Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
by Ina May Gaskin
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Book Reviews of Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Book Review: We feel this book misled us in many ways
Summary: 2 Stars
In preparing for the birth of our first child, we read a number of books. This book was probably the one that we consulted more than any other, because it was recommended by a friend.
Without getting too private or personal, let me just note that in the end, our birth process was absolutely nothing like what we were led to believe would be possible. My poor wife labored for over 30 hours, wound up having to have almost every intervention that this book opines against (each of which we resisted for far too long), and ultimately wound up with a c-section.
In retrospect, paging through this book, I feel that almost every impression that was given was flat-out wrong. The consistent message throughout the book is:
-- Trust your body. It will know what to do.
-- The best tools for childbirth are not medical procedures but mind over body, emotional support, relaxation, getting rid of negative thoughts, etc.
-- Almost every medical trend in handling childbirth is wrong-headed, there's no evidence that it helps, it may do more harm than good.
This book goes through various of the medical procedures and tools: pitocin, forceps, epidurals, fetal monitoring, etc -- takes the vantage point that these are usually unnecessary, best avoided, etc.
My BS antenna did go up a few times when reading the book and I wished I'd paid more attention. There are some wacky stories here about women being able to stop their bleeding just by having some great emotional epiphany, etc. I found these to be implausible at the time, and wish that I had treated the book with more skepticism.
In our experience, none of this stuff helped: the breathing exercises, the visualization, the relaxation, the different positions for pushing, etc. It was all completely irrelevant to our experience. Going in with a "birth plan" based largely on this book really set us up for disappointment and for a whole lot of unnecessary suffering on my wife's part.
If you're lucky and this stuff works for you, great. But this book doesn't prepare you for the possibility that many women may not be so lucky.
The worst aspect of this book is that it holds up an ideal of natural childbirth as to being what birth "should" be. So if it winds up not being possible for you, you feel as though you have missed out. I really dislike the fact that my wife was led to believe that this particular way of proceeding is the ideal, and that somehow things hadn't gone "right" if this type of childbirth isn't possible.
For some women, you might have to do a c-section, you might need an epidural, you might need pitocin, or something similar, no matter what this book says. And when you do, don't feel badly about it.
We have a beautiful baby girl, and she is no less beautiful to us because we weren't able to follow this book's prescriptions.
If we had it to do over again, I think we would have just scheduled a c-section rather than to subject my beloved wife to 30 hours of torture.
Book Review: Also Good for Fathers-To-Be
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the very few stipulations my wife made after we learned we were going to have a child is that I read this book by the doyenne of natural childbirth in the U.S. While the tone of the book is much too touchy-feely/hippyish for me, I have to admit that it is well worth reading regardless of whether you're planning a natural childbirth or a fully tech'ed out hospital one. That said, it would be very easy to read it as gospel and get swept up in its giddy repudiation of modern medicine, so one should approach it with, if not a skeptical eye, at least with one's critical faculties fully engaged. There is also the potential that readers who are fully committed to a hospital birth may come away from this book feeling scolded, or as if their decision is somehow "wrong".
The author is a superstar in the field of natural childbirth, largely as a result of her 35+ years work at "The Farm", a kind of birthing commune in Tennessee. The first half of the book is a compilation of natural childbirth stories written by mothers who've either done it at The Farm, or somehow in conjunction with the author. While these are certainly useful as illustrative examples of how it all goes down, they tend to get rather repetitive and could certainly stand to be scaled back a bit. And for those who know little about the birthing process, some of the terminology can be unclear. Finally, for those who might want to read this book on the subway (like me), be forewarned that there are some pretty graphic photos of childbirthing in this section.
The second half of the book walks the reader through the entire process, mostly with the aim of explaining why modern medical childbirthing procedures are not based on the mother's health and needs, but are designed for convenience of the medical establishment. Stuff like epidurals, amnios, fetal monitoring, pitocin, forceps, vacuum extractors, etc. all come under sustained assault. Gaskin makes a convincing case for most of her criticism, with plenty of good examples from historical texts and anthropological research. Perhaps the most striking and compelling examples come from studies of childbirthing in modern Scandinavia. Sometimes Gaskin stretches a little to far in her attempt to debunk every single medical procedure and doesn't always have the most current data. For example, Rhogham does not have any mercury whatsoever any more, and the danger from amniocentesis is vastly overstated. However, simply in terms of the debate over natural childbirth vs. hospital birth, it's awfully hard to argue with the data she's gathered from thousands of natural childbirths.
Ultimately the reality is that every mother's experience is different, and there's no technique, approach, or solution that works for everyone. That said, the book did a pretty good job of convincing me that the mother's mental approach to childbirthing and expectations for the experience are the single most important indicator of how it will all go.
Book Review: from c-section to VBAC home birth
Summary: 5 Stars
This book helped me change my life.
After the necessary c-section birth of my son 5 years ago (I had pre-eclampsia), our new insurance company labled me as "high risk" and refused me maternity coverage. Since my husband and I wanted more children, I started considering a home birth with a midwife as a viable alternative. Needless to say my first birth experience put me emotionally on guard about my body's capability.
As I was researching the safety of VABCs (vaginal birth after cesarean) and home-births, I came across Gaskin's 1970s book, Spiritual Midwifery. Its language was amusingly "hippy-ish," but the inclusion of positive birth stories was refreshing and inspiring. After reading most of it, I went in search of similar, more updated books.
