Laugh and Learn About Childbirth by Sheri Bayles, RN, BSN

 

I’m 37 weeks pregnant and it’s been almost 8 years since my youngest Ella was born.  You could say I’m a little out of practice with whole child birthing thing – and I am back to being slightly freaked out about it as if it were my very first time.  My husband and I decided not to take any childbirth classes and mainly it was due to a huge lack of time in our busy life schedule.  So with that said, once I received this book “Laugh and Learn About Childbirth” by Sheri Bayles, RN, BSN it was somewhat of a relief to be able to reference anything regarding something that weighs so heavily on my mind as I grow closer (no pun intended) to my due date.  It’s as if the heavens opened and released this book to me knowing that I’d really need it.  How nice of them up there!

 

Before reading this book, I was of the mindset that I would need an epidural the moment I walk into that hospital (contracting or not), after reading this book I am almost (I say almost) not so scared of attempting a natural child birth.  My two deliveries were inductions which are a whole different ballgame.  This pregnancy however, has gone really smoothly and I expect that I will be allowed to go into labor naturally.  So I figure, why not try?  I’ll attempt a drug free delivery – which is something I have not yet said out loud, that makes it too final.  No, I am not finalizing anything in stone, I want to keep my options open, but at least it’s got me contemplating the issue – I’m not going to claim to be a superwoman, yet. 

 

This book was great.  It was an easy read – I read it from cover to cover in about an hour.  It was lighthearted and was in verbiage I could relate to.  The book reminded me of the stages of labor and the lovely postpartum recovery fun.  What is funny is that when I started reading about the stages of labor, I swear I started contracting, then I thought oh my, was that my water that just broke?  Or when I went to the bathroom (over the 45 million times) I would make sure to see if I dropped a plug.  I was positive I was going into labor that night.  Uh, look at me now, still pregnant and waiting.  The book also seems to push to wait as long as possible to receive medical intervention – which is what got me thinking about trying this naturally. 

 

My only complaint about this book, which I cannot get out of my head, is that Bayles only gained 35 lbs with her TWINS.  UGH!  Can you at least be a little realistic with the weight gain for having twins???  I’m at 40 with only one kiddo.  I guess if that was the worst part of the book, this is a darn good review!  Seriously, I totally recommend this read for anyone who is expecting and maybe skipped the birthing classes or if you’re in my shoes and you’re just out of practice.  I now see that there are more options to birthing not just the definite having an epidural or not.