Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond Paperback – July 10, 2012

Any mother expecting (and/or partner) should read this before they give birth. A must read each time you are expecting 💕 very informative and helpful for me especially when I had my first baby 6 months ago naturally.

This is the best possible book I could have read before giving birth to my daughter. I was really worried about the childbirth process, and the class my husband and I took actually made me more nervous, not less (I felt that it focused too much on all the things that can go wrong and not enough on techniques to stay calm and problem solve). Several women in my family have wound up having emergency c-sections, and their stories had me worried. This book really helped me change that outlook and gave my husband and I a ton of great tools for labor and delivery (as well as some great perspective on how to approach new parenthood!).A lot of the techniques in the book are similar to what you might learn in a childbirth class or in other books on relaxation techniques. But what sets this book apart for me was its wholistic approach to the process. I love that the book speaks to every childbirth experience, from home birth to drug-free to c-section, without judgment. Instead, the focus is on staying present in the process and finding ways to ensure that you and your partner (and doula, doctor/midwife, or other helpers) can deal with wherever the process leads and make decisions that feel right for you. Instead of being afraid of an emergency c-section, I began focusing on my physical experience and the mindfulness methods at my disposal to handle the pain and make sure I delivered a healthy baby.In the end, many things about my birth experience went as planned (who was in the room, the way my daughter was delivered, and how we recovered afterwards). Other things didn't, like when the birth happened and my hope to go drug free. But through it all, I felt calm and in control (to a point, you can't control everything, but importantly, I didn't feel like I was at the mercy of my doctor or hospital policy). I really credit this book and the mindfulness work I did before birth, including a meditation practice, with helping get me to that point.Bonus: I love the chapter at the end on maintaining mindfulness after your baby is born, especially the part about shifting from "Industrial Time" to "Agrarian Time". It's one of the shortest sections of the book, but it really stuck with me, especially during those challenging first few months when we were both exhausted and everything is new and a little scary. I still find myself using mindfulness techniques with my daughter a year later, and I sense these tools and techniques will be helpful for many years to come.

This was probably the most helpful birth book I read! I got it during my second pregnancy, planning an unmedicated hospital VBAC. (My first baby was a 31-weeker born by crash cesarean for fetal distress during an induction for severe preeclampsia.) I was already somewhat familiar with mindfulness, but this helped me practice a little more and gave me some tools for labor. It also put my mind at ease that if complications arose, I could minimize fear and focus on experiencing my baby's birth, however it happened. That was such a helpful message. After a necessarily high-intervention first birth that saved my child's life but was still pretty hard on me emotionally, I sincerely appreciated the non-judgmental approach of "Mindful Birthing."In the end, I had an uncomplicated pregnancy and did get the unmedicated VBAC I wanted! My labor lasted 48 hours total, with active labor of 14 hours. I stalled at 9cm for about 3-4 hours, so I was in transition for a long time with not much break between contractions. Mindfulness - staying in the moment, focusing on each breath, and being aware of my body - helped immensely for dealing with pain and enjoying the time in between contractions. It also helped me focus all my energy on pushing when that time came, resting in between pushes, and pushing slowly to deliver my baby's head and shoulders without tearing. After that long labor, my baby was out in 5 pushes and I only needed one stitch. My L&D nurse, OB, photographer, and doula all commented on how calm, focused, and in control I was throughout my labor. The funny thing was, I had no intention of being "in control" during birth - rather the opposite! - but focusing on the breath was very effective pain control. I certainly still felt a lot of pain, but whenever I let my mind wander from my focus, it became much harder to cope.I have already recommended "Mindful Birthing" to several people and will continue to do so.

I cannot recommend this book enough to women or their spouses who are planning ANY type of birth. Though the book has many helpful tips for a medication-free birth, the techniques for staying in the moment can help keep stress low regardless of how the birth actually goes. I used the techniques in the weeks leading up to the birth, as well - when work stress started to get me, when I started worrying about the "what-ifs" of birth - the mindfulness techniques for staying in the moment helped me through both the final weeks of pregnancy and birth.For anyone who read the book as recommended by the author - with partner reading and going through the exercises together - I imagine it could be even MORE helpful. I simply read the book and shared the most memorable portions with my husband and my doula so they would know how to support me during labor. The midwives at the birth remarked that they couldn't believe it was my first baby - and I responded that it was the techniques in this book that made the birth go the way it did. At the time I read the book, the corresponding audio with meditation exercises was available through Amazon Prime. More than once I found a conference room at work and did a quick meditation practice while streaming the audio. And now that baby's here, I'm using some of the same techniques to keep focus on HER when I start worrying about other things or even to help me get back to sleep after a long nursing session. If I had to choose only one resource to prepare me for labor, this would be it.