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Health Books about pregnancy


What is pregnancy?

Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more embryos or fetuses by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies. In a pregnancy there can be multiple gestations (for example, in the case of twins, or triplets). Human pregnancy is the most studied of all mammalian pregnancies.

Human pregnancy lasts approximately 40 weeks between the time of the last menstrual cycle and birth (38 weeks from fertilisation). The medical term for a pregnant woman is "genetalian," just as the medical term for the unborn human is an embryo (early weeks) and then "foetus" (until birth). A woman who is pregnant for the first time is known as a primigravida or gravida 1: a woman who has never been pregnant is known as a gravida 0; similarly, the terms para 0, para 1 and so on are used for the number of times a woman has given birth.

In many societies' medical and legal definitions, human pregnancy is arbitrarily divided into three trimester periods, as a means to simplify reference to the different stages of fetal development. The first trimester period carries the highest risk of miscarriage (natural death of embryo or fetus), while during the second trimester the development of the fetus can start to be monitored and diagnosed. The third trimester marks the beginning of viability, which means the fetus can survive if an early natural or induced birth occurs. Because of the possible viability of developed fetus, cultural and legal definitions of life often consider a fetus in the third trimester to be a distinct living person.

See also Pregnancy terms and definitions
(The Thinking Woman

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

Henci Goer, Henci Goer, Rhonda Wheeler

Perigee Trade, 1999-10-01

Price: $15.95

Keywords: Books for Parents, Books, Music More, Child Care, Health, Mind Body, Medical, Medicine, Obstetrics Gynecology, Parenting Families, Parenting, Personal Health, Pregnancy Childbirth, Specialty Stores, Surgery, Women's Health

Reviews:

Preachy and biased...
I only give it 1 star because there are some informative parts. But mostly it was very preachy, anti-doctor/hospital and very one sided. "My way or the highway"-like.

The author doesn't believe that a hospital birth is any good and the best way to birth is at home or a birthing center. Obstretricans are evil. All that stuff.

There were a few moments of helpfulness when the author would discuss generalities or procedures...but other than that, useless. Borrow from a library but do not support this author!
Unbalanced. Unhelpful.
This books is not helpful if you are an impending mother who wants to get balanced information about birth and the different options. I had to stop reading this book as all it did was make me feel guilt and apprehension about giving birth in a hospital - albeit with a supportive, non-interventionist obstetrician.

Reviewers are correct in saying that the book has research to back up its statements but research can generally be found to support any view on things such as this, particularly given that no true statistical studies can be done due to ethical considerations of assigning women to birth methods.

The book also uses things that are "negatives" of hospitals (lots of equipment) as "positives" of birthing centers (equipment to deal with emergencies).

We can have a good birth if we make the best choices.
So much of our birth experiences result from the choices we make both before and during labor. This book teaches us how to understand the decisions that need to be made and how to navigate the confusion of the obstetrical world. I am a Licensed Midwife and owner of Carolina WaterBirth, a birth center in SC. I often recommend this book to women looking for answers, and we refer to it in childbirth classes. In labor, I can truly see more confidence in the women who have given thoughtful consideration to their birthing desires. You'll be grateful that you read this book.
Indepth and informative
I found this book to be thorough and informative, with a couple of drawbacks. The statistics quoted to provide creedence to arguments was dated - some data was from the 1980's - so I tended to check some of the points made on the internet to better understand the hospital stats as they are now. Also, the author, while passionate, is really quite biased against established hospital proceedures. I agreed with her almost unilaterally, but found myself dismissing her more radical opinions as I would those of an unyielding aunt. I recommend this book nevertheless. Based on some of the author's comments I had a very constructive conversation with my care-giver and as a result feel much more confident that my needs will be met.
Incredible Anti-Hospital Agenda
I had been recommended this book to educate myself on what type of practices I might expect at the hospital. I think most pregnant women already hope to minimize the amount of intervention during labor and delivery without all the scare tactics of this book.

Some bits of information were indeed helpful, and will arm the reader with questions for their medical provider on why certain options should or should not be employed (episiotomy, epidural, etc.) However, the tone is the book is so shrill and stridently anti-hospital that you come away with the impression that if the only safe and "right" way pregnant woman should give birth is to do a home delivery with a midwife. Frankly, that's limiting a woman's choices rather than empowering her to make decisions.

Instead, I recommend people read Birthing From Within.


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