Effective Birth Preparation: Your Practical Guide to a Better Birth [Paperback]

Sheila Kitzinger, MBE - Author, honorary professor teaching an MA in midwifery, Anthropologist, campaigner for natural birth Here is a fascinating and impressive book that empowers a woman to prepare for birth drawing on her own inner resources - She doesn't have to depend on others to discipline and train her, but through insight and understanding, and using skills of relaxation, rhythmic breathing, and the art of creative imagination, she can focus on the birth energy released in her body. She learns to manage pain and face the challenge of labour, whether it is fast or slow, and she is under her own control, nobody else's. The material is well researched and vividly presented, and any woman who studies and rehearses the author's practical suggestions helps herself towards a positive - even exultant - birth experience.A" Khim Lee - Midwife, antenatal teacher, mother How empowering and rewarding it is for me as a Midwife, to see how effective the techniques in this book are. They have made a tremendous contribution to women, enabling them to have better birth experiences. Midwifery is becoming too medicalised and often contradicting what NICE Guidelines recommend in Normalising Maternity care. I feel that all Midwives should really be trained in Natal Hypnotherapy, as the techniques are effective, simple tools which will also help make midwives better, more sensitive and caring so helping women have a calmer birth experiences.A" Ellie Hughes - Editor, Pregnancy & Birth Magazine, mother of two Whatever your views on the kind of birth you think you would like, you will find plenty here to help you work with your body, and feel confident and in control during this life -changing, life-giving event. A huge help in combating the fears many women will feel as they approach labour.A" Shona Kitchener - mother, champion of natural parenting, animal behavioural scientist 'A"This book is a pocket sized course & therapy session in one. I found reading the book cleansing, inspiring, encouraging and empowering. It has left me filled with a deep sense of power and pride when reflecting on the birth of my daughter and with a sense of urgency when considering doing it all again! The most beautiful part for me was that rather than talking about replacing negative images and thoughts with positive ones (a near impossible task for most mums of my generation as there are so few to replace them with!) this book provides what all the others have missed by offering wonderful stories and experiences, as told by mothers who have used Natal Hypnotherapy. Each story is told with perfect timing in the book and many so memorable and moving that I found that they went straight into my subconscious as if to cleanse the old ones away. It is written so naturally and from the heart that everything sounds instantly familiar and right'. 'This book is a life changing read and should be on every pregnant mums essential purchases list!' Julie Green - Midwifery lecturer, Supervisor of Midwives - LSA Midwife, Director - Birth and Beyond Consultancy Ltd. "A"Maggie describes the tools required for instinctive birthing so well, this book will help women to reduce any fear they may have before the phenomenal life changing event of birth. The non-technical explanations and use of women's stories reflect the body's natural ability to give birth so positively, giving control back to the woman herself - excellent" Danielle Diosi - NCT teacher, twins antenatal teacher, mother to twins The thing that stuck out for me when reading this wonderful book, was how much sense it made. It makes everything very clear and really emphasises the point that birth is not rocket science, it is just a normal physiological process. A definite must for any pregnant woman's reading listA" Dot Parry - Midwife, NCT teacher, mother "This modern day manual is packed with old fashioned wisdom and common sense techniques to help 21st century women give birth confidently, safely and peacefully." Emma Rhodes - Natal HypnotherapyA' mother 'Reading this book is like having an enormous weight lifted. It's so refreshing, encouraging and full of good sense; convincing you that not only is a calm, relaxed, positive birth experience entirely possible, it should be expected!' Caroline Baddiley - Independent Midwife How wonderfully refreshing to have a Birth Preparation book that focuses on feelings and emotions rather than on the technicalities of birth. A complete how-to-deal-with -fear- toolkit for all pregnant women.A" Michel Odent MD - Author, surgeon obstetrician, founder of the Primal Health Research Centre, present at over 15,000 births The book by Maggie Howell is much more than a practical guide for birth preparation. It is a book about human nature. It includes several dominant themes. One of them is the negative effect, in certain situations, of the knowledge that human adults have acquired, compared in particular with the knowledge transmitted from generation to generation among non human animals. Obviously, Maggie has digested the contents of the first pages of the bestseller written several thousand years ago. She has been able to interpret 'the sin of consuming the fruit of the tree of knowledge', and she has noticed the significant association, in the first pages of this famous ancient book, between knowing too much and being condemned to have difficult birth. In modern scientific language we can explain this association by introducing the concept of neocortical inhibition, and by claiming that the huge development of the neocortex - the brain of the intellect - is the main reason for difficult births in our species. The solution to cope with this human handicap is to put the neocortex at rest. This is why 'Natal Hypnotherapy' can be presented as a set of tools to overcome powerful neocortical inhibitions and the effects of thousands of years of cultural conditioning.A"

In response to the success of the award winning "Natal Hypnotherapy CDs" and courses, founder Maggie Howell has published a complete guide to birth preparation. This informative, down to earth and inspiring guide takes the reader step by step through mental, emotional and physical preparation for birth. Based on her ground breaking work with thousands of women and birth professionals, the book explains why birth has become such a traumatic affair in our culture and how an individual woman can break out of this fear based birth culture and prepare for the birth in a positively and confidently. As world renowned Michel Odent states, 'This book is more than a guide book. It is a book about human nature with the Natal Hypnotherapy techniques helping to undo thousands of years of cultural conditioning. Unlike many of the books on pregnancy which are currently available, the guide focuses on emotional, mental as well as physical preparation, explaining what a woman can do to help herself such as relaxation, visualisation, self hypnosis and breathing'. As midwife Caroline Baddily says, 'How wonderfully refreshing to have a Birth Preparation book that focuses on feelings and emotions rather than on the technicalities of birth'. This is a complete how-to-deal-with fear toolkit for all pregnant women. In addition the book gives women and their partner's step by step practical guidance, tips and tools on how to practice and perfect these techniques for themselves. The reader is encouraged to practise each exercise, to complete the work book section of the book and to take ownership of, and personalise her own birth preparation. As one reviewer, Shona Kitchener said, 'This book is a pocket sized course & therapy session in one! I felt as if someone was sat with me talking through each chapter. This was a life changing read and should be on every pregnant mum's essential purchases list!'. The clear, easy to follow style of the book takes the reader by the hand and supports her in her journey to follow and complete the five steps to a better birth: overcome fear; learn how to manage pain; know you can do it; prepare your birth partner; and, acquire practical skills. Author and anthropologist Sheila Kitzinger feels, 'The material is well researched and vividly presented, and any woman who studies and rehearses the author's practical suggestions helps herself towards a positive - even exultant - birth experience'. The book is also full of inspiring and heart warming birth stories by mums who have used the tools and techniques, plus interesting facts about childbirth through the ages, which help reinforce the key messages in this book - trust, confidence and belief that your body already knows how to birth your baby.