Baby Name Wizard

5.0 out of 5 stars
This book changed our lives
Yes, this book is well-researched and smartly-written and engaging to boot, but most importantly, it literally changed our childbirth plans.

5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for any woman, pregnant or not
My number one title to give to women. Easy to read and chock full of truth telling about birthing babies in America today.

If you are part of the 99% of American women who choose to give birth in a hospital, attended by a physician, because you think that is the safest way to go, this book may well change your mind, or at least get you thinking about the possible benefits of a more natural, midwife-attended delivery. The author is decidedly pro-midwife; she weaves numerous statistics and stories into the text that underscore the decline of healthy delivery commensurate with the “medicalization” of delivery. For example, the US has the highest rate of hospital/medical deliveries but ranks 22nd in the world in maternal health / infant mortality — well behind other countries, primarily western European, where home delivery and birth center deliveries are much more common. Other surprises — according to the author, the World Health Organization recommends home deliveries and birthing center deliveries over hospital deliveries. The rates of C-sections and episiotomies are much, much lower for midwife-attended deliveries. Midwifes generally treat childbirth as something the female body is fully capable of doing on its own, rather than as a medical condition or disability to be treated. And the midwifes interviewed for the book seem to be very respectful of their clients — assisting the client in her own birth experience rather than making the birth something the midwife choreographs & directs. The author writes about the history of childbirth & delivery and the practice of midwifery, interviews numerous midwifes, and even participates in home births attended by midwifes. At the same time, she discusses her own pregnancy (that is progressing while she is conducting the research for the book) and she trains to become a doula, or birth assistant. The book is gripping and easy to read; it reads fast like a novel — and the discussions of home births she has attended are page-turners — but it is also full of factual information and would serve to help prepare a woman for childbirth. In her interviews with midwifes, she discusses the risks to the profession — insurance company’s reluctance to cover home births and midwife fees, even though they’re statisfically safer and less expensive than OB-attended hospital births, midwife’s difficulty in getting insurance coverage for their practices, pressure on midwifes working in hospital settings to spend less & less time with their clients and to introduce more medications (Pitocin) — to conform more to the medical model.

I’m a practicing homebirth midwife, so went right to the ‘homebirth’ chapter, thinking, “I’ll just read this one chapter and then go the beginning of the book and read it ‘properly’”.
Well, I just kept on reading-did not put the book down! Read to the end and then started at the beginning and read thru to where I started in the middle! Loved the insight, the attention to detail, introduced accurate statistical information in a way that didn’t make my brain glaze over and included all the other issues that face a pregnant woman today. Catherine Taylor covers a lot of the concerns, real and fleeting, that most woman have, but never really get to verbalize or talk to anyone about, or at least anyone with unbiased answers! This book helps balance all the fear-mongering, mis-communications and half-truths that surround birthing, will change your presective on how birth is now and what is truly possible; for yourself and in the ‘bigger picture’.
Get a copy for yourself and one to give away-you’ll grin and nod throughout the whole book.

5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best Books Out There!
I just finished this amazing book; it took me less than two days. I could not put it down.Catherine Taylor’s intimate, first-person account of midwifery care that includes her…

I read this book when I was about 4 months pregnant for the first time. Before I became pregnant I had been very interested in birthing and I knew I wanted a natural birth. During my early weeks of pregnancy, while I was overcome by intense nausea and vomiting, I had so much difficulty setting up appointments and birthplaces between my insurance and medical groups that I ended up settling with an OB that was not my first choice. I spent the next months of my pregnancy researching what my options were in my area and my insurance options.

After reading this book I had a much better idea of what I was looking for and within a month my search was complete and the changes had been made. I went to a midwife/OB practice that ran a natural, free-standing birth center, I took Bradley natural childbirth classes along with my husband, and I hired a wonderful doula who worked at the birth center. I chose, for insurance reasons, to labor at home for as long as possible with my doula and then continued my natural birth in a birthing room with the OB that supports natural birthing. Because I arrived at the hospital (with my birthing ball) far along in labor, coping beautifully and had such a supportive doctor, the nurses read my birth plan and immediately respected all my wishes. I labored, moving about the room, and occasionally a nurse would put a dopp-tone to my belly to hear my baby’s heart beat while I stayed in focus. Pain medication was never offered and I was asked before even being touched. I felt that I was laboring in a room full of friends.

This book was wonderful to read, helped me really examine what I wanted for my own pregnancy and birth, and gave me insight if I ever decide to go into the childbirth field as a doula or childbirth educator.

I had a beautiful, empowering, healing first birth that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

For my second birth I gave birth at home and it was a life changing experience. I would definitely recommend finding a way to have a home birth with a trained midwife.

I recommend this thoughtful, empowering book to all women and people working in pregnancy, labor and childbirth. I also highly recommend natural birth if that is what you desire. Giving birth was a deeply spiritual experience, and no one can take that from you.

5.0 out of 5 stars
Crucial for Anyone Having a Baby
I loved this book. I read it straight through, then turned to the beginning and started again. Catherine Taylor has a very flowing and readable style.