Gentle Birth Choices

(Paperback)

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Description

New parents are faced with a myriad of choices about pregnancy labour and birth. In GENTLE BIRTH CHOICES Barbara Harper renowned childbirth advocate nurse former midwife and mother of three helps to clarify these choices and shows how to plan a meaningful family-centred birth experience. She dispels medical myths and re-imagines birth without fear pain or violence. Harper explains the numerous gentle birth choices available including giving birth in an independent birth centre at home or in a hospital birthing room; finding a primary caregiver who shares your philosophy of birth; and deciding how best to use current technologies. She also provides practical advice for couples wishing to explore the option of using a doula or water during labour and birth to avoid the unwanted effects of drugs and epidurals. The GENTLE BIRTH CHOICES DVD blends interviews with midwives and physicians and six actual births that illustrate the options of water birth home birth and vaginal birth after a prior Caesarean section. The DVD clearly reveals the strength of women during childbirth and the healthy and happy outcome of women exercising gentle birth choices. It is a powerful instructional tool not only for expectant parents but also for midwives hospitals birth centres and doctors. (bkdvd, dvxh)

Reviews

"One of the Top ten recommended books for pregnant women and their families." * Lamaze International, Fall/Winter 2001 *
"Exactly the sort of guide that pregnant women have been needing to help them sort through the myriad choices." * Robbie Davis-Floyd, author of Birth As an American Rite of Passage *
"Brace yourself for a powerful experience. This remarkable production combines art, education, and politics. Highly recommended." * Mothering Magazine *
"Harper is among the most active, enthusiastic, and effective writers and advocates in the field of childbirth education today." * Michel Odent, M.D., author of Birth Reborn *
"Exactly the sort of guide that pregnant women have been needing to help them sort through the myriad choices and options that confront them today." * Robbie Davis-Floyd, author of Birth As an American Rite of Passage *
Gentle Birth Choices provides a new model of maternity care that reduces the need for high-tech crisis intervention and focuses instead on preparation and health. * HEALTHWORLD *
A must-have for expectant mothers and their loved ones. . . . Gentle Birth Choices is an intelligent and sympathetic guide to birthing options that explores nontraditional ways that put women and their babies first. * NEW AGE RETAILER *
"Gentle Birth Choices is the best film on childbirth available today." * Midwifery Today Magazine *
". . . [Harper] dispels medical myths and reimagines birth without fear, pain, or violence. . . . The DVD vividly demonstrates the strength of women during childbirth and the healthy and happy outcome of women exercising gentle birth choices." * Branches of Light, Issue 27, Fall-Winter-Spring 2005-2006 *
"From a yogic perspective, pursuing the gentlest approach to a natural process like childbirth involves trusting in the capacity of one's own body. Harper provides the information necessary to do so, not only during labor, but throughout pregnancy, birth and beyond." * Felicia M. Tomasko, Layoga, June 2006 *
"Gentle Birth Choices provides everything you need to join the gentle revolution." * Edge Life, July 2007 *
" [Harper] guides expectant mothers through a maze of opinions and unquestioned 'best practices' while offering a host of information on both the physical and emotional aspects of holistic prenatal preparation." * Alec Franklor, Edge Life Journal, April 2008 *

Author Bio

Barbara Harper's passion for natural birth led to the founding in 1988 of Global Maternal/Child Health Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and research about natural childbirth. She lectures worldwide on maternity care reform and water birth. She lives outside of Portland, Oregon.