15 July 2019

Review: The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin

Trade paperback, 393 pages
Published 2013 (original ed.: 1989)

Borrowed from a friend
Read July 2018
The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions
by Penny Simkin, P.T.

I read this about a month before my wife went into labor. It throws a lot of information at you, and I don't know that reading it straight through without, say, taking notes was particularly valuable. A lot of time is spent explaining certain holds and massages that by the time my wife was in labor, I had completely forgotten. But I guess the fundamental message is valuable: you should listen to the mother, and she should listen to her body, and avoid unnecessary interventions. We had a doula at the birth, for which I am immensely grateful, as she had internalized all this stuff, while a 400-page book is not the easiest referent in the middle of labor.

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