Books about Midwife from Amazon.com

What you need to know to have the best birth experience for you.

Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs--and the miraculous roles touch and massage play

• What really happens during labor
• Orgasmic birth--making birth pleasurable
• Episiotomy--is it really necessary?
• Common methods of inducing labor--and which to avoid at all costs
• Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
• How to avoid postpartum bleeding--and depression
• The risks of anesthesia and cesareans--what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
• The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
• How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
• And much more

Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention..
Price: $9.80 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What is it like to live and work in a remote corner of the world and befriend a courageous midwife who breaks traditional roles? Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Mali Midwife is the inspiring story of Monique Dembele, an accidental midwife who became a legend, and Kris Holloway, the young Peace Corps volunteer who became her closest confidante. In a small village in Mali, West Africa, Monique saved lives and dispensed hope every day in a place where childbirth is a life-and-death matter and where many children are buried before they cut a tooth. Kris worked side-by-side with her as they cared for each other through sickness and tragedy and shared their innermost secrets and hopes. Monique's life was representative of many women in one of the world's poorest nations, yet she faced her challenges in extraordinary ways. Despite her fiercely traditional society and her limited education she fought for her beliefs—birth control, the end of female genital mutilation, the right to receive a salary, and the right to educate her daughters. And she struggled to be with the man she loved. Her story is one of tragedy joy, rebellion, and of an ancient culture in the midst of change. It is an uplifting tribute to indomitable spirits everywhere. Monique and the Mango Rains is a fascinating voyage to an unforgettable place, a voyage spent close to the ground, immersed in village life, learning first-hand the rhythms of this world. From witnessing her first village birth to the night of Monique's own tragic death, Kris draws on her first-person experiences in Mali, her graduate studies in maternal and child health, medical and clinic records, letters and journals, as well as conversations with Monique, her family, friends and colleagues, to gives readers a unique view—and a friend in West Africa..
Price: $11.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Drawing on the diaries of a midwife and healer in eighteenth-century Maine, this intimate history illuminates the medical practices, household economies, religious rivalries, and sexual mores of the New England frontier..
Price: $5.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Karen Cushman likes to write with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek, and her feisty female characters firmly planted in history In The Midwife's Apprentice, which earned the 1996 Newbery Medal, this makes a winning combination for children and adult readers alike. Like her award-winning book Catherine, Called Birdy, the story takes place in medieval England. This time our protagonist is Alyce, who rises from the dung heap (literally) of homelessness and namelessness to find a station in life--apprentice to the crotchety, snaggletoothed midwife Jane Sharp. On Alyce's first solo outing as a midwife, she fails to deliver. Instead of facing her ignorance, Alyce chooses to run from failure--never a good choice. Disappointingly, Cushman does not offer any hardships or internal wrestling to warrant Alyce's final epiphanies, and one of the book's climactic insights is when Alyce discovers that lo and behold she is actually pretty! Still, Cushman redeems her writing, as always, with historical accuracy, saucy dialogue, fast-paced action, and plucky, original characters that older readers will eagerly devour. (Ages 12 and older) --Gail Hudson.
Price: $0.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In a joyous, often hilarious ode to the Birkenstock-scuffling, tackle box-toting mobile midwives who flourished in the 1980s, Peggy Vincent chronicles her abundant life as a professional Baby Catcher. The wild ride begins during her nurse training years in the 1960s, when laboring women were expected to lie down, shut up, and submit to whatever drugs and procedures the doctor ordered. A rebellious patient who chants and dances through her contractions--and the hell that ensues when seasoned hospital staffers intrude--lights a permanent fire under Vincent. Her resolve to serve each laboring woman with compassion and respect carries her from obstetrics nurse to head of an alternative birth center within Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, and eventually into her own private practice as a licensed midwife. Like the most courageous home births, this collection of delivery experiences refuses anesthesia: plenty of bellowing, sweating, bleeding, and pushing accompany nearly all of the more than 40 tales. Tough confrontations with stubborn physicians, panicky labor partners, and one particularly nasty calico cat are dabbed with as many keen insights as Vincent's quieter, more heart-rending newborn encounters. Baby Catcher is an inspirational literary gift suitable for expectant mothers, fellow baby catchers, and anyone who loves reading about nature's greatest magical feat. --Liane Thomas.
Price: $8.46 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Elizabeth Davis's Heart and Hands, though subtitled A Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, is not just for midwives It's an excellent and thorough resource for parents-to-be who are thinking about delivering their child with a midwife, or who are concerned about the medical establishment's over-control of birth. (Two previous editions sold more than 100,000 copies and there are nowhere near 100,000 midwives or midwifery students to buy this book, proving that parents-to-be have looked to this resource for options.)

