When we think about trauma and PTSD we tend to think about war and conflict. But around a third of women feel some part of their birth was traumatic. This experience can impact on their mental and physical health, their relationships and future plans. In Why Birth Trauma Matters, Dr Emma Svanberg, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Make Birth Better, explores what happens to those who go through a bad birth. She explains in detail how birth trauma occurs, examines the wide-ranging impact on all of those involved in birth, and looks at treatments and techniques to aid recovery. By drawing on her own research and the work of experts in the field, and sharing the first-hand experiences of women, she shows how it is possible to begin to move on.

Maternity services and choices for labour and birth are fast evolving. Hypnobirth involves preparation for childbirth using tried and tested hypnotherapy techniques in harmony with midwifery best practices and increasing numbers of women are turning to the technique. Written by two experienced practitioners, this is the first evidence-based practice book for medical professionals on this subject. Chapters include coverage of: What hypnosis is and the history of hypnobirth The power of the mind and the effect of language Relaxation and breathing techniques The neocortex and hormones Birth partners, relationships, women's advocates and primary supporters Throughout the book the authors provide health professionals working in clinical midwifery practice with information and evidence-based findings to support the use of hypnobirth. The book includes case studies, scripts and reflective questions to encourage a deeper understanding of the techniques and issues and to engage and inspire the reader. Hypnobirth is essential reading for midwives, obstetricians, student midwives, doulas and any practitioner involved in preparing and supporting pregnant women for labour.

Drawing on years of midwifery experience of waterbirth, this collection of stories, based on real-life events, illuminates a rewarding way of birth and emphasises the theoretical knowledge, skills, understanding, and resilience needed to practice well. Waterbirth Stories includes chapters on the criteria for use of water in labour and birth, on the different stages of labour, and on some more serious or unusual situations such as shoulder dystocia, postpartum haemorrhage, breech presentation, and other unexpected maternal and neonatal events. Each chapter includes several stories from a midwife's perspective, told in the context of evidence-based guidelines available for this topic. The stories end with learning points to help readers reflect on their own practice. Ideal for student and practising midwives with an interest in waterbirth, this research-informed book is enjoyable, challenging, and informative.

HypnoBirthing(R) has gained momentum around the globe as a positive and empowering method of childbirth. Here's why: HypnoBirthing helps women to become empowered by developing an awareness of the instinctive birthing capability of their bodies. It greatly reduces the pain of labor and childbirth; frequently eliminates the need for drugs; reduces the need for caesarian surgery or other doctor-controlled birth interventions; and it also shortens birthing and recovery time, allowing for better and earlier bonding with the baby, which has been proven to be vital to the mother-child bond. What's more, parents report that their infants sleep better and feed more easily when they haven't experienced birth trauma. HypnoBirthing founder Marie Mongan knows from her own four births that it is not necessary for childbirth to be a terribly painful experience. In this book she shows women how the Mongan Method works and how parents they can take control of the greatest and most important event of their lives. So, why is birth such a traumatic event for so many women? And why do more than 40% of births now end in caesarian section, the highest percentage in history? The answer is simple: because our culture teaches women to fear birth as a painful and unsettling experience. Fear causes three physical reactions in the body--tightening of the muscles, reduced blood flow to the birthing muscles, and the release of certain hormones--which increase the pain and discomfort of childbirth. This is not hocus-pocus this is science.

Drawing on years of midwifery experience of waterbirth, this collection of stories, based on real-life events, illuminates a rewarding way of birth and emphasises the theoretical knowledge, skills, understanding, and resilience needed to practice well. Waterbirth Stories includes chapters on the criteria for use of water in labour and birth, on the different stages of labour, and on some more serious or unusual situations such as shoulder dystocia, postpartum haemorrhage, breech presentation, and other unexpected maternal and neonatal events. Each chapter includes several stories from a midwife's perspective, told in the context of evidence-based guidelines available for this topic. The stories end with learning points to help readers reflect on their own practice. Ideal for student and practising midwives with an interest in waterbirth, this research-informed book is enjoyable, challenging, and informative.

