I just finished reading Your Best Birth, by Ricki Lake, Abby Epstein and Jacques Moritz. These are the gals that brought us a great movie, The Business of Being Born, a really fabulous look at our maternity care in here in the US. The book read like great advise from girlfriends…albeit your really smart and prepared girlfriends. These women pulled the best from many different viewpoints and compiled the information to make it accessible for everyone. The book contains great lists (I am a list person!) and bullets of information that can have a huge impact on some of the choices that you might make about your birth.
They take the knowledge and wisdom of superstars in the birth world…Penny Simkin, Michel Odent, Ina May Gaskin, and combine it with the smarts of their fave, local NYC OB Jacques Moritz. They also have some really interesting birth stories from celebs like Cindy Crawford, and Kellie Martin for those of us that like a peek into the lives of the rich and famous.
I think what is most interesting about this book is that it strives to get you to think about the kind of birth that you want for yourself, without preaching to you. This is a fine line. It is hard to read about our modern maternity care these days and not feel a little pissed off. This being said, by reading this book and assembling your team, You can have the kind of birth that ultimately is best for you and your baby. It is not going to make you feel that you have to have the natural, un-medicated, home water birth that Ricki did, nor that the unplanned cesarean is any less of a “real” birth because it was not the way you wanted it to be. (Abby’s story) What it will hopefully provoke is real honest thought on what is right for you and your partner, and ultimately what works for you and your baby.
So check out Your Best Birth, and enjoy!
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