Update and Book Review (Spiritual Midwifery)

Okay so to start with today I have mainly been bouncing on a birth ball. This is in my attempt to get this baby to turn from back to back to back to belly or to be more technical Posterior to anterior and also to get it out of the transverse position as it is currently horizontal


I am completely loving the ball although I'm starting to wish that instead of a birth ball that I had bought an adult sized space hopper as I have such an urge to go bouncing around the living room when I'm on it :D


On the plus side i do believe that it has worked as I now have a rather uncomfortable lump by my ribs :D


The problem is that during the night no matter how much I try to stay on my side I roll over onto my back whilst sleeping meaning the baby tend to change position again in the night.
                                                             Now on to the book review

The chosen book is Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin

Ina May is a midwife in America, She lives in a place called the Farm. She is a world renowned midwife and has tons of experience from her many years delivering babies in their homes and even on the road whilst travelling in a large group to set up home at the farm.

The book is full of amazing life accounts of births that she has attended written by the mothers and fathers of the children. Now the only down side of these is that a lot of them are rather hippyfied so you need to look past the flower power and the love in style and word choices but the basics are there for everyone to see. Birth is natural and should not be feared. They are inspiring to read and help you to have belief in your own birthing ability.

The second section of the book contains information on new born checks and care which is brilliant for all mothers as you can take what you like/want/need from this section.

The back of the book then consists of medical information. Some of this information will help you understand how a baby is born, the different positions it can be in, how it travels down the birth canal and eventually how it comes to be born.  Then it gets a bit more medical again this is only a good idea to read if you like to know the ins and outs of everything and what will be happening during certain procedures and is not for the faint hearted. For example it includes how an episiotomy is performed and how you are sutured up after and the different types of stitch that may be used.

I would recommend it to those who really want the full works on birth.

For those that would like the nicer parts with out the medical journal then give another of Ina may's books a go.

Ina Mays guild to Childbirth

The same great foundations as the first book but for the more squeamish.

Both books can be found on Amazon and EBay as well as birth balls.