Your Best Birth : Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience

by Lake, Ricki; Epstein, Abby; Moritz, Jacques

• ISBN13: 9780446538138
• ISBN10: 0446538132
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-01
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Summary

The national C-section rate is at an all-time high of 31 percent. Are all these C-sections necessary, or are some of them done simply for the sake of convenience? Inductions seem to be the norm, but are they always needed? Today, expectant mothers are often left feeling powerless, as their instincts are replaced by drugs and routine medical procedures. What you are about to discover is that you have a choice, and you have the power to plan the kind of birth that's right foryou-whether it is at a birth center, a hospital, or at home. In YOUR BEST BIRTH, internationally known advocates of informed choice Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein inspire women to take back the birth experience, with essential advice on: · Positive and negative effects of epidurals, Pitocin, and other drugs and interventions · Inducing vs. allowing your labor to progress naturally · The truth behind our country's staggering C-section rate · Assembling your birth team and creating your birth plan. With chapters such as "Obstetricians: Finding Dr . Right,""Epidurals: You Haven't Got Time for the Pain," and "Electronic Monitors: Reading between the Lines," Lake and Epstein will encourage you to consider whatever your doctor, mother, and best friend may suggest in a new light. The book also includes inspiring birth stories, including those from well-known personalities, such as Laila Ali and Cindy Crawford. Packed with crucial advice from childbirth professionals, and delivered in a down-to-earth, engaging voice, YOUR BEST BIRTH is sure to renew your confidence and put the control back where it belongs: with parents-to-be! Review: "Abby Epstein and Ricki Lake have taken a wonderful and constructive approach to ensuring an optimal birthing experience. Their language creates a 'climate of confidence' for pregnant women and their families, who must make key decisions about where, how and with whom to give birth in a health care system often unresponsive to our needs. This book is like a good friend giving wise counsel." --Judy Norsigian, co-editor of Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth and Executive Director, Our Bodies Ourselves

Author Biography

RICKI LAKE is an actress, host of the long-running Ricki Lake talk show, and natural childbirth advocate, based in LA and New York.

ABBY EPSTEIN is a New York-based filmmaker and natural childbirth advocate.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface Ricki and Abby: Our Best Births	p. xiii
Introduction Your Birth Is Your Business	p. xxvii
Know Your Options	p. 1
Not Your Mama's Birth Plan	p. 7
Your Best Birth Place	p. 34
Putting Your Dream Team Together	p. 61
Obstetricians: Finding Dr. Right	p. 64
Midwives: Not Just for Hippies Anymore	p. 76
Doulas: Labor's Love	p. 93
The Guest List: Birth as a Private Party	p. 101
For Sexual Abuse Survivors, a Healing	p. 109
Interventions: The Slippery Slope	p. 115
Epidurals: You Haven't Got Time for the Pain	p. 119
Inductions and Pitocin: Let's Get This Party Started	p. 124
Electronic Monitors: Reading between the Lines	p. 138
Episiotomies, Vacuums, and Forceps: The (Un)Kindest Cut	p. 143
Cesarean Sections and VBAC: To C or Not to C	p. 148
Take Back Your Birth	p. 167
Loving Your Labor	p. 174
Bonding with Baby	p. 194
Epilogue	p. 205
Acknowledgments	p. 209
Appendix	p. 211
Resources for Your Best Birth	p. 217
Index	p. 229
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.