The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

This book explained wayyy more than other typical books like what to expect, etc. Goer does a great job explaining every procedure and the pros/cons of it. I read this whole book during my first trimester and a few other and this one stood out the most. It helped me make informed decisions and deny certain medical procedures. It talks about many things that first time soon to be moms won’t even think about. While I recommend it to all new moms, it does kinda scare you into thinking everything is horrible and that everyone is out to get you for money. That may be true for some hospitals but I don’t think everyone should be scared that the hospital is gonna f you over. I was at first and was very tense, then with my midwife I tried to go natural ( did 24+ hours of labor natural) but I had to trust my midwife and be induced. If not my baby would’ve gotten an in infection form his water being broken for too long. My baby was also premature so I placed a lot of trust into my midwife and she asked what I wanted every step of the way. She only gave me advice and I chose whether I wanted to take it or not. Anyway, I love this book and without it I would’ve been so scared giving birth.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth contains more evidence-based information about interventions during childbirth than I have found anywhere else. For those already considering natural birth, this book will provide the hard numbers to back you up, instead of the feely, hippie, hokum that you find in most natural birth books. As an intelligent woman, I don't want someone to tell me their way is better because it feels right, I want evidence. Goer not only provides backup for her statements, but she even examines the studies themselves in the last section of the book. If more babies died in one group versus another, she looks at why each particular baby died in a given group to show whether or not it was actually related to what was being tested. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take such a meticulous approach in a book about childbirth. For those who are not considering natural birth, you still need to read this!!! Yes, there's some scary information, but as Goer says in her Introduction, better to be uncomfortable than uninformed. You can certainly use the information she provides to balance what you want for your birth. While she is very biased toward natural birth, she does give a fair assessment of both the pros and cons for things like epidurals, cesareans, etc. Those who do not want to attempt natural birth can use her information to decide which interventions will be right for their births--it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Goer also provides many many lists of questions to ask your provider to determine whether or not he or she will be right for you. Here again, she tackles the subject more completely than I've seen with any other pregnancy book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the details behind the advantages of natural childbirth and issues with the highly medicalized approach that is standard in labor and delivery care today. If you are the kind of person who likes to see the research, studies, and statistics behind things before taking an author's word for something, then this book is for you--there are over 120 pages of references and citations in the back of the book supporting each of the author's conclusions. As a science- and research-oriented person who is generally pro-modern-medicine and pro-technology, this was the ideal childbirth book for me. I was initially interested in natural childbirth for the "challenge" of it, but wanted to research the pros and cons of all options before deciding. Other books on natural childbirth offered good arguments that resonated intuitively with me, but always left me wondering how much of their opinions were overly-biased and how much were backed by solid research and studies. In contrast, the author of this book has done exactly what I would liked to have done if I had the time and resources--she has plowed through troves and troves of medical literature, studies, and statistics to reach her conclusions. The book is also structured in a way that presents the information in an approachable, easy to digest way. The main portion of the book first presents the author's findings and key data without having you slog through tons of dry references to study after study. Each chapter succinctly sums up the pros and cons of various medical interventions or more natural alternatives, and lists all pertinent 'gleanings' from the medical literature. The last 120+ pages of the book then gives the detailed references and citations that back each assertion presented in each chapter. All in all, highly recommended as a valuable source of well-researched information on childbirth. I hope the author/publisher choose to release a second updated version at some point to cover any new research or medical advancements made since the original copyright date of 1999.

As the author puts out early in the text it isn't written by a doctor but an individual who has done their research and actually has critical reasoning skills that many Americans seem to be lacking these days. It explains in layman's language all the pros and cons to epidurals, c-sections, and all the other offered but typically unnecessary procedures available to a laboring woman along with the sometimes highly unpleasant outcomes. Most items aren't things you aren't able to find out for yourself doing research but she saves you a lot of legwork and the book puts all the answers at your finger tips. It could also be good for some of the folks that believe they are experts on the subject of childbirth, encouraging epidurals and c-sections, and not having any idea about all the long and short term problems they can cause. It could be used as a discreet way of chiding them into silence and also save you from a hormone-induced rant in the hallway at work directed at such person. No, of course I'm not saying this from experience... so it's a good read and worth the money!

