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Title: The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth (Sears Parenting Library)
ISBN: 0316779075
Author:
William Sears
Martha Sears
Publicate Date: 1994-02-01
Publish: 1994-02-01
List Price: $14.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.94
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $2.61
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.19
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Conflicts with Current Research!!!
I bought this book 7 months into my pregnancy, looking for advice as to labor and delivery. Not only is the book out of date (1994) but relies heavily on research that has been proven unreliable or false. In addition, the authors write from their own experience, which sounds like a good idea, but learn this: the wife has unbelievably short labors, and bases her entire idea of labor for the rest of society on the fact that she naturally had her children in a few hours or less (actual length of labor: average is 12-26 hours for a first-time birth).
This book was bought with several others, and I was first struck by how different the opinions expressed herein were. So, I started conducting some PubMed and Elsevier journal searches on the "research" mentioned. In almost every case - from use of Pitocin to home birth to epidural use - I found a striking difference between the current, peer-reviewed recommendations and articles and what the Sears family cited. I was not only disappointed, but rather shocked that such a dated and incorrect book could be sold in popular bookstores as fact.
Frankly, the Sears are welcome to their opinion on childbirth, and I respect that. However, they cite old papers, statistically insignificant findings, and make assumptions that cannot be backed up. To all those other mothers-to-be: please don't disregard what your OB says because of this book! It is highly out of date, and quite irrelevant. The only plus side: some good anatomical illustrations and pain techniques. Other than that, please don't waste your money on this book!
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2: a Must Read
I read several books throughout my first pregnancy, and found this one to be the most informative. There is a chapter on relaxation during the labor process (how to focus on keeping your muscles relaxed during contractions so your uterus doesn't have to fight against them) that I found to be VERY helpful. A very educational book that I highly recommend.
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3: read this if you think natural is the ONLY way
I was ready to learn about the actual birth process at around my 6th month of pregnancy and picked this book because it looked very complete and informational. Unfortunately I came to find that it was entirely biased on the side of natural birth and that if I chose pain meds it meant I did not "value the birth". Also the information given about pain meds and giving birth in a hospital left me feeling like all my original plans for birth were not good enough. I would not recomend this to anyone looking for the unbiased facts. Read this if you already feel that natural childbirth is the ONLY way to go. This book will be very supportive of you.
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4: Excellent Information - a little biased
I decided to wait until after I had my baby to review this book so I was speaking from experience as to whether it was helpful or not!
Overall I found this book useful and it has excellent detailed information about the birth process, drugs, interventions & womens choices during labour. I knew exactly what was happening to me & my baby during labour and I understood all of the options available to me and their potential knock on effects.
Like many of the other reviewers I found a strong bias toward a natural birth and had to take the facts at face value and ignore the authors personal preferences.
I also found the countless references to Martha's 'wonderful' birth experiences condescending and they started to annoy me after a while.
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5: Disappointing
After reading the other reviews of this book, and another by the same authors (The Pregnancy Book), I purchased both, and am dissatisfied with both. Both books are written at about the 8th grade level, and The Birth Book is definitely written with a solid bias towards one school of birthing techniques.
There's an entire section on "interviewing OBs and deciding which hospital to have your child." For those of us with insurance plans, and a hospital five minutes away, the browbeating about how you're irresponsible and don't care enough if you don't give your OB the fifth degree before allowing him or her to do his or her job, this can be a bit off-putting.
Additionally, the focus on having a "birth plan" and "envisoning your perfect day" comes off sounding a good deal more like planning a wedding than having a baby.
While the book does a good job of presenting a variety of different options that first-time mothers (like myself) might not have considered, I found that talking with my husband's aunt, an OB nurse of 30 years' experience, to be much more calming, simply because the tone of the aunt was one of common sense, while the tone of this book is, well. . . it's hard to characterize without being disparaging, but it's a little flower-power for my tastes.
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