As research in neuroscience increasingly points to the unparalleled influence of the first 1000 days of life from conception to two years of age in determining the baby's life trajectory, the need for high-quality early parenting education delivered by knowledgeable and dedicated professionals becomes ever more apparent. This book describes the global aims of early parenting education. It identifies the key areas that research suggests are important: building a relationship with the unborn and newborn baby; preparing for labour and birth; supporting parents' mental health; protecting the couple relationship across the transition to parenthood; and education for special groups such as same-sex couples, women with fear of birth, prisoners, military wives and parents from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. All practitioners providing early parenting programmes - midwives, health visitors, family link workers, children's centre staff and voluntary sector teachers - will gain new ideas for their practice in this book. Students taking midwifery and early childhood courses will find much to support their studies. Ultimately, the book provides inspiration for all those who are committed to the role of parenting education in reducing social inequalities.

The rhetoric of choice is much used in UK health policy and home birth is one of the three options that women are entitled to choose between when deciding where to have their baby. However, many women making this choice run into considerable opposition from the maternity service. Home Birth: the politics of difficult choices focuses on the experiences of women whose choices were opposed by health professionals during their pregnancy journey. It confronts why and how women are being denied home birth and raises some challenging issues for current midwifery practice. Using ten women's narratives, this important volume explores why women might want to give birth at home and considers ideas of risk and informed choice in pregnancy and birth. The book includes chapters on communication and language; fear and stress; advocacy and autonomy; fathers' experience of contested place of birth and free birthing. Pointers to best practice are presented whilst the text incorporates women's narratives throughout, making this a practical and relevant read for midwifery students as well as practising midwives and childbirth educators, all of whom have a duty to make home birth a real option for women.

Concentrating specifically on research into midwifery and related disciplines, Appraising Research into Childbirth is designed to equip midwives and midwifery students with the necessary tools to navigate the maze of evidence-informed practice and the very different kinds of research that are published in midwifery, medical and related journals. The book appraises eight previously published research articles that present both qualitative and quantitative research studies. Each of the various elements is analysed - from the methodology through to the interpretation of the results. Each article is annotated with notes and questions, thereby enabling the reader to actively participate in the appraisal. Tips, tools and checklists aid orientation and quick recall of salient advice and a guide to statistics helps to demystify what is generally considered to be a daunting element of most research. Each chapter is pulled together by the ongoing discussion about how we can "find out" and "know" by doing research and the advantages, disadvantages, potential for philosophical and methodological bias and political ramifications of such work. Presents a range of quantitative and qualitative research articles relevant to midwifery practice in a unique workbook format Enables readers to gain hands-on, practical experience of critiquing research Supplementary tools, checklists, mnemonics and tables enable deeper understanding of the process of appraising research Commentary and expert critique provided by lecturers in midwifery research Contains a user-friendly guide to statistics

A no-holds-barred collection of more than 100 real-life accounts of pregnancy, birth, and life with a baby, brought together with simple advice from pregnancy and postnatal expert Becca Maberly and consultant obstetrician Roger Marwood.

This broad range of honest pregnancy, birth and parenting stories, from the likes of Clemmie Telford, Molly Gunn, Megan Rose Lane, Anna Mathur and many more, is accompanied by professional and reassuring advice from experts that will help you navigate your own experience with positivity and confidence.

Nobody Tells You will give you all the tools you need to be informed and prepared for one of life's great journeys. Without any scaremongering or sugar coating, truths are shared about topics including:

• Trying to conceive
• C-Sections
• Postnatal recovery
• Not loving breastfeeding
• Self-care
• And many, many more!

Based on personal accounts by birthing women and their medical attendants, Brought to Bed reveals how childbirth has changed from colonial times to the present.
Judith Walzer Leavitt's study focuses on the traditional woman-centered home-birthing practices, their replacement by male doctors, and the movement from the home to the hospital. She explains that childbearing women and their physicians gradually changed birth places because they believed the increased medicalization would make giving birth safer and more comfortable. Ironically, because of infection, infant and maternal mortality did not immediately decline. She concludes that birthing women held considerable power in determining labor and delivery events as long as childbirth remained in the home. The move to the hospital in the twentieth century gave the medical profession the upper hand. Leavitt also discusses recent events in American obstetrics that illustrate how women have attempted to retrieve some of the traditional women--and family--centered aspects of childbirth.

