INA MAY'S GUIDE TO CHILDBIRTH

by INA MAY GASKIN

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NNew softcover book, 340 pages, first published 2003, updated with new material 2010.

What you need to know to have the best birth experience for you.

Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:

• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs, and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
• What really happens during labor
• Orgasmic birth - making birth pleasurable
• Episiotomy - is it really necessary?
• Common methods of inducing labor - and which to avoid at all costs
• Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
• How to avoid postpartum bleeding and depression
• The risks of anesthesia and cesareans - what your doctor doesn’t necessarily tell you
• The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
• How to create a safe, comfortable environment for birth in any setting, including a hospital


About the author
Ina May Gaskin is one of America's leading midwives. She and her husband Stephen founded the famous intentional community known as The Farm in Summertown Tennessee in 1971. There, she and the midwives of the Farm created one of the first out-of-hospital birth centers in the United States. Standards of birthing at the Farm are modeled to the recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Several family members and friends are commonly in attendance and are encouraged to take an active role in the birth.

Ina May is one of the Founders and a past president (1996 to 2002) of the Midwives' Alliance of North America. She is a powerful advocate for a woman's right to give birth without excessive and unnecessary medical intervention. Her clinical midwifery skills have been developed entirely through independent study and apprenticeship with other midwives around the world. Ina May and fellow Farm midwives were instrumental in the development of the rigorous Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) certification process.

Ina May travels internationally on speaking engagements and networking with other midwives and midwife alliances. She has lectured and continues to lecture at midwifery conferences and medical schools all over the world. She is also the author of Spiritual Midwifery, the classic book on homebirth, now in its fourth edition

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Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin