HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method by Marie F. Mongan

I haven't read any birth books since I was pregnant with Dane. I figured once I had done it once I was fine and wouldn't need to change what I was already doing. However, I've been thinking about having this baby naturally, without medication. This is a HUGE shift from where I was even a few years ago, because I've never been interested in trying it or feeling a lot of pain. But I don't know why--I feel like I would like to try having this experience that is a huge part of being a woman. I have been really lucky in that I have hardly had any pain in any of my labors at all--my contractions have never hurt until after my water is broken, and then I've only felt a few contractions before my epidural kicks in, and I have never had any negative side effects from my epidurals. My labors have also gotten faster and faster--it took less than an hour after my water was broken until Lucy was born. So I think I'm a great candidate for a natural birth.

I just wanted to be ready for it and to figure out what I could do to prepare. Several friends who have had babies naturally recommended this book to me. Marie Mongan basically says that everyone can give birth without any pain as long as you stay relaxed and breathe correctly. I was annoyed by her tone in this book for a lot of the time--she basically argues that everything everyone believes about birth is a social construct (like pain, needing to push the baby out, the very idea of birth being hard) and that if we just use our mind to relax our bodies and not feel any fear, then we will have a magical, calm, easy birth. I do think she's probably right about relaxing and that allowing you to give birth more smoothly and easily, and I really appreciate the specific types of breathing and ideas that can help you get through labor. But I feel like she goes way too far in some of her claims, she doesn't provide any actual evidence of her claims (no science here), and the way she writes about birth will definitely make some women feel shamed or guilty if they have a bad experience or if it doesn't go perfectly smoothly like she promises. I definitely plan to try and incorporate the breathing and relaxing, and have been practicing every day for the last week or so, but I also plan to ignore some of her more obnoxious ideas and opinions, and probably go halfway. I also expect it to be pretty painful, but hopefully manageable with these breathing techniques. I am tough, I think I can do this.