was a comforting book, I am currentlymonths pregnant and have devoured many of the books containing "hard facts" about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and a few of first year development.
This is not a book to guide you on what is happening in your body while pregnant or fetus/baby development, This book is more of a friendship getting you through trimesters and postpartum,
Working from home and being physically isolated from friends who have had babies, this was a nice companion book, Having done much research and fact finding with stats and studies, this was a nice change of pace,
Often the book is repetitive but its easy to skim through, It is a good pickmeup in case one needs it, There is no "one book" to read during pregnancy and this serves it's purpose as not being a fearmongering book or too heavy on the medicalization of birth.
I enjoyed it's easy accessibility, I really and truly loved this book by January Harshe, I am currently in myrd trimester with myst child and there are so many unknowns, so many pieces of advice or you HAVE to do this.
I love that in Birth Without Fear, January plants the seed of variations of normal, There is no one thing that is normal while pregnant, giving birth or postpartum, It is all variations of normal and that is okay, Making sure mama is healthy is a key point too because if you are not practicing self care, how can you care for your new baby Thank you for a great read, and great tips.
I love that you included a variety of birth plan templates also! Thank you! Loved it, I wish Id read it the first time around, but I think itll really help this time too, The templates for birth plans are definitely going to be helpful, Im going to have a plan, and then have two back up plans Id much rather be over prepared than under prepared! I really enjoyed Januarys judgment free attitude she felt supportive no matter what she was addressing there was no right or wrong way to grow, deliver, or feed your baby.
Each chapter ended
with her husbands point of view, and I think it was nice to bring a supportive mans perspective into play, Highly recommend. I thought the content was repetitive and mostly fluff, I really liked the tone and supportive feel of this book but it just seemed like a lot of affirmation, a lot of repetition, and not a lot of support for partners.
Despite having a "Partner" section of every chapter, they all seemed to boil down to "You're not pregnant, pregnant person deserves your unconditional support, " I don't believe that's healthy at all, There are also several references to her website for more information, . . then, upon going to the website, I got lost and couldn't find the referenced info, What I did find was an unhealthy echo chamber encouraging women to go against their doctor's orders and give CBD oil to their babies, Very cringey. While the book doesn't have very radical statments, the website and community certainly seems to, and that really turned me off, I hope that no women are convinced to make unsafe choices by this book, My only advice is to read critically, and between the lines of many of the statements made, I got a bad vibe, and that really hurt my learning experience from this book, Appreciated the info and direct while relaxed tone of the book, Author gives a perspective on the options for childbirth that reminds women that their decisions affect their bodies and their children, and that they can have a say in protocols and preferences.
Birth isnt a medical procedure or condition its part of life that deserves honor and respect for the woman involved, Each birth is unique and deserves treatment as such!
Id recommend this book in addition to “what to expect” read: more medically oriented books for a balanced understanding of habits and health options from pregnancy to postpartum.
Its so hard to review this because January Harshe writes in a very downtoearth, gentle, and uplifting way, She reassures that there are many “variations of normal” in the childbirth and postpartum experiences, and thats OK, She advocates for trusting your body and your intuition and refusing to compare yourself with the “Instagram perfect” mothers,
However, her message was, in addition to being repetitive, incomplete, Yes, there are variations in normal experiences yes, its important to accept where you are in life instead of loathing your postpartum body/stage of life/etc.
But simply “loving yourself,” “holding space,” and “practicing selfcare” just arent enough to actually deal with the challenges of life, Only by knowing and believing the truth about who you are and why you were created can you find real peace and joy in the midst of birth and postpartum and beyond, and Mrs.
Harshe, though gracious and wellmeaning, just doesnt have the authority to tell me that I am valuable, Only the God who created us and loves us can truly teach us our worth and our insignificance, This is such a great book and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is thinking about getting pregnant or is currently pregnant, I am currently TTC and have been reading a lot of different books, I tend to gravitate towards a more natural approach to pregnancy and labor amp delivery, However, as I have yet to experience either of these, some of the natural approach books can be a bit intimidating on certain aspects, But, I really didn't like some of the "traditional" pregnancy books because some of them skipped out on a lot of important information, The great things about Birth Without Fear is that is covers both perspectives in a completely nonjudgemental way, You want to have a medication free birth with a doula and a midwife Great! You want to have a scheduled csection with your OB Great! The author respects the fact that everyone has a different approach to pregnancy and birth.
And although there are of course things that have been proven to be effective, there are many other choices that each woman needs to make for herself.
This book goes through pregnancy, labor amp delivery and postpartum, The author includes some of her own experiences and touches on topics such as plus size pregnancy, that I really haven't read about in any other books.
Birth Without Fear is a great book for anyone who is pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, And if you enjoy the book, check out the community around the Birth Without Fear movement on Facebook and Instagram,
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book! This is the first baby/pregnancy book that I have read, and I am so glad I did.
It made me think about so many questions that I had never asked myself about birth and being a mother, I will likely want to read this again before I make the decision to get pregnant to remember that my body is my own, my plan is important, and I can speak my truth in every situation to anyone around me.
If I read this during my first pregnancy, I dont think I wouldve enjoyed it, This book isnt the book for you if you want to learn what happens during pregnancy, labor/birthing techniques, or anything like that, But my first pregnancy was traumatic where I was not treated well and was too scared and confused to advocate for myself, Currently pregnant with my second baby, trying for a VBAC, and this was the perfect book for me to read in my situation,
This book is more about gaining confidence in yourself and realizing you have so many choices and options during your pregnancy and labor.
Its about making space for things to go wrong, for making a plan to advocate for yourself, for realizing that this is YOUR birth and YOUR baby and you have more choices and options than you realize.
That while you have no control over many things that will happen, there are more things that you have a say in than you realize.
For me, it was the perfect book to read in my situation, I needed to hear that my body is capable of amazing things, I needed someone to talk about working through trauma of previous birth experiences and allowing myself grace to work through those emotions, I needed someone to tell me how I can advocate for myself, Especially when Im in full on labor, So if thats your situation too, than this is the book for you! I felt a lot of this was repetitive, Its mostly about self help and self love, If thats what is causing your fear surrounding birth then youll get more out of this than I did, Otherwise you may want to find a book that is more informative on the labor, birth, and postpartum journeys,
I did like the partner perspectives that the authors husband wrote for other partners on how to be supportive and understanding, The chapters are broken up into the different phases of pregnancy and post pregnancy, which would make this a good book to keep around and read here and there as you hit each phase.
but reading it cover to cover towards the end of my pregnancy wasnt all that magical, If youve ever read a book about self love and care, then a lot of this information is nothing new, Still, I appreciated the gentleness and compassion January put until this, It felt like a conversation with a warm, knowledgeable, and supportive friend, .