Marjie Hathaway

This book is almost all photographs of positions for birthing. Which lying on your back is easiest for the doctor to see, but also just about the worst for having a baby. This book is about actual positions that are better for birthing that hurt less, like standing up and on all fours and stuff. It is oriented around partners, so it has "coach" which is baby's daddy or partner. And the coach has a role in everything.

This is a bit outdated, in that today, in modern times, someone is gonna bring you to the hospital, and then you will get strapped on your back. It is not that info in the book is bad. More like, you won't be allowed to do any of this. You just won't.

You should go to the hospital. Even though at the hospital they will tell you what to do, and be condescending, and do messed up stuff to try and control which doctor is on shift at the time of birth (ie. who gets the insurance money), they also will prevent you from bleeding out if anything goes terribly wrong. With Bradley method, it's only worth it if you will plan a home birth. But in most states, there are so few qualified nurses (doula is some unregulated nonsense), that a home birth is a total toss up for safety. If something goes wrong, bleeding to death is probable. Usually nothing goes wrong, but you never know.

OK... so... With my second, it was a really fast labor of about 45 minutes from no contractions to baby fully out, and I had the baby in a parking lot of the condo I was renting. So during that birth, I could be in whatever position I wanted. When you are in labor, everything is instinctual. It is like go into a trance. If that happens to you, it is not like you are gonna be remembering some pics in a book. Plus, with having the baby in the parking lot, the absolute best was no one told me what to do or how to do things. It was not like, "oh focus your vision on this point and then you will think about that point and it won't hurt" (which is something they will tell you in the hospital to do and they are condescending and also telling a lie. No one told me to do anything. Not even to do things in this book. You don't want to be told what to do. Trust me. You aren't going to be pulling this book out and you do not want anyone waving it at you showing you pics of what to do.

I do think that this book is helpful for prepping baby's daddy to accept things, because maybe from seeing movies or being a man, someone would not think there is anything dramatically different about lying on your back. So, this is more like a book for the baby's daddy and then you work through it together while pregnant. It's to prep him, not to prep you.… (mehr)