Softcover

ISBN 10: 0399525173 ISBN 13: 9780399525179

Publisher: TarcherPerigee, 1999

As an intelligent woman, you are probably used to learning as much as you can before making major decisions. But when it comes to one of the most important decisions of your life--how you will give birth—it is hard to gather accurate, unbiased information. Surprisingly, much of the research does not support common medical opinion and practice.

Birth activist Henci Goer gives clear, concise information based on the latest medical studies. The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth helps you compare and contrast your various options and shows you how to avoid unnecessary procedures, drugs, restrictions, and tests. The book covers:

• Cesareans
• Breech babies
• Inducing labor
• Electronic Fetal Monitoring
• Rupturing Membranes
• Coping with slow labor
• Pain medication
• Epistiotomy
• Vaginal birth after a Ceasarean
• Doulas
• Deciding on a doctor or midwife
• Choosing where to have your baby
• and much more . . .

About the Author:

Henci Goer is a certified Lamaze instructor and a doula (professional labor support). She is a founding member of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services, a group made up of organizations and individuals involved with maternity care in the US and fighting for a mother-friendly childbirth environment. Her articles on pregnancy and childbirth have appeared in Readers Digest and Childbirth Instructor Magazine. For twenty years, Goer has been a Lamaze-certified childbirth educator and labor support professional (doula).

Review:

"*The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth* puts the power of the latest scientific research into the hands of women to help them discern the facts from the myths and make informed decisions about their maternity care." -- Maureen P. Corry, M.P.H. Executive Director, Maternity Center Association

"In Henci Goer, thinking women have a champion, and maternity caregivers have a challenger. Henci has applied her impressive intellect, wisdom, writing skills, common sense, and wit to produce *The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth*. She analyzes and makes sense of a prodigious amount of recent obstetric research, boils it down, and summarizes its findings. And, on the basis of these findings, she makes practical recommendations for better births. Not one to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, Henci lets the reader in on her whole thinking process, providing scientific references, summaries of the articles, and logical recommendations--all in a highly readable, user-friendly format." -- Penny Simkin, P.T. internationally known speaker, birth educator, doula, doula-trainer co-author of *Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn* and author of *The Birth Partner*

"With the help of this book, any intelligent person can obtain the information necessary to make informed choices. This unique book will provide the tools and confidence to have the best possible birth experience." -- Don Creevy, M.D., FACOG obstetrician-gynecologist Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford University Medical School