The Doula's Guide to Empowering Your Birth

If you just want actual information, just pass this book up. It's laced with new age garbage that ANY TRUE Christian shouldn't be messing with. If it had just stuck to the practical information, it would've been fine. Unfortunately, the author goes into taking baths with crystals and drinking crystal tinctures and other purely occultic crap. There's much better pregnancy books out there. Just do yourself a favor and ignore this one.

I pre-ordered Lindsey's book and finished it within 3-4 hours of receiving it. I L-O-V-E-D loved it! As a doula, social worker, and maternal-child health professional, I've read a lot of books and research on pregnancy and preparing for birth. Lindsey's book is my new favorite. I want to gift it to all of my expecting friends and clients. (Seriously. Can I buy these in bulk?) It's an incredibly easy read and her doula voice and personality shine through! You won't be bored. She is not heavy on stats and research, she's flexible and non-judgmental about choices, and she discusses the unfortunate barriers and pitfalls of the medical model/hospital system without being preachy. Lindsey covers everything and she's got a great sense of humor! There are so many philosophies and opinions about birth and parenting but Lindsey isn't pushy and doesn't come off biased when she talks about your choices. "You're the consumer." The Doula's Guide is truly a book that ANY expectant parent can feel comfortable reading. Like Lindsey, I work with ALL types of families and I'm excited to have a universal book reference. "When I was on my second pregnancy, which was with twins, I looked like I was smuggling a Twinkie on only one side of my underwear." Hahaha! Maybe my favorite sentence in the entire book. Lindsey shared so much of herself with the world. The Doula's Guide is just that, a guide. So maybe you get a doula, maybe you don't - either way, this book is a winner and will definitely help prepare you (and your partner) for an empowering and informed birth experience.

This book is definitely an empowering guide because it is super informative about all the options you have and choices you will need to make about tests, interventions etc while being very un-biased and passing absolutely no judgment. She takes a holistic and mindful approach to birth and emphasizes that you are best prepared for birth if you explore all the options, even ones you don't think you want, and are open to the fact that things may not go the way you want them to because of the unpredictable nature of birth. She makes it clear that no matter what kind of birth you choose you are no less of a woman and that you can have a beautiful, amazing birth in any setting. She does all this while being truthful and realistic about the lack of evidence-based care in many hospitals, and its potential negative effects on your birth. She informs you about typical hospital policies so you know the questions to ask and the requests to make to empower yourself and ensure the best possible outcome, and reminds us that we are the consumers and have the power to make a change in the system by standing up for ourselves asking for what we want and need.

I work part-time as a doula in East TX. Most of my clients are around my age, slightly curious about birth, and want something educating while not overly technical or overwhelming in content. After having to read many other technical texts for my job, I read this and i'm now recommending it to my clients left and right. The content is PERFECT for people entering the birth world. It's clearly written by a down-to-earth person in our day and age. The book is even beautifully put together. It isn't pointed in one direction of birthing methods such as Lamaze, Hypno, etc, which is what I usually run into. It's got an Ina May Gaskin vibe with the intention to educate and empower. IT'S PERFECTLY WONDERFUL! Top of my bookshelf for clients and friends.

I like all of the information in this book. Quick read. I finished it in a day and a half. More information could have been wrote about HG into the morning sickness section because as someone who’s experienced extreme Hypermesis Gravidarum. I don’t feel like it’s as rare as the author wrote but other then that it was a good book. Like any book though about parenting just follow your instincts. Tend to your baby’s cries, nurse your baby on demand, and just do what you can to get through these early days. The days areLong but the years are short.

I recently had my first child and did not invest in a doula but came across this book and thought it was a good read! The author focuses a lot on twins and her experience as a mother and doula. She was lucky enough that her own mother was a midwife.Good tips to think on to ask the hospital and recipes.At the time of my own birth the book and notes taken didn’t matter... fortunately I had a healthy baby girl.

This is such an informative and interesting book on alternative child birthing techniques. It has a comprehensive guide to help you understand your pregnancy and birth process. I love how non-judgemental and open to different methods of childbirth the author is. It has recipes and health information and seriously please consider giving this book a read - it is so worth it!

I am just about finished reading this book and I loved it. Very insightful as I prepare for childbirth. I especially enjoyed the reflections that she included from herself and from other mom's about their own birth experiences. I am looking forward to handing this book off to another first time mom.

A bit of context: I am a doula myself, and read this in the hope of finding a new book to recommend to clients.First the good bits: this book covers most bases and has contains some solid advice. It's one to consider if you don't have much time to read and want to touch upon everything in one book, or are starting from scratch and wanting to find out what you want to know more about. I particularly like that it addresses the fourth trimester.However, I ended up returning this book and won't be recommending it to my clients. Here's why:- The majority of advice seems to be based on the author's own pregnancy and birth experiences, rather than research, facts and statistics on what applies to the majority of birthing people. As a doula, the support I offer is not about me - it's about you.- There is some very helpful advice in this book, and then some very patronising advice worsened by the author's tone ("Don't Smoke. I mean, really. Do I have to tell you why this harmful to you and your baby? Well, I will.")- Background information, anecdotal stories and recommendations are all presented together without a clear structure, making it difficult to go back and quickly find the information you need. When you are suffering from morning sickness, you probably don't want to plough through a whole paragraph of "I felt like a squirrel getting ready for winter by storing snacks in every pocket / protein seemed to really help / I've also heard that lemon oil can do the trick" etc. etc.- This is just a matter of personal taste, but be warned that the very casual / jovial / American tone (oh poop!) might not be everyone's cup of tea.With doula support becoming increasingly popular, I understand that the title of this book might be appealing - but please don't equate this book to doula support. The unconditional support, deep discussions, explorations of your hopes, wishes and worries and sound knowledge that we offer goes way beyond the advice given in this book.

I loved the inclusive attitudes in this book. Lots of fabulous information for a pregnant mom. Highly recommend for the wealth of knowledge about labour options. My only suggestion is to research some of her claims about nutrition (many of which she doesn’t back with science).

I love this book. The layout of information flows so naturally and honestly. I can’t put it down...except to stop and write a review, it’s great. I’m not even pregnant, but I want to be now haha.

Love this book. As a first time mom I didn’t know what to expect and wanted a natural birth. This book helped me to achieve my goal. Highly recommended

I enjoyed this read. It was kind and soft spoken but informative. I am ready to become a doula and this helped along the way.