Choosing Waterbirth: Reclaiming the Sacred Power of Birth

by Lakshmi Bertram

In this complete guide to waterbirth, a yoga instructor and mother of five "water babies" relates her own experiences in the tub while providing the important information that every parent needs to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1571741526
• ISBN13: 9781571741523
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

helped me so much with my home waterbirth

Beautiful book, wonderful stories and insight about natural child birth. Absolutely worth the read if you are considering a home waterbirth.

Excellent Book

As we plan a home water birth this book was full of great stories and information. An easy read.

Wonderful and Inspiring

As a first time mom, I really found this book to be a nice read that I really enjoyed. It was very readable and not clinical or hard to read like many other childbirth books. I identified with the author and appreciated her birthing stories. I felt like I understood where she was coming from and I really enjoyed the inclusion of photos. She touched on many topics, including breastfeeding and infant massage, but really focused well on the benefits and reasons to consider waterbirth. I found it inspiring and am very glad that I read it. I am recommending to my midwife.

Choosing Waterbirth

Lakshmi Bertram has given birth to five babies, all under water. She shares her experiences in Choosing Waterbirth, a book filled with practical advice and encouragement. Bertram knew from the beginning that she wanted home births, maintaining that "most births do not actually require doctors or hospitals or fetal monitors or forceps or episiotomies or drugs." She researched birthing methods carefully, learning about water birth shortly before her first child was born. She learned that not only did water make birthing easier and less painful for the mother, it also provided "a kind, loving, and gentle entry into this world" for the baby. In water birth, the mother immerses her lower body in a tub of water heated to body temperature. The baby is born into the water. The baby continues to receive oxygen from the umbilical cord. It is then brought gently to the surface and handed to the mother. Babies will not try to breathe until the air hits their faces and are in no danger of drowning. Bertram emphasizes that giving birth is a natural process for women and that, if left to their intuition, they have the ability to deliver healthy babies. Having a baby does not have to the overwhelming and frightening experience that modern methods have led women to believe. She provides lots of encouragement for women who want home births, even if they choose not to have a water birth. Alternatively some hospitals and birthing centers have water birth facilities available. Each woman must do what she feels is best for her and her baby. For those who do choose waterbirth, Bertram provides a wealth of information on where to find birthing tubs (she purchased her first one at an animal feed store!), midwives and other attendants, and birthing centers. She also details exactly the things to expect about birth in general, and water birth in particular. A long time yoga practitioner and certified instructor, Bertram includes a section on how expectant mothers may use yoga for relaxation and for strengthening and stretching the muscles that will be used during childbirth. The detailed instructions are accompanied by pictures. The final section of the book is entitled "Practice," and in it Bertram has included pictures of her "water babies" and notes from her journals on their births. She says she hopes "to give women a different view of what birth can be." Her experiences helped make childbirth "a part of the joy of having children instead of a traumatic ordeal that had to be gone through in order to get children." Sandra McLanahan, M.D. , in a preface to Choosing Waterbirth says "Lakshmi's book provides inspiration and support for women to learn to turn away from excess interventions, to return to the innate wisdom of the body and its natural resources." Every woman contemplating pregnancy, whether interested in water birth or not, will find a wealth of information and encouragement in Bertram's book.

Choosing Waterbirth : Reclaiming the Sacred Power of Birth

This book is wonderful! I was really hoping for a waterbirth for my first child, however she decided to come too early for me to have it at the birthing center. But this book was excellent in preparing me mentally what it would be like to go through labor and birth, and helped me learn the mindset to be in during labor. It has great instructions for prenatal yoga, and is a very easy read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in waterbirth, or simply getting in a more peaceful frame of mind for labor.