Unassisted Childbirth Book

I struggled between giving this 2 or 3 stars. I am not at all opposed to the idea of unassisted birth. It is a fine choice for most healthy mothers and babies, if they want it. So that is not why I gave this book a low rating.

I didn't like the first half of the book. She rightly spoke of the many downsides to hospital birth, but it seemed to be done in a way that was based on fear rather than solid, detailed facts. She didn't say anything incorrect about the usually unnecessary interventions and their effects; however, she mentioned the most extreme effects of these things, like death, without making it clear that it rarely ends up with that poor of an outcome. Yes, it happens, and it needs to be said, but it seemed to be exaggerated. She did not write about this as well as many other authors I have read on the subject. Again, I do not have this criticism because I think unassisted birth is dangerous. Among the birth workers I know, I have an approach to birth work that values true undisturbed birth more highly than almost all of them.

I also did not agree with the spiritual worldview that she promotes. She made a lot of assertions that were not backed up by facts.

All of that said, I enjoyed the second half of the book, because it was mostly birth stories, including her own, and it was fun to read them.

I would recommend Indie Birth, a website (which also has a podcast called Taking Back Birth), if one wanted a better source for unassisted and/or undisturbed birth. They also recently released a book, Indie Birth: A Story of Radical Birth Love, which was a great read.