a good book NOW.  So I went to Borders and bought Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML.  It is over 600 pages and has 15 chapters.  I figured one a day and in 2 weeks I would be ready. 

Well, it is written in a very brain friendly way and I actually have read 4 chapters/165 pages and learned SOOOO MUCH.  I no longer feel the need to throw things at my computer and I have been able to fix some really easy things, once you know what the heck <a> and <p></p> and other random looking things mean. 

Horray for books!  Horray for Blogs which allow everyone to get their thoughts out there without knowing this stuff!  Horray for me! 

My Enjoy Birth site is slowly getting back up.  I am thinking of moving all my positive birth stories over to that site and eventually close the Pregnancy Birth and Babies site.  It seems silly to have 2.

The Introvert Advantage by Marti Laney

On the back cover it says, “Filled with Aha! Moments.”

It is true, as an Introvert, I had many of these reading this book.  I scrapbook with a group of wonderful girls.  One time Christine brought this book.  We took the quiz and all but one of us are introverts.  It was fun to realize that about each other and maybe it is why we all get along so well, we can understand each other.  One of my Aha moments, was I hate to make phone calls.  Apparently this is a situation many introverts face.  It made me feel less weird.  J

I have learned a lot about personality types for years now and read many different books, mostly focusing on the Myers/Briggs test.  It is really interesting because I was an INFJ when I first was married and now I am and ISFJ.  You can take the test yourself at mypersonality.info 

This was the first book I had seen or read about introverts specifically.  It was wonderful to read.  It has helped me to understand more about myself and also my son who is an introvert as well.  I think it has also helped me to better understand my husband who is an extrovert, because it does have a section about introvert/extrovert couples.

So I recommend The Introvert Advantage to any introvert, or anyone who deals with an introvert on a frequent basis (family member, colleague)  Some of my other favorite personality books are Nurture by Nature and MotherStyles , both parenting books.  The first focuses on your children’s personality styles and how to help them, the second focuses on your personality and how to use your strengths as a mother. 

 I think understanding your personality style and those around you can help you in your relationships.    Enjoy!

I will admit it isn’t very pretty, but hopefully it will attract attention and people will take the free bookmarks with list of books and websites!

I had the information on doula poster from a Babies R Us fair we did last year.  I put out some books on the bottom shelf. 

Taped to the wall on the left are some pages from the Baby Egg Countdown Calendar… you can read a review of it here.   When I was there for a few minutes after setting up, these were attracting the most attention!  It is a pretty amazing “book” 

I think my next step for goal 4 is to talk to the library to set up a free pregnancy and birth informational night, maybe for sometime in March. 

Pushed:  The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care

by, Jennifer Block

Wow, what a book!  When I read books from the library, I put little slips of paper on the pages I want to go back and look at.  You should see my book; there is easily over 20 pieces of paper sticking out of the top.  This tells me I need to buy this book!  I am just sad I didn’t buy it in the first place, as my library copy is now past due and I don’t have time to take notes on all I wanted to.  So this may be a brief review, mostly because if I wrote ALL my thoughts it would become a book itself.  J 

Who is the audience for this book?   Any person interested in birth.   I would love to see this be a text in a college class to help people think about birth before they are pregnant.  It would be wonderful in sociology or a women’s studies class.  Really everyone of childbearing age should read this book!

I loved the way the book started; with a hurricane causing a hospital to change the medical way they normally handled birth due to limited supplies/manpower/energy.  They cancelled the planned inductions for the week; they sent moms home if they were not in active labor.  The staff saw a LOT of normal births, instead of the typically medically managed births.  Because they were not using pitocin “We had no cases of fetal distress during labor and respiratory distress of neonates following delivery…. And an incredibly low cesarean rate.”  Wow, what a concept, let women progress through their birthing time on their bodies own timetable and you have better outcomes for babies and moms?  Revolutionary!  

The book just gets better and better.  It touches on inductions, cesareans, vbacs, unassisted births, home midwives, doulas and much more.  There were 2 scary scenes that I would say pregnant moms trying to GIP (gestate in peace) may want to avoid.  Page 203-207 and Chapter 7.  The rest is safe. 

Frankly this book really made me think about birth and my rights as a woman.  The choices I make during my births and the power I DO have.  It made me also more aware of the way the government/OBs/insurance companies, are trying to take away my choices.  This should be a woman’s issue, but it isn’t embraced by the women’s groups, they see it as a medical issue.  But we need to remember normal birth does not need to be a medical event! 

The book ends with this thought by Jennifer, after commenting on how the goal of having a healthy baby is used to scare women into doing things that are not necessarily evidence based,  “Today women have unprecedented access to the information they need to make the best decisions for themselves-and therefore the best decisions for their babies.  They are in fact in a far better position to make evidence-based decisions than their doctors.  They have a right to make those decisions, and they should make those decisions.  The goal is to have a healthy family.”

I think this is SO true.   Women of the world, take the power back!  Inform yourselves of our choices, empower yourselves, and choose to have a healthy family!   This is where a good INDEPENDENT childbirth class is so great (not hospital based) Because we can share the information on what the choices are, the pros and cons of them, caregiver options, birthing options as well as basic childbirth information all together in one class.  To help families figure out the best choices to help them have the best birth possible. 

