Lyon, Erica: The Big Book of Birth

ISBN: 0452287685

From the Publisher:

Consumer text offers objective advice on everything from choosing a doctor or midwife to the realities of assisted and cesarean births, to pain-coping options, and more.

This book was recommended to me by Sam from Sunday School Rebel. I was looking for an objective book full of information on birth, from a pro-birth (and not pro-specific-style-of-birth) person, and this book completely filled that void.

What you will get from this book:

• Fantastic illustrations as required. The most poignant one of me? Showing how my insides have changed (squashing my organs around to accomadate the baby) now that there needs to be room for a several pound infant inside my body cavity
• Unbiased information on epidurals, other pain medication, and pain management techniques
• Lots and lots of "real life" stories of women that Ms. Lyon has interviewed about their births and experiences
• Detailed instructions on what to do when (ie. when to go to the hospital, when to call the doctor, when to time contractions, etc.)
• Helpful hints on how to get the closest to the birth you want, as everyone knows that labour isn't something that you can control, and will not go according to plan
• Detailed information on technical procedures, from the epidural, to induction and augmentation (speeding the contractions along), to cesarean section and the use of forceps and vacuum to help extract the baby.
• Lots of points to think about and discuss with your doctor (which I felt helpful, as I didn't know what to ask about my doctor's "birthing style")
• You will also find a very slight contempt for the medical community in the way of births. While I haven't had a chance to experience it at this point, she does seem to talk down about SOME nurses, and SOME doctors, and SOME medical practices. If you are concerned about what she brings up, those would be good points to discuss with your doctor

What you won't get from this book:

• The attitude that you are going to be mad at yourself if you get an epidural or use pain medication
• The attitude that you are less of a woman, or a failure as a mother if you use pain medication
• The attitude that unless you push the baby out of your body yourself, you are not having a "real" birth
• A completely rose-coloured view of birth - she really tells it like it is
• You will get the warm fuzzies from the other mom's stories. You won't get them from her information (which is definitely ok!!!)
• The fear of the hospital put into you. While she does go over some of the medical practices you will want to avoid (when possible), you shouldn't walk away thinking "no one wants me to actually have this baby - they just want to cut me open and get it out", as many of the other "natural birth" books can leave you feeling.

All in all, I would DEFINATELY recommend this book to all expectant women. If you've done the birth thing before, I don't know that you'll find it helpful, but for the first time moms? It's probably the best resource I've found [caveat: There is no Canadian information in here, so it's not helpful knowing exactly what happens in Canada, plus there is no hospital specific information - not all drugs are available or widely used all places, so you'll still have to check with your doctor and your hospital for what is available to you]. It gives you a complete picture of labour, birth and a good section on postpartum, which seems to run the gambit of all the information you need to know to get started.