Groundbreaking classic of natural childbirth, which started the revolution still going on today. Useful reading for women, pregnant women, mothers, midwives, obstetricians.

I really liked this book even tho it is old it still has a lot of relevant information. Some of the wording is odd but I guess that's to be expected when a book is written by a medical dr years ago. The basis behind the book is that the pain women feel in labor can be chalked up to fear and that we do not need to feel pain from childbirth if we learn it is not to be feared. It is a natural thing our bodies are made to do so don't fear it and let your body do its job. He does not say that there is no place for pain relief and it is always available but he goes to tell how to prepare yourself and body for the labor process by filling in the unknowns which cause fear for women. Gives techniques and ways he has taught women and couples to embrace the birthing process and something like 95% of the women turn down the pain relief that is readily available.
I gave this book 4 stars and I think if it was more fully updated I would have given it a 5. ( )

this is a classic work based on dr. read's experiences attending women in labor in the early part of the last century. he found that the more fear and tension can be reduced, the less pain women experience. his prose style is extremely clunky but the content is valuable. ( )

Absolutely fantastic read about the origins of the way we do "birth" and the myths surrounding many of our now standard practices, even of the fear of the pain of childbirth itself.

There are a couple of absolutely beautiful passages.

P25
"Many women have descibed their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware. I have witnessed this so often, and been profoundly impressed by the inexplicable transfiguration of women at the moment of their baby's birth, that I have been led, as usual, to ask, why this? It is not sentimentality; it is not relief from suffering; it is not simply satisfaction of accomplishment. It is bigger than all those things. Can it be that the Creator intended to draw mothers nearer to Himself at the moment of love's fulfilment?"

There is also an excellent section on the duties of fatherhood that is beautiful and was wonderfully ahead of its time.

I appreciated that this book was written by a man who devoted his life to women, and held them in the profoundest respect and even awe at times. Again, like I said about the part about fathers as being ahead of its time, this man was ahead of his time in many ways. He had a deep respect for creation and for what woman does to bring forth life. ( )