Pregnancy Book Reviews

Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy by Mayo Clinic


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
By far the best pregnancy book out there. Much better than the most popular pregnancy book, which I borrowed and read a couple of years ago (you know which one I mean). First thing, this is a resource with academic credentials written by 2 OBs and 1 CNM and endorsed by the Mayo Clinic, v. the "mom" credentials of the other book where the author has no academic credentials. The differences go on from there.

Each month is broken out by explaining what is happening to baby and what's happening to mom. There are checklists and signs of when to address certain issues with your health care provider. The next sections deal with labor, delivery, and all sorts of information about your newborn. There are also important decision-making guides such as choosing yours or your baby's health care providers, managing pain during childbirth, circumcision, etc. A great glossary and index as well. Can't say enough positive things about this resource, which I'm still using almost daily.

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HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method: A natural approach to a safe, easier, more comfortable birthing by Marie F. Mongan


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While I'd only give the book 3 stars, I'd give the method 4 or 5. The book shouldn't stand alone and should be supplemented by the class and daily practice. The book itself is not very well written or professional. It's a little dogmatic and vague about techniques. Also, I don't like how there are different chapters on breathing, relaxation, and visualization. Instead, I wish these chapters were organized by techniques to be used in different phases of labor so you'd have all the breathing, relaxation, and visualization techniques for active labor combined in one chapter. This would make sense because this is how they are used together anyway.

As far as HypnoBirthing in general goes, let me first say that this method requires a lot of dedication. Not all moms have the time or energy to devote an hour or more each day to the affirmations, relaxation sessions, birth companion rehearsals, or classes that this method requires for at least the last 2 months of pregnancy. I have no problems with a traditional medical birth, but I thought that hypnosis would benefit me in other ways, and if a pain-free, medicine-free birth is an actual valid option, I was willing to invest in the program. Besides, all the CNMs in my clinic said that they thought HypnoBirthing was by far the most effective way of going unmedicated.

I experienced firsthand that hypnosis does relieve sharp, intense pain during contractions. When I was in the hospital and in deep hypnosis while listening to one of the CDs, it appeared as if I were asleep or as if my contractions had ceased altogether. This wasn't the case - I was perfectly relaxed and only barely able to detect when I was having a contraction. When I had to become fully alert to make some decisions about some unforeseen circumstances in my labor, I was able to again feel the full force of these contractions - which was almost too intense to bear. So yes, hypnosis can definitely work if one is allowed to stay in a deep state of relaxation. It's when you're not in that deep state that pain is a lot harder to manage.

Because of some unforeseen medical circumstances, my labor had to be artificially progressed with pitocin and I was given a "walking" epidural that didn't work on the left side. This put me in the 30% of HypnoMoms who needed some form of medical pain management (versus the 95% of regular moms who use medical pain management). Because I could still feel sharp pain in the left side after the epidural, the HypnoBirthing techniques continued to be useful throughout the medicated part of my labor. The epidural also completely wore off for the last hour of pushing, which necessitated me to use the techniques I had learned to birth my baby without pain or any significant tearing.

My labor was 26 hours. I feel that for most births that proceed according to plan and progress more naturally, HypnoBirthing would be even more effective. Despite my 14 hours of unmedicated labor followed by 10 hours of partially-medicated labor, followed by 2 hours of pushing, I feel very satisfied with how things went. HypnoBirthing had prepared me to calmly meet any circumstances that were medically necessary that fell outside my birth plan. What's more, the daily practice was immensely useful duing my last few months of pregnancy. I never cried or became overwhelmed like many full-term moms are, which I attribute to daily unwinding to a self-hypnosis/relaxation CD. In addition, my baby is quietly alert and calm, a mark common to babies whose moms used HypnoBirthing.

I think women should have the right to choose what works best for them. I'm not dogmatic about unmedicated labor, but I know it works for people who put in the time and dedication. It's great to have options.

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