An Anthology of Canadian Birth Stories: Inspiration and Essential Guidance for Parents, Parents-to-be, and Healthcare Providers

“This book is a ‘must-read’ for expectant parents, because it will help them to make the right birthing choices for themselves, and for those who have already given birth, because it will help them to better understand their own birthing experiences.

—Robbie Davis-Floyd (PhD), world-renowned scholar on birth and author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage and of Ways of Knowing about Birth: Mothers, Midwives, Medicine, and Birth Activism

"The stories cover births of all kinds: rapid, unmedicated, epiduralized, surgical, preterm birth, preeclampsia and stillbirth, and all kinds of perinatal providers: doulas, midwives, nurses, and physicians. All are described with respect and positive energy. Coping with labor is not instinctive. Humans require support. Each generation needs to learn how to give this support. The writers in An Anthology pass on the instructions for labor coping in their stories without being dogmatic. Those who read this book while expecting will have many visions of labor and birth to draw on.

—Cecilia M. Jevitt(RM, CNM,APRN, PhD, FACNM), Director of Midwifery and Associate Professor in the Department of Familiy Practice in the Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia

"My take home: You have a voice and your voice deserves to be heard."

—Jenn Fountaine (LCCE, CD/BDT(DONA), PCD(DONA), CLE, FACCE), DONA International Birth Doula Training, Lamaze Program Director, and Birth and Postpartum Doula

"This anthology is a must read of firsthand experiences and insightful wisdom for birthing families and those that support them"

—Sondra Marcon, Education Director and Instructor, Doula Training Canada, Association of Ontario Doulas' board member

An Anthology of Canadian Birth Stories is a MUST READ for every new doula. The book takes you through a journey of just how varied birth experiences can be. It reinforces that satisfaction with birth has EVERYTHING to do with how we’re supported, not just the outcome we had hoped for. The book will bring you through every emotion and inspire you to continue your work as a birth worker, reinforcing the DEEP INNER KNOWING that we are needed more than ever before.

—Stefanie Antunes, LCCE, FACCE, BDT/CD/PCD(DONA), Association of Ontario Doulas' board member