The Positive Birth Book: A New Approach to Pregnancy, Birth and the Early Weeks

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So keeping in mind that it is basically a glorious, useful, practical, indispensable beginning birth book, and that I have many, MANY good things to say, I'll just drop my minor criticisms here: This book is really reassuring and has given me a lot of confidence and reduced fears going into birth. The message that women are made to do this and that you have choices available to you for whatever makes you most comfortable is something we need to talk about more. We have really turned child birth into something to be feared which is not always true and is definitely not helpful. Hypnobirthingwill change your mindset towards birth and give you the tools needed so that you can navigate your birth - and any twists and turns - with confidence, feeling calm and in control throughout.

If you have a high risk pregnancy she encourages you to push for a home birth with an independent midwife but you are expected to be traumatised by any intervention and the focus is on how to refuse it.This book is for EVERY type of person and for EVERY type of birth -- from a home water birth through to an unplanned caesarean. For a writer who declares: “no woman should be judged for her choices”, there was a lot of unnecessary judgment in this book. Also, I found it laughable that the chapter on “A Positive Hospital Birth” was essentially a long paragraph on why you *shouldn’t* give birth at a hospital unless under extreme circumstances, and then a halfhearted second paragraph basically saying “but if you have to, just try to make it feel like a home birth if you can.” Overall, the book is informative especially for me right now as I’m 37 weeks pregnant, it was an interesting read, and although I don’t agree with all what the author believes is right, it was interesting to see the point of view of the other side and the logic behind it, and may be one day (not in this pregnancy for sure) I might give not medicated birth a go!

Milli Hill is a writer, feminist and freelance journalist with a passion for reframing the narrative around women’s bodies. As well as The Positive Birth Book, she is also the author of Give Birth like a Feminist and My Period (for preteen girls). From 2012 to 2021 she founded and ran the Positive Birth Movement, a global network of antenatal discussion groups aimed at improving birth and giving women better access to support and information. What you need to know about exercise in pregnancy from Charlie Launder, author of Bumps and BurpeesThe Positive Birth Book is like everything I ever googled pre-birth rolled into a friendly, warm format and is full-to-bursting with USEFUL information. For example, I am rhesus negative and to be honest I never really understood what that meant, I just did what I was told! This book explains it so well. It is also refreshing to read something positive about all types of birth – I didn’t feel like I was being preached to. I wish I had read this book during my pregnancies!” Whatever a positive birth means to you, this book will make you believe you can do it. It’s the book I wish I had read before I had my children!” Green Parent Magazine