METHODS OF CHILDBIRTH: A Complete Guide to Childbirth and Maternity Care

An excellent book -- which fully substantiates its subtitle -- and, while partisan in advocating natural or prepared or educated or. . . . . . childbirth, does so without any of the grateful ahs of Thank You, Doctor Lamaze or rah-rahs of Bradley's Husband Coached Childbirth (one of the last more general items). Throughout it is very well supported by the medical findings and in every way outclasses Why Natural Childbirth (p. 463 -- rather surprisingly appearing on the same list at roughly the same time). While preferring the prepared-cum-rooming-in experience, the author makes ""no big hassle"" over choosing a particular technique (Lamaze, Read, Kitzinger, etc.) -- they all add comfort and diminish danger to the infant. Choices of drugs in use, hopefully analgesic rather than anesthetic, are indicated and only scopolamine -- ""barbarous"" -- firmly indicted. Childbirth education (and state by state at the close, where to secure it), classes, the whole circuit from pregnancy to labor and delivery and breast feeding and postpartum procedures, are explicit -- the exercises with diagrams. You won't be able to find a better book -- there hasn't been one.