Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

By: Ina May Gaskin

Narrated by: Randye Kaye

Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Drawing upon her 40-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation's leading midwife, shows the benefits and joys of physiological childbirth by showing women how to trust the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience.

Based upon the midwifery model of care that recognizes that spontaneous labor in healthy women cannot be improved upon, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention-as well as how to know when such intervention is necessary.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:

• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs and the amazing role that touch and free movement play.
• What really happens during labor.
• Orgasmic birth-testimonies from those who experienced it.
• And much more...

©2003, 2019 Ina May Gaskin (P)2019 Tantor

Amazing book, terrible reading performance

Loved this book! Found it informative and encouraging, but almost stopped listening because the reading sounded like a computer program reading copy.

10/10 would recommend

This book is extremely informative and eye opening. I recommend all parents-to-be and already parents read it.

Great performance, not-so-great editing

I enjoyed this book immensely and found it highly informative, always with studies and statistics to back everything up. Some better editing – where were the pauses? – would have improved my listening experience even further. Great narration otherwise, though.

Great info. Reader sounds like a robot.

Enjoyed the info, but the flow wasn’t my favorite. I have a medical background and would have liked that part to be first and the birth stories after.

Solid book, but be careful of stories at the beginning!

Despite the author saying that her book is full of positive stories, there are at least three birthing stories that are not great to listen to as a pregnant. One story in particular ends in hospice care and eventual death for a baby. My hormones were not prepared for this story.

Let your partner go through these stories and tell you which ones to listen to, if you’re feeling sensitive and wanting positivity only.

The rest of the book is insightful and empowering I will say!!!!

Pregnant? Must-read!

This book is mind blowing. 5 stars everywhere but performance as I'm not a huge fan of the narrator but you'll get used to her. The information in this book is so liberating and will give every mother the confidence she needs to make the decisions necessary for the birth she wishes. No sugar coating here. This book covers it all!

Worst Narrator

This book is informative and has a lot of helpful information. The person reading the books sounds just like Siri/Alexa and it’s so hard to listen to.
Read the physical copy instead.

Empowering, Inspiring, and Beautiful!

I really loved this book. The stories that are shared in this book cover a range of different births, with different outcomes. I loved being able to hear different experiences with pregnancy, birth, and everything in between. It offered me so much peace and reassurance wanting to do a natural birth, knowing that *most stories ended positively and the mother feeling empowered. It helps set your mind up for success being able to understand different scenarios and gives a lot of valuable information to make informed decisions during your birth process. If you can get past the robot-y voice, this is a very very necessary book for women considering a natural birth!

I love Ina Mae!

Between this book and Spiritual Midwifery, Ina Mae has changed my life. I cannot get enough of her and her extensive knowledge surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. My only complaint is that the narrator does not fit the tone of the book. I had to slow down the speed of reading as she spoke too quickly and did not care for the odd way she pronounced many words. I will stick to the printed version of this book and do not recommend listening as the narrator ruins everything this book has to offer. There is no caring or love coming from her voice. It would have been absolutely enthralling if it were read by the same narrator as Spiritual Midwifery.

So valuable!!

Very important knowledge to have for all expectant parents. Feel equipped and confident to go into childbirth after this fabulous reading.