I found Ina May's Guide to Childbirth at a mainstream bookstore (being suprised at the lack of variety of birth experience offered on the shelf - is she the only person writing about homebirth nowadays?) Buying and reading this book new was one of the best emotional investments I have ever made in my life.
The experience and knowledge I gained reading this book is similar to many of the sentiments expressed in these other reviews. It really gave me courage to welcome and joyfully (if a little nervously) anticipate the birth of my daughter in March of 2005.
As for my labor, I would not call the sensations of the contractions "pain," I would call them "very heavy pressure." I credit this perspective to this book. Ina May (and her clients) helped me put contractions, transition, etc., into perspective. For example: Yes, I felt contractions every two minutes lasting about two minutes. No, it wasn't comfortable, and I had to concentrate and breathe through them with my eyes closed, hanging on to a door jamb. After two minutes the pressure went away for a while, during which I could laugh at my husband's jokes. Nature is pretty smart, giving women short "rest periods," as this book tells (reminds) us!
Reading about other women's experiences of physical sensations during their labors gave me a range of ideas as to what to expect, so as my own birth story was unfolding, it wasn't so scary or mysterious.
I am so grateful for the VBAC home-birth experience I had - thanks in many ways to this book's writer and contributors - I was beaming for days afterward! It was the hardest, most challenging thing I've ever done (notice I did NOT say "painful" or "scary"), and I was so proud of the outcome. My husband is still in awe of the power of my body!
An armload of gratitude to Ina May and her colleagues, the work they do, and the brave women who seek her out and share their experiences. I look forward someday to the home birth of my third child, knowing I am as strong and capable as the women who share their stories and wisdom in this book.
Book Review: This book can help you avoid the slippery slope to a c-section
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved, loved, loved this book. I read it to prepare for the natural birth of my second child (vaginal breech), and then again to prepare for the natural birth of my third. I chose to have all three in the hospital, and wanted to avoid the slippery slope to a c-section. At Virginia Hospital Center (Arlington) and Inova Fairfax Hospital, where my children were born, the c-section rates are 40%. How is this acceptable?? C-sections are major surgery.
Inductions start the slippery slope. Few women can or choose to cope with pitocin-induced contractions, so an induction almost always means an epidural, which means no early laboring in the comfort of your home, no moving around, and the inability to get into positions that help the baby descend. Pitocin can also affect the unborn baby's heart rate, which causes great concern to all, OB included. So the baby either does not arrive quickly enough or goes into crisis, and the result is a c-section.
Epidurals and c-sections both negatively affect the chance of baby breastfeeding well early on, which means baby is given formula in the hospital and early days post-birth - another slippery slope, this time to early weaning. With strong evidence that breastfed babies have higher IQs, fewer allergies, get sick less often and less severely, have decreased rates of SIDS, etc., this is no small matter. "The AAP Section on Breastfeeding, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Family Physicians, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, and many other health organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life." http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;115/2/496 Also see http://kellymom.com/index.html for lots of great breastfeeding advice and info.
This book will give you the information you need to trust your body to give birth naturally. The birth stories at the beginning will help you to see that there are a wide range of "normal" births, both in terms of duration of labor and pain. Many coping strategies are discussed, along with the overarching theme that birth is a natural process. The pain of natural birth is not like the pain of an injury or something gone wrong. It has a purpose, and this book will help you learn to surrender to the purpose, rather than fight against it.
PS You probably can't hire Ina May, but you should hire a doula or at least find a friend who has given birth naturally to help coach you and support you through your labor.
Book Review: What an difference! This saved me from TERROR!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, terror!!!!
I went into my first birth with the attitude that I would do my best not to be given drugs and drug through what is considered "normal" in our culture for child birth, only to be bullied into the worst series of interventions (induction, 34 hours of the worst terrifying hellish labor, drugs, epidural, and close to c-section)I never felt so alone, scared and powerless than in those 34 hours, and more than a year of deppression, and years of guilt and anger.
A dear friend of mine excitedly lent me this book, and I read it in about 2 days. It helped me to deal with the trauma and scars of the first experience and prepare for a better one. I learned more about the interventions and (although this is not particularly a Christian book,) I prayed with all of my heart for the boldness I needed to stand for what was best for my child, for the right nurse, and for the right doctor to be on call or available to step in if needed, and for my husband to do what he needed to do to be a part of the process and help me to focus and feel loved and as relaxed as possible. I also had a friend who loves me come and bring me cold water and rags during the last part. Something that really helped me was soft soothing worship music. I remember that some of the lyrics included that God was holding me. It helped me to let go and trust God in the process. I listened to that for about an hour and dialated from a 3 to a 7, then the rest was over in about 45 minutes!
This book informed us and made a natural birth possible for my very big baby! (He was much much larger than my daughter, but by far easier because I had the information in this book) There is a lot of Hippy language and very touchy feely stuff (far out-groovy stuff), things more conservative women may be turned off by. If you continue reading, you will find that, aside from the far out groovy hippy stuff, we really do need to be open and honest and Informed about all the details regarding childbirth!
Buy one for yourself, and if you are giving birth in the hospital, buy one for your doctor and make her read it before your birth if they havn't already! I didn't do that, but it's a good idea for the future! Also keep it on hand during labor, as it was very useful in looking up an induction drug they tried to give me that wasn't so widely known.
If I could meet Ina May, I would give her a great big hug. Thank you for sharing your gift by writing this book!