I have previously interviewed Paola Bagnall. She had a lot of great things to say about giving birth. Now, let’s get down to the book.
The book has a great overview of pregnancy, both Pre and Post. It also comes with a free self hypnosis CD. For those interested in hypnobirthing (and there are rumours that Kate Middleton has joined them) this book is great. Paola believes that pregnancy is not a medical thing but a natural thing that the body is supposed to do. Although I don’t agree that pregnancy is not a medical thing, her ideas are interesting and certainly have merit. She is a qualified hypnotherapist and healed her own shoulder using the power of her mind.
This book has a lot of great information in it for any mother-to-be. Chapter one is about hypnosis and other chapters are about breathing, the biology of the female body, and the biology of birth. They are all very informative and fascinating.
There is also a chapter on how to use the CD. In the getting ready for birth chapter there are a lot of great tips, followed by an entire chapter or problem solving in, ‘What To Do if You Have….’ Nausa and vomiting are covered. As are C-sections and having a large baby.
The books tells you how to use the three stages of hynothearapy for the birth in an easy to understand way and has an entire chapter on how to disassociate yourself from the feelings of the contractions.
The last two chapters are what to do after the birth, a great chapter with some exercises on how to get back into shape, health tips, and enjoying your time as a mother.
This is a very good book for women who want a natural birth, and even has great tips for those who don’t. I can’t say it has convinced me to have a natural birth when I decide to have children, but the information is there for those who do.