Childbirth guru Dr Gowri Motha, who practises with Dr Yehudi Gordon - author of Birth and Beyond - shows women how her revolutionary method helps women carry the baby to full term, have less intervention in the birth; feel less pain in labour, and feel happy and in control. The Gentle Birth method is a concise pregnancy programme combining diverse therapies such as 'creative healing' massage, a simple diet, self-hypnosis, reflexology and affirmation techniques The method was created by Dr Gowri Motha as an alternative to conventional obstetric practise, when she became alarmed at the increasing number of women needing intervention during their births. It teaches expectant mothers how to train their bodies and minds in order to reduce or prevent complications during pregnancy and labour. This book outlines the Method, with a month-by-month programme explaining how to rebalance the body and tailor it to the optimum condition for the birthing process. It includes guides to treating problems such as: - back pain - nausea - heartburn - fluid retention - stretch marks The programme offers women a formal framework in which to prepare their bodies and so avoid facing a labour that is unnecessarily long, arduous and traumatic, with significantly lower uptakes of pain relief.

As research in neuroscience increasingly points to the unparalleled influence of the first 1000 days of life from conception to two years of age in determining the baby's life trajectory, the need for high-quality early parenting education delivered by knowledgeable and dedicated professionals becomes ever more apparent. This book describes the global aims of early parenting education. It identifies the key areas that research suggests are important: building a relationship with the unborn and newborn baby; preparing for labour and birth; supporting parents' mental health; protecting the couple relationship across the transition to parenthood; and education for special groups such as same-sex couples, women with fear of birth, prisoners, military wives and parents from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. All practitioners providing early parenting programmes - midwives, health visitors, family link workers, children's centre staff and voluntary sector teachers - will gain new ideas for their practice in this book. Students taking midwifery and early childhood courses will find much to support their studies. Ultimately, the book provides inspiration for all those who are committed to the role of parenting education in reducing social inequalities.

It's time to empower yourself and just say no to giving birth passively. This is the book that has revolutionized childbirth, turning birthing mothers from subdued and passive "patients" to active and empowered owners of their childbirth experience. Janet Balaskas started a movement of women who refused to give birth lying down and she has been teaching women about "active birth" ever since. She emphasizes the importance of movement during labor, the wide range of options and positions for delivery itself, and the many natural alternatives to heavy sedation and other medical interventions. Her book is eminently useful whether you are planning to give birth in a hospital, a free-standing birth center, or at home. If such options as water birth or hypno-birthing are appealing to you, this is an essential book; at the same time, it is non-judgmental and encourages you to give birth in whatever manner and position you see fit. It covers: Exercises for pregnancy, to prepare you optimally for childbirth Massage and yoga during labor Labor and birthing positions that maximize your comfort and encourage efficient contractions Essential tips for birth partners, spouses, doulas, and other attendants Relaxation and recovery exercises, for the postpartum period Janet Balaskas shows you how to prepare for and experience a truly natural, joyful, and empowering birth.

This book investigates why women choose 'birth outside the system' and makes connections between women's right to choose where they birth and violations of human rights within maternity care systems. Choosing to birth at home can force women out of mainstream maternity care, despite research supporting the safety of this option for low-risk women attended by midwives. When homebirth is not supported as a birthplace option, women will defy mainstream medical advice, and if a midwife is not available, choose either an unregulated careprovider or birth without assistance. This book examines the circumstances and drivers behind why women nevertheless choose homebirth by bringing legal and ethical perspectives together with the latest research on high-risk homebirth (breech and twin births), freebirth, birth with unregulated careproviders and the oppression of midwives who support unorthodox choices. Stories from women who have pursued alternatives in Australia, Europe, Russia, the UK, the US, Canada, the Middle East and India are woven through the research. Insight and practical strategies are shared by doctors, midwives, lawyers, anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists on how to manage the tension between professional obligations and women's right to bodily autonomy. This book, the first of its kind, is an important contribution to considerations of place of birth and human rights in childbirth.

For acupuncturists and birth professionals, this book explains how yin/yang and other principles of Chinese medicine can improve birth experiences as well as outcomes. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can shift and support the physical and emotional journey of birth and provide nonpharmacologic treatment approaches for commonly occurring disorders of labor such as malposition, asynclitism, slow cervical dilatation and inadequate contractions, as well as postpartum and post C-section care. Accessible and engaging, the book includes an overview of Chinese medicine for women's health; information on what happens before, during and after birth from both a biomedical and Chinese medical perspective;and a toolkit of treatment strategies for birth work. The techniques described include acupressure, Tui Na (Chinese medical bodywork), needling, auricular acupressure and electrostimulation.

