The Best Birth: Your Guide to the Safest, Healthiest, Most Satisfying Labor and Delivery

The Best Birth: Your Guide to the Safest, Healthiest, Most Satisfying Labor and Delivery | Sarah McMoyler, Armin Brott | A MUST-READ: BIRTH AS A PARTNERSHIP

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The Best Birth: Yo...

	The Best Birth: Your Guide to the Safest, Healthiest, Most Satisfying Labor and Delivery Sarah McMoyler, Armin Brott Da Capo Press, 2008 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Move over Lamaze and Bradley! Already taking the west coast by storm, the McMoyler Method offers a modern, medically savvy approach to labor and delivery that addresses the hopes and fears of today?s expectant parents.The Best Birth prepares couples for what will be one of the most astounding, least predictable events of their lives, using simple principles such as: Any birth after which the mother and child are healthy is a success You already have the only doula you need The medical staff wants the same thing you do-healthy mom, healthy baby With the McMoyler Method, there?s no guilt or regret for choosing an epidural or having a C-section; it?s about helping moms cope, involving partners every step of the way, and working with doctors and nurses for the best birth-no matter how it happens.

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reality based for hospital birth

As a midwife who practices in a hospital, but who also believes that women deserve a greater range of birthing choices than most typically have in America today, I find McMoyler's book to be a reality-based approach to hospital births. A woman SHOULD trust her doctor or midwife and labor nurses because she SHOULD have exercised her right to choose the person and place that best aligns with her philosophy of birthing. Not all doctors or midwives or hospitals are like, but if she has done her research fully (checked the stats and gotten satisfactory answers to tough questions), she will pick the appropriate person and place for her. Whether she desires an unmedicated birth or is certain she would like an epidural, McMoyler's explanations for position changes to move labor along and vocalization for coping with pain are proven through experience. Her emphasis on partner education and commitment to be the best labor support are also important (and set up the importance of partner support postpartum as well (I don't think she is negating doulas)). No woman should feel guilty about the way she births: every birth is unique and unpredictable and the best births are a dialogue between the woman and her attendants where every one has the goal of "healthy mom, healthy baby". Flexibility is a very important attribute of parenting, even in labor. Ultimately, this book is empowering: knowing some of the hard facts of childbirth and birthing in hospitals will allow women to make the best informed choices.

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A MUST-READ: BIRTH AS A PARTNERSHIP

Sarah McMoyler brings a wealth of experience and practical guidelines to expectant mothers (and fathers, like me!) in this book. What sets the McMoyler Method apart from Bradley, Lamaze, and other 20th century gurus of birthing:
1) The father/partner CAN help! In fact, he can be the mother's primary support during the labor process-- and why not? We are in this together from the moment of conception. Instead of relegating us to working a video camera or standing helplessly on the sidelines, McMoyler provides fathers with a vital role on what might be the most important day of our lives.

2) Medication is OK! There are many advocates of "natural" birth who for prideful reasons view this incredibly grueling ordeal as some test of endurance that must be experienced in a "pure" state. Mama does not have to be macho! While they should not be resorted to unless required for the mother's and baby's comfort and health, pain and muscle-relaxing drugs are among many options expectant couples should have in their arsenal for this one process that, once underway, is really out of their complete control.

3) Medically-trained people are the best insurance for a helthy, safe birth! As long as all goes well during labor, home births and doulas are wonderful. But realistically, there are many unforeseen situations that can emerge that call for advanced medical knowledge and measures that may be beyond the capabilities of these well-meaning folk. As rare as it might be, an umbillical cord wrapped around the baby's neck or a sudden change in vital signs require instant detection and expert remediation. Having the nurse/doctor/anesthesiologist available can be the difference between life and death.

Having noted the complaints of reviewers here re: McMoyler's favorable stance on utilizing legitimate medical resources, it seems her critics are painting with too broad a brush. Yes, the medical system is screwed up, and we all acknowledge that health insurance in this country is a fiasco. Yet in those important hours during labor, the parents can be guided and supported by medical expertise and still be empowered make their own informed decisions at critical moments. This is a fundamental tenet of the McMoyler Method-- one that is easily overlooked by non-medical doulas and those with an axe to grind against hospitals as bureaucracies. Having those resources available if and when a crisis emerges offers an extra measure of assurance toward McMoyler's expressed goal: "Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby."

As a father, I am encouraged by this book's message that my child's mother should use all available resources to get through labor successfully, and by Sarah McMoyler's ability to teach me skills that make me a true partner in the miracle of birth.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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