Completely updated in the third edition, Heart and Hands is a practical guide, textbook, and reference that is both hands- and hearts-on. Davis, a long-time, well-known midwife, gives how-to details on all aspects of midwifery practice, including prenatal care, problems in pregnancy, assisting at births, labor complications (including a devastating and beautiful description of a stillbirth by midwife Shannon Anton), and caring for the entire family postpartum. Each chapter has a special section "for parents," but expectant parents can use all of Heart and Hands to get as much knowledge as possible about their upcoming experience..
Price: $20.38 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The first edition of this text was so beloved that it sold over 30,000 copies now it s your turn to discover why! Kathy Kalina, a certified hospice and palliative nurse, describes the physical as well as spiritual signs of the dying process in Midwife for Souls. She offers years of qualified experience and spiritual wisdom that will inform and comfort caregivers and loved ones. Caregivers, friends, and family members often feel unsure of what to say or do as they care for the terminally ill. This book provides insight, showing how the support of one s Catholic faith and the power of prayer can be a guide in ministering to a dying person. This book is essential reading for anyone who accompanies others to the edge of life and helps in their birthing to eternal life..
Price: $6.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

When hospital-trained midwife Penny Armstrong takes on a job delivering the babies of the Amish, she discovers an approach to giving birth which would change her life forever A MidwifeÕs Story is a life-affirming book that never fails to enlighten, inform and surprise. Honest and ultimately very moving, it is inspirational reading for all student midwives and expectant parents..
Price: $8.44 [Notify me when price goes down.]

“I come from a long line of midwives,” narrates Elizabeth Whitely “I was expected to follow Mama, follow Granny, follow Great-granny In the end, I didn’t disappoint them.

Or perhaps I did. After all, there were no more midwives after me.”For generations, the women in Elizabeth’s family have brought life to Kettle Valley, West Virginia, heeding a destiny to tend its women with herbals, experience, and wisdom. But Elizabeth, who has comforted so many, has lost her heart to the one man who cannot reciprocate, even when she moves into his home to share his bed and raise his child.

Then Lauren Denniker, Elizabeth’s adopted daughter, begins to display a miraculous gift--just as Elizabeth learns that she herself is unable to have a child. How Elizabeth comes to free herself from a loveless relationship, grapple with Lauren’s astonishing abilities, and come to terms with her own emptiness is the compelling heart of this remarkable tale. Incorporating the spirited mountain mythology of prewar Appalachia, Gretchen Laskas has crafted a story as true to our time as its own, and a cast of characters as poignant as they are entirely original.


From the Hardcover edition..
Price: $4.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A Midwife's Handbook is designed to provide practicing nurse midwives and obstetric nurses with quick access to important clinical information. It is a comprehensive reference that offers brief overviews of pregnancy, the intrapartum and postpartum periods, as well as gynecological and medical conditions that impact childbearing. Complications are described and a brief overview of medical management is included for giving women anticipatory guidance when they are referred for physician care. The midwifery management also incorporates complementary measures such as herbal remedies, reflexology, Chinese medicine and nutritional strategies.

• Provides nurse midwives quick access to important clinical information that is detailed, generally has not been memorized, or that discusses issues which are encountered infrequently enough that a quick review of the details is helpful when the situation arises.
• Consistent presentation in each chapter begins with a brief definition of the problem, diagnostic tests and labs, differential diagnosis where appropriate, and concludes with a decision-making tree to assist in the decision making process.
• Nurse-midwifery management guidelines are included throughout to provide the practitioner with important information such as when to manage independently or when to consult with the physician.
• UNIQUE! Integrates alternative and complementary therapies along with key medical information specific to midwifery practice to provide practitioners with complete care alternatives.

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Price: $40.28 [Notify me when price goes down.]