Book #39: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

Okay, after I wrote the last blog post about the pregnancy book I read, I realized that I did want to count some more of these baby books I'm reading, if for no other reason that I can write down my thoughts about them so that I can remember which ones I found helpful and useful in a little while when I get back to Durham. Since these are just library copies, I might want to get them again--but I need to remember which ones they are first. So here we go--these will probably not be interesting to anyone else, but I haven't spent much time reading for pleasure the last week or so because I've been doing all this reading for BUSINESS (haha).

This book was written by Ina May Gaskin, a well-known midwife from Tennessee. The first half of the book is simply birth stories by women who gave birth at The Farm (their childbirth center) or at home with the midwives from The Farm, and all of them seem pretty positive. The second half is chapters on different aspects of childbirth from Ina May's experience and perspective. The main things that I liked about this book were how positive the birth stories were--even though I'm not sold on natural birth (not intending to do it), it's great to hear that birth doesn't have to be terrifying like reality TV makes it look. I also think that Ina May's ideas about the mind-body connection in giving birth really make sense: if you're scared or tense while trying to have a baby, it's not going to work as well as if you're in a warm environment where you're supported and able. I've noticed that my mind really does control a lot of what my body is able to do--when I'm nervous or not looking forward to something, it definitely affects how well I can do it--so I think that should still apply when having a baby too.

One funny thing: I'd never heard of The Farm, really, before reading this book, and I googled it after reading out of curiosity. It's actually a hippie commune they set up in the 70s, where there was a lot of sex and drug experimentation for decades, according to Wikipedia. Pretty hilarious that they never explain that in the book--all the birth stories make it sound like it's just a birthing center and don't mention anything else around there--and pretty much enough to convince me that I don't want to go give birth there (although I already knew that).

Bottom line: I'm not going to give birth on a hippie commune, but this was a good read and gave me some good things to think about to get ready for this baby coming out.