'An essential read for anyone who cares about the misogyny inherent in modern medicine. This is a highly original, deeply validating and entirely engaging addition to the canon of birth and parenting writing.' Clover Stroud'I start to see my own experience not as a woeful result of a system or a body that has let me down, but as a birth experience as ancient, rich and potent as any other kind of birth.'Back in 2017, journalist Hannah Marsh was abou...

'An essential read for anyone who cares about the misogyny inherent in modern medicine. This is a highly original, deeply validating and entirely engaging addition to the canon of birth and parenting writing.' Clover Stroud'I start to see my own experience not as a woeful result of a system or a body that has let me down, but as a birth experience as ancient, rich and potent as any other kind of birth.'Back in 2017, journalist Hannah Marsh was abou...

It's time for a childbirth revolution. The modern approach to maternity care fails women, families and care providers with outdated practices that centre the needs of institutions rather than individuals. In this book, Rachel Reed weaves history, science and research with the experiences of women and care providers to create a holistic, evidence-based framework for understanding birth. Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage requires us to recognise that mothers own the power and expert...

The Hypnobirthing Book is a complete antenatal preparation which guides you to achieve the birth you want. Childbirth can be an empowering and positive experience that you treasure for the rest of your life.Hypnobirthing teaches simple and gentle techniques that have a profound effect. By practising these techniques during pregnancy, you can release fear and anxiety, and build confidence in yourself and your body’s ability to give birth naturally. Feeling calm and ...

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist: A "compelling chronicle" of the science, politics, and business of blood ( The Wall Street Journal).Blood carries life, yet the sight of it makes people faint. It is a waste product and a commodity pricier than oil. It can save lives and transmit deadly infections. Each one of us has roughly nine pints of it, yet many don't even know their own blood type. And for all its ubiquitousness, the few tablespoons of blood dis...

Hypnotherapist and experienced doula Sophie Fletcher shares with you the secrets to having a safe, natural and positive birth. Using a powerful combination of mindfulness, hypnosis and relaxation techniques, Sophie will ensure you feel genuinely excited and completely prepared for birth.With stories from women who have successfully used the tools in this book, and downloadable hypnosis and relaxation tracks, discover how to:- use your mind and body together to stay focused ...

As featured on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 5 Live Selected as one of the Independent’s 10 best pregnancy books for expectant parentsBirth is a feminist issue. It’s the feminist issue nobody’s talking about.For too long women have been told, ‘a healthy baby is all that matters’. This book dares to say women matter too.Finally blasting the feminist spotlight into the labour ward, Milli Hill enc...

Renowned for her practice's exemplary results and low intervention rates, Ina May Gaskin has gained international notoriety for promoting natural birth. She is a much-beloved leader of a movement that seeks to stop the hyper-medicalization of birth—which has lead to nearly a third of hospital births in America to be cesarean sections—and renew confidence in a woman's natural ability to birth.Upbeat and informative, Gaskin asserts that the way in which women become mothers is a women...

A journalist " explores the way childbirth has changed, from pre-history to the present" in this "fascinating, funny and occasionally shocking" historical survey ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).From midwives to the epidural and beyond, mother and former Boston Globe editor Tina Cassidy presents an intelligent, enlightening, and impeccably researched cultural history of how we handle the process of childbirth. W...

Discover tried-and-tested techniques to help you relax during labour, including mindfulness, breathing exercises and visualization, for an empowering, positive birth.Now with two new chapters, this brand-new edition of The Calm Birth Method will show you how you can make birth a gentle and enjoyable experience. This authoritative guide will help you to build confidence in your body and its abilities and offers practical techniques to support and prepare yo...

Funny and poignant stories from the labour ward and from the frontline of campaigns for women's reproductive rights, from Australia's best known obstetrician.'We never train women in Sydney,' Caroline de Costa was told in 1974 when she applied to become a junior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology. She and her husband packed their bags and their children, and headed for Dublin.When Caroline first started in medicine, being an unmarried mother was frowne...

In Misconceptions, bestselling author Naomi Wolf she demythologizes motherhood and reveals the dangers of common assumptions about childbirth. With uncompromising honesty she describes how hormones eroded her sense of independence, ultrasounds tested her commitment to abortion rights, and the keepers of the OB/GYN establishment lacked compassion. The weeks after her first daughter’s birth taught her how society, employers, and even husbands can manipulate new mothers. She had bewi...