Status
Available
Local notes
EC Motherhood
Collection
Publication
Harvard Common Press (2008), Edition: 3rd Edition, 352 pages
Description
"Since the original publication of The Birth Partner in 1989, new mothers' mates, friends, and relatives and doulas (professional birth assistants) have relied on Penny Simkin's guidance in caring for the new mother from the last few weeks of pregnancy through the early postpartum period. Fully revised in its third edition, The Birth Partner remains the definitive guide for preparing to help a woman through childbirth and the essential manual to have at hand during the event. This completely updated edition includes thorough information on: Preparing for labor and knowing when it has begun; Normal labor and how to help the woman every step of the way; Epidurals and other medications for labor; Non-drug techniques for easing labor pain; Cesarean birth and complications that may require it; Breastfeeding and newborn care; And much more. For the partner who wishes to be truly helpful in the birthing room, this book is indispensable"--… (more)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
352 p.; 9 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member timspalding
Detailed, boring and ultimately unnecessary—at least for me.
LibraryThing member LLLMontebello
The best guidebook for birth partners currently available. Well-written and comprehensive, it emphasizes birth as a woman-centered experience where the mother is in charge. This training manual for the labor coach (not the birthing mother) has an intervention-free birth, immediate mother-child
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contact, and early breastfeeding as goals. Common concerns as well as unusual situations are discussed clearly and alternatives provided. This new edition features dark borders on key pages, so they can be quickly found by the birth partner as needed. Show Less
LibraryThing member VVilliam
A very thorough and unbiased look at the birthing process. Reading this and taking a birth class was very repetitive, but lead to good reinforcement and differing views on some subjects. I think the quote on the back is exactly right, this is the Bible for birthing. Overall a little dry and very
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long, but worth the read, especially for partners. I enjoyed the late pregnancy and postpartum sections especially. I expect to come back to this book during the birth and for subsequent labors. Show Less
LibraryThing member jorgearanda
Pretty good advice for helping a pregnant woman through labor.
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
I read this about a month before my wife went into labor. It throws a lot of information at you, and I don't know that reading it straight through without, say, taking notes was particularly valuable. A lot of time is spent explaining certain holds and massages that by the time my wife was in
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labor, I had completely forgotten. But I guess the fundamental message is valuable: you should listen to the mother, and she should listen to her body, and avoid unnecessary interventions. We had a doula at the birth, for which I am immensely grateful, as she had internalized all this stuff, while a 400-page book is not the easiest referent in the middle of labor. Show Less
LibraryThing member magonistarevolt
The literal best book for a partner of a parent-to-be. Useful for lists, for knowledge development, and for strategies. Basically if your partner is going to give birth, this is required reading.
LibraryThing member Daumari
My library's copy is the 5th Edition from 2018, which is the most recent version and I really appreciate its commitment to inclusive language (not all birthing parents are women! Not all birthing partners are dads! Nontraditional family structures like extended family or adoptive parents exist!) as
While you could read this cover to cover like I did, it's probably useful as a guidebook where you pick between needed chapters as things come up. Very thorough, with extensive list of resources in the back for further reading/viewing in the case of online videos. While I suspect Penny leans more towards non-medicated/low intervention births, all necessary information for any kind of birth is presented. For example, in the chapter on pain medication, there is a table for gauging the birthing parent's pain medication preferences, and they mention that both extreme ends (either complete pain removal or lack thereof) are unrealistic expectations and as birth partner/doula/etc., you should pinpoint the fears behind why the birthing person feels that way and discuss scenarios where pain medication can/can't be applied.
Strongly recommended if you're assisting with a birth/newborn role, and want to know how to support your pregnant loved one.
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well as extensive comfort resources and illustrations. My husband is more of an audiobook person, so I'm curious if I should obtain that version for him or if he'll lose out on illustrations charts. While you could read this cover to cover like I did, it's probably useful as a guidebook where you pick between needed chapters as things come up. Very thorough, with extensive list of resources in the back for further reading/viewing in the case of online videos. While I suspect Penny leans more towards non-medicated/low intervention births, all necessary information for any kind of birth is presented. For example, in the chapter on pain medication, there is a table for gauging the birthing parent's pain medication preferences, and they mention that both extreme ends (either complete pain removal or lack thereof) are unrealistic expectations and as birth partner/doula/etc., you should pinpoint the fears behind why the birthing person feels that way and discuss scenarios where pain medication can/can't be applied.
Strongly recommended if you're assisting with a birth/newborn role, and want to know how to support your pregnant loved one.
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Pages
352