Humanity, argues Michel Odent, stands at a crossroads in the history of childbirth - and the direction we choose to take will have critical consequences. Until recently a woman could not have had a baby without releasing a complex cocktail of 'love hormones'. In many societies today, most women give birth without relying on the release of such a flow of hormones. Some give birth via caesarean section, while others use drugs that not only block the release of these natural substances, but do not have their beneficial behavioural effects. 'This unprecedented situation must be considered in terms of civilization', says Odent, and gives us urgent new reasons to rediscover the basic needs of women in labour. At a time when pleas for the 'humanization' of childbirth are fashionable, the author suggests, rather, that we should first accept our 'mammalian' condition and give priority to the woman's need for privacy and to feel secure. The activity of the intellect, the use of language, and many cultural beliefs and rituals - which are all special to humans - are handicaps in the period surrounding birth. Says Odent: 'To give birth to her baby, the mother needs privacy. She needs to feel unobserved. The newborn baby needs the skin of the mother, the smell of the mother, her breast. These are all needs that we hold in common with the other mammals, but which humans have learned to neglect, to ignore or even deny.' Expectant parents, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, those involved in public health, and all those interested in the future of humanity, will find this a provocative and visionary book.

Bereavement is a difficult issue for midwives to manage and families suffer when the care they receive is inadequate or inappropriate. Written by an experienced midwife and researcher, Loss and Bereavement in Childbearing examines ways in which midwives can assist families to embark on a healthy grieving process. developments in the general understanding of and research into loss and death. Providing a wealth of information for both experienced and inexperienced midwives, the book covers topics including abnormality -death of a mother in third world and first world settings -difficulties encountered during future childbearing. human approach to this sensitive topic, the book aids midwives in providing effective care and support to those who experience loss. The author draws on relevant and largely research-based literature fro a wide range of related disciplines to inform this area, which is only now receiving the attention it has long deserved.

Now in its third edition the Oxford Handbook of Midwifery continues to be the essential one-stop guide to the key principles of the care and management of pregnancy, birth and beyond. Concise yet comprehensive, with its recognisable and easy-to-use Oxford Handbook format, midwives will find this a treasure trove of clear, practical guidance. Whether you are a student needing a helping hand through the subject, or an experienced practitioner needing to refresh your knowledge in an emergency, you can be sure that this handbook will be there for you. Written by experienced midwives, and following the latest guidelines and key care protocols, this handbook is up-to-date and authoritative, with sections on sexual health, contraception, neonatal care and infant feeding. Each chapter includes assessment, diagnosis and management of care with treatment interventions. Now including new information on initiation of breast feeding with biological nurturing as well as a highlighted section on how to manage obstetric emergencies. Important psychosocial care issues are also addressed. This edition provides concise, practical and accessible information in a logical sequence, as the layout follows the woman's journey through pregnancy, birth and early motherhood.

'If you're having a baby this is a MUST READ. Get the birth you want whatever path you choose' Davina McCall 'This is an amazing book. It should be read by everybody having a baby and anyone providing care around birth' Lesley Page, President of The Royal College of Midwives 'Beverley Turner is at the forefront of a new generation leading birth into the future . . . The Happy Birth Book is a must-have for every pregnant woman and every midwife' Professor Caroline Flint, midwife, NCT teacher and trustee, Past President of The Royal College of Midwives Pregnancy, birth and the early weeks of being a parent can be incredibly overwhelming. It's a very special time and should be a joyful and empowering experience. Yet the conflicting advice about pregnancy, labour and parenting can leave your head spinning - and make it highly unlikely you will get the birth you want. Until now. In The Happy Birth Book, Beverley Turner, with the help of midwife Pam Wild, lays out all the facts about pregnancy, birth and new parenthood. Covering everything from scans to stretch marks, hypnobirthing to pain relief, as well as specific advice for partners, The Happy Birth Book will be there for you every step of the way. Whether you're in the early months of pregnancy and are anxious about the whole process, or you're under pressure to make decisions about your upcoming labour, The Happy Birth Book cuts through all the mixed messages and urban myths surrounding birth to give you straightforward, evidence-based advice which will help you and your partner to choose the path to parenthood that is right for you. So what are you waiting for? Dive in - and start preparing for the happiest day of your life.