Hard Labor

I had to stop reading this book at least for the time being because I was starting to have pretty stressful dreams about it. It is extremely interesting, fascinating really, but not necessarily a good read for someone who, like me, will be giving birth in the next three months. If you are not in that category and like reading real stories about childbirth you may find it very enjoyable. One word of caution though. It is surprisingly rife with profanity for a book on this subject. I am not naive enough to believe that an awful lot of cussing does not go on in delivery rooms, but it seemed a little over the top and unnecessary to me. I don't know, maybe I am just not "raw" enough. I also haven't read the whole book so I can only speak to pages 1-91. Within those pages, however, I found some of the best advice about approaching the childbirth experience that I have ever read. I thought I would share it here:

Bring your written birth plans to the hospital, review them frequently with your OB in your weekly visits, go into the experience with all your hopes and dreams, but always be ready to go with the flow and cooperate if there is any untoward event that challenges your plan. In this way, you establish yourselves as informed consumers who can participate in the the team effort at the hospital, while allowing yourselves the necessary flexibility to deal with unexpected events, without wrecking your self-esteem and your dreams about this birth.