For our July book club, please join Co-Leader Kim as we discuss Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s recently published guide to birth, Your Best Birth. Copies are available at the Book Cellar and as well as other area bookstores. Our book club meets at The Book Cellar on Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Square at 7:00 on Friday July 10.
Your Best Birth has received a very warm reception from the birth community and we are so excited to discuss it with you!
From Publishers Weekly
Former talk show host Lake, producer of the documentary The Business of Being Born, joins with Epstein, the film’s director, to further probe the subject of birth in America. Asserting that the high tech, low touch trend in medicalized births has usurped parents’ sense of power and choice, the authors present a detailed examination of the birthing experience, beginning with their own personal accounts. Employing the premise that although one can’t predict what will happen during birth, one can prepare, they present options that women should consider, including home birth and the use of a midwife or doula. Lake and Epstein point out that while 99% percent of births in the U.S. take place in hospitals and one-third are cesareans, the vast majority of births are not high risk and may not require medical intervention. But the fear of pain combined with unnecessary hospital protocols cause many couples to narrow or relinquish their options. The authors discuss the pros and cons of such interventions as episiotomies, epidurals and electronic monitors, and encourage women to carefully question their practitioners and hospital personnel. Above all, the authors advocate a safe and empowered birth, whether one chooses a hospital, home or birth center. (May)
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And here are some reader reviews of the book as well:
From Non-Toxic Kids
From Stand and Deliver