This is a MUST read!

Jennifer also has a blog!

How can you find the best care provider for your birth?   Well, a lot of this depends on what kind of birth you want to have.  How can you know what kind of birth you want to have? 

1.  Take an independent childbirth class. (outside of the hospital system)  Here you will learn about all your options for birthing, choices you can make. 

2.  Read good books talking about different options for birthing. 

3.  Read positive birth stories, looking for similarities in the births.  What did those moms do to create a great birth?

Here is a great post on another blog with more ideas, questions to ask, things to think about!  Check it out!

     I do NOT recommend What to Expect When you are Expecting… this tells you everything that can go wrong and tells you to expect it.  I used to recommend Your Pregnancy Week by Week, because moms wanted a book to tell them how their baby was developing and have a reference to what may be happening to them during pregnancy.  Even this book is a bit too negative, but I didn’t know what else to suggest. I now have the best choices!

      I DO recommend this pair of books to have the best of both worlds.  SEE how your baby is growing and learn the different developmental stages your baby is experiencing, plus have a great reference book on what is normal pregnancy like. 

     The BABY-EGG Pregnancy Countdown Calendar is a wonderful visual of your growing baby and their development.  This is beautifully done and life size. A hook comes with the book so you can hang it on the wall and flip a page each week.  It is especially wonderful for families who already have children.  So great to see and learn how the baby is growing.

     Pair that book with, Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide by Penny Simkin a wonderful reference book with complete pregnancy and birth information presented in a positive way. 

Birth by Tina Cassidy

Who is the intended audience of this book?  Care providers of pregnant women… if they actually take time to read it, the may learn something.  Women of childbearing age or younger or anyone in their families…. DO NOT read this book

It is scary to read and starting with the first chapter, that alone will make you question mankind’s ability to still exist because of all the horrible things that can go wrong during birth.  Most of these stories are from women who lived long ago and had Rickets, which caused bone softening and pelvic deformation.  Luckily if you are reading this you most likely live in a society where Rickets no longer exists.  But the fear and scariness doesn’t stop there.

As a Childbirth Educator and doula, I found it an interesting though disturbing read.  It was one of those books where you are yelling at it at times.  Partly because of the stupidity of what has gone on throughout the history of birth.  But also party because I felt like it was SO negative.  I just would NEVER let a pregnant women read it, she might go sign up for an Elective Cesarean, because the overall tone of the book is birth is scary… complete with horrific stories (mostly due to Rickets which no longer exists in America) to demonstrate it. 

I did enjoy the section on the Dawn of Doctors, where I learned more about some inspired care providers and their journeys.  Grantly Dick-Read who wrote Childbirth Without Fear and Fernand Lamaze were of extra interest to me as a Hypnobabies Instructor, because I learned that their teachings included a lot of mind over body thinking, as well as the importance of hospital staff supporting and believing in the moms ability to have a comfortable birth.  Having been a mom using hypnosis during my 2^nd birth, totally comfortable and the nurses telling me at least 3 times, as soon as your water breaks it is going to hurt… not surprisingly when my water broke it did start to hurt.  When I had my 3^rd baby, I used Hypnobabies and had a Bubble of Peace to protect me from the negativity of those around me, including the hospital staff. 

I learned about Emanuel Friedman who watched birthing women and came up with the bell curve of the length of typical stages of birth.  He is horrified on how that information is used today.  “We found an average.  People think the average is what women should fall upon.  That is clearly not true but rather a broad range of normality beyond which a potential abnormality may or may not exist.  These abnormalities are not in themselves justification for forceps or cesarean…  It doesn’t’ mean she’s doing so badly that you have to do something terrible to her. That is being abused.” 

So this one chapter I found to be very informative and enjoyable to read. 

The tools and fads chapter was an interesting look at the different ways people dealt with and currently deal with Childbirth.  It was disappointing to me how in a chapter that could have had positive parts to it… ie waterbirth, hypnosis etc, there was still an over all fear feeling to it.  In the waterbirth section the main focus seemed to be on why it is fought against by many care providers, with of course stories of babies dying included.

Please if you are pregnant or ever will be do NOT read this book, it is too negative, with the exception of the Dawn of Doctors chapter, there was nothing positive I will take from this book. 

I especially disliked the last 2 pages.  The author looks back even after all she has learned she wouldn’t change anything about her birth… sort of defeatist attitude.  (She had a very medically managed birth ending up in a cesarean,) but does concede maybe she should have chosen a midwife and had a doula. 

“Women will forever give birth in many different ways – either by design or through forces out of our control.  As for the latter, we can only hope to be pleasantly surprised.” 

Really, I guess one might believe this after reading the book.  But knowing what I know as a childbirth educator and VBAC mom, the choices we make starting with our care provider down to positions we choose during birth can make a HUGE impact on our birth. 

If you want to be empowered by books about birth, I suggest reading the following instead of this one.

The Thinking Women’s Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

If you want a history about childbirth in the USA but would like to feel empowered by the knowledge rather than defeated try,

Born in the USA by Mardsen Wagner