The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth Book

Fantastic, inspiring and very empowering. A good friend sent me a copy whilst I was pregnant for the first time and it gave me the confidence to opt for a home waterbirth. Although there is a lot about homebirth and natural, drug-free birthing in this book, she also helps you make informed choices about all the other options. This helped greatly as I did end up being transferred to hospital after a long labour at home where I was able to continue birthing naturally with an obstetrician present who was hoping to use the ventouse! As I was so well-informed from reading the book the doctor took me seriously when I made certain choices against her clinical opinion. Knowledge is power when you're surrounded by over-worked professionals who want to get the job done quickly. She told me afterwards that as she was newly qualified she'd never delivered a baby naturally before (i.e. without using ventouse or c-section) and that had I allowed her to perform an episiotomy she would have made a bigger cut than my small natural tear ended up being. I can still remember her looking me straight in the eye as my baby's head was about to be born and saying "Are you sure you know what that means if I cant perform a cut?" It was such a great feeling to know in that split second I was making an empowered choice, based on sound research, and knowing the responsibility was all mine. I'd never said "yes" with such conviction in all my life! I'm sure if you read this book before childbirth you'll find you're equally able to take back power if you need to, no matter what kind of birth you end up having. I knew I'd get around to writing my birth story one day, I just didn't realise it would be as part of a book review ;)