Ina May Gaskin

Ina May's guide to childbirth

Elizabeth Wood

This book is a little bit hippy. But it does cover really helpful tips and tricks to help in labor especially if you want to go the unmedicated route. 

I was not a fan of the birth stories in the first half of the book. They were very repetitive and were from 40-50 years ago. I understand that the fundamentals of birth don’t change, but it would be helpful to have more modern stories. 

I appreciated the ideas of speaking and viewing our bodies with love and appreciation. I do believe that positive thinking can affect our physical health and that there is a mind/body connection. 

There were a few things that I felt were outdated. I still highly recommend a birthing course to all first time moms - preferably something evidence based.

Danica Holdaway

Pretty hippy and idealist, with a very strong agenda, but a good overall look at natural childbirth. The first half is natural childbirth stories, and the second half is comprised of chapters about different areas of pregnancy, labor, delivery, and overall childbirth. Not a great read if you're more inclined to epidurals or modern medicine in general. I don't plan on a natural childbirth but I wanted to be a little more aware of how and why women do it - it was definitely eye-opening and made me less afraid of the possibility that I would have to do a natural childbirth.

Rebecca Light

3.5 stars. Helpful if taken with a grain of salt.

Pia Sophia

I am so grateful that my good friend and fellow midwife-in-the-making has gifted me this book for my 21st birthday. I wouldn’t have missed all the knowledge it contains, and I’m especially grateful to have read it months before becoming a midwife. 

After almost 5 years of studying midwifery, I obviously have read tons of book about pregnancy and childbirth. Most of them being medical books, some of them being books on becoming a new parent (which is, quite often, not to be taken seriously all the time for the funny note on which these books are written). Never had I read a book on midwifery quite as this one. 

I enjoyed the birth stories, but I loved reading Ina May’s personal views on pregnancy and childbirth. This book got me angry and anxious at times, especially when reading U.S. policy on the matter and learning it to be so different than the policy here in The Netherlands; yet sometimes reading familiair policies or thoughts that also dominate hospitals here. Most of all, this book empowered me as a midwife and as a woman. I wish for everyone, not just women, to read this book and to review their own thoughts on midwifery and childbirth. 

A new topic for me was the sexuality of childbirth. Being as it may, the Western culture is rather prude and we are definitely not taught that sexuality might even have the slightest resemblance with childbirth. In the beginning, when women talked about their sexual experiences in the birth of their children in this book, I felt rather uncomfortable. It was only when I read the explanation and logic behind it, that I now know that this can be helpful and maybe even necessary in some births. I am so glad Ina May taught me this through her book, amongst many other things. 

I wish, although I do not plan on having children of my own any time soon, to have a midwife like Ina May beside me when the day comes I go into labor myself. Until then (and after that, too, of course) I plan and wish to be that midwife myself.

Ina May's guide to childbirth

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