As a first time mom, I was somewhat scared about going through chilbirth. As far as talking to my mom about my fears was useless because I was adopted, and talking to my aunts just made me more scared. So I decided to purchase "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Child Birth" by Henci Goer. Now to be honest with you, this book didn't put most of my fears to rest, instead it made some things about childbirth more scary. After thinking about most of the stuff that scared me I relized that what was so scary was the fear of the unknown. However, Goer presents a somewhat biased opinion(she even admitts it). The information that she presents is comprehensive and well supported, the appendices accounts for about a third of the reading volume of the book which includes Literature Summaries and an extensive bibliography. Goer presents information on the following topics: cesareans, inducing labor, IVs, epidurals, home births, midwives and obstetricans, hospital births, birth centers, and alternatives to hi-tech birth. Most of the information that she presents on the before mentioned topics will not be mentioned by your OB/GYN. I highly recommend this book as a tool to compare and contrast information and your options for childbirth. You may not agreee with everything that Goer says but it is good to know all of the information and make a decision that is both beneficial to your baby and to yourself.

Loved this book. I had my first son 15 years ago. As a family nurse practitioner (then only a cardiac nurse), it opened my eyes to a more holistic view of pregnancy. American birthing “norms” of induction and planned c-sections will be dissected & exposed - as driven by traditional medicine & convenience. It dives into the advantages of natural births for both the mother & baby. It explained the topic of vaginal bathing to improve natural immunity & gut health of your newborn a decade before gut microbiome was ever even known to the health care community. This is the book changed my entire perspective of pregnancy & birth and created the initial pivot in career to pursue functional medicine.

Henci Goer's is the book recommended to any woman who needs an introduction to the pros and cons of birthing in a hospital using the medical model (OB is always right, epidural, episiotomy, c-section, etc). She is comprehensive, as you can tell from the Table of Contents. For every issue under the sun, she presents pros and cons. Although her only scientific background is her bachelor's degree and an unusual amount of reading on the subject, you do feel that she knows what she's talking about, in general. She has a bias, but she admits it upfront: she wants you to be afraid of turning your body over to a medical system that doesn't trust it and doesn't trust you, either. The problem with the book, what makes the first 80% of it so utterly unreadable to me, is how she presents her content. She divides the book into "prose" and "science." The last 20% of the book is all of the journal citations and her reviews of particular articles and their conclusions. The vast majority of thousands of journal articles she cites are all from reputable scientific journals, and that part of the book is worth the purchase price. However, the first 80% of the book is without footnotes. When she makes a statement, she'll say something like "studies indicate..." or "research shows..." without indicating what studies and which research. Not all research is good research. Further, without a specific citation, I cannot go back and double check her conclusions against the original research. This is a very unorthodox approach and smacks of not wanting to be proven incorrect on any of her points. If you're not a particularly critical reader of scientific research, this book will be perfect for you. But if you have any kind of scientific background or are a critical reader, I would read the last 20% of the book and leave the text to the others.

This is the best book I've ever seen in regards to condensing current research on childbirth into readable and understandable terms. The author gives clear and concise descriptions of various OB procedures and interventions that are easy to follow. She gives pros and cons of each [working within her own bias, which she does freely admit]. I think this would be an excellent book for any couple expecting an uncomplicated birth to read. This is information that every pregnant woman *should* have access to in order to make good decisions. However, there is definitely an anti-OB bias [which the author admits] and this isn't a book designed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy about a hospital birth. Be aware of that going into this - the author raises very important but possibly disturbing points for those planning a hospital birth with an Obstetrician in attendance. My only dissappointment with the book is that there was no chapter on assisted delivery [vacuum cap and forceps]. I would very much have liked to see a chapter on the pros and cons of these common procedures and their safety for mother and baby. There is only one page that has a small bit of information on this, but no extensive discussion or gathering of the research data available. It seems a glaring omission from an otherwise excellent and complete book.

This book had a lot of valuable information. I recommend it.

This book is amazing. Gives you a lot of food for thought.

Patronising rubbish. I am all for natural births if possible but this book makes you feel as if you are a child abuser for even considering an epidural. Really do not recommend this book to anyone. At best it will scare a new mum and at worst will interfere with making sensible decisions about the safe arrival of a baby in an emergency situation as after reading this book a mother or couple may refuse sensible and life saving interventions such as a C-section and risk loosing their baby. My midwife friend who delivers babies at people's homes was shocked too after reading this book. The "thinking woman" knows that the aim of giving birth is the safe arrival of her child in whatever way that is.

This book is great for women planning a hospital birth. It gives you the pros and cons of the interventions used in hospitals today. The references to studies etc. are at the end of the book so you only need to look these up if you are interested. They don't interfere making it easier to read than some other books. The chapters are independant so you can read the ones you are interested in or all of them or refer to a certain procedure when it comes relevant to you. I highly reccommend it.