Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

March 3, 2003
Founding member and former president of the Midwives Alliance of North America and author of Spiritual Midwivery, Gaskin offers encouragement and practical advice in her upbeat and informative book on natural childbirth. Since the mid-1970s, Gaskin and the midwives in her practice on a Summertown, Tenn., commune known as"The Farm," have attended over 2,200 natural births. Gaskin, who learned the rudiments of her gentle birthing technique from the Mayans in Guatemala, has helped bring attention to the method's remarkably low rate of morbidity and medical intervention. Couples considering natural childbirth will get inspirational coaxing from more than a dozen first-person narratives shared by the author's clients. Gaskin decries what she sees as Western medicine's focus on pain during birth, arguing that natural birthing can not only be euphoric and blissful but also orgasmic (a survey of 150 natural birthing women"found thirty-two who reported experiencing at least one orgasmic birth"). The second half of Gaskin's book deals with the practical side of natural birthing, including how to avoid standard medical interventions such as epidurals, episiotomies and even prenatal amniocentesis that may be unnecessary, even dangerous, to mother or child. While this may not be the definitive guide to natural childbirth, it is a comfortable and supportive read for women who want to trust their bodies to do what comes naturally.

Starred review from January 15, 2003
Gaskin is widely considered to be a founder of modern midwifery in the United States. For over two decades her book, Spiritual Midwifery, has inspired women to become midwives and influenced families to choose home- and midwife-attended birth. For mothers-to-be anxious about the birth process, Gaskin demonstrates convincingly that the female body is well equipped for normal birth. She provides an entire chapter of joyful birth stories that are guaranteed to delight and inspire and gives extensive advice and information on techniques for overcoming the physical challenges commonly encountered during labor. Many of these techniques arise from her own experience and may not be found elsewhere in the popular birth literature. Gaskin also opens common obstetrical assumptions to consumer scrutiny. This is ostensibly a practical guide for pregnancy and labor but deserves a wider audience, particularly among those interested in medical history and sociology or appropriate technology issues.-Noemie Maxwell Vassilakis, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2003
Using history as her guide, nationally recognized midwife Gaskin explores what she hopes will be a renaissance in natural childbirth, something that she's been advocating since the mid-1970s. By focusing on how women of ancient civilizations and other modern peoples give birth, Gaskin puts our own hypersensitivities in perspective, uncovering a beautiful, sometimes orgasmic experience rather than a dreadful, painful one. Sure, pain is part of childbirth, but preparing for the pain in a realistic rather than sentimental way--whether giving birth at home or in a hospital--can be the key to a woman's ability to deal with it naturally. Within the pages of personal anecdotes, some touching, some startling, from Gaskin's patients and colleagues, every woman is sure to find something to relate to, whether or not she chooses to have a medicine-free labor. The helpful back matter features a glossary, a detailed resource list including advocacy groups and Web sites, and a bibliography that includes periodicals, rounding out an extremely comprehensive and up-to-date guide on the topic. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)