(Discussed with Robyn while typing and she agreed: 'I'm reading another book that uses the term 'birthing mother' instead of 'birthing person' and it gives me a lot more anxiety. In addition to making the book much more accessible to people who are in the LGBTQ community, unloading gender and parenting roles from a book about *birth* helps the reader focus on the *birth* and not all the obligations that come after that. This took just a page or two to get used to, but I think was a terrific choice.

'Mother and father' are replaced with 'person giving birth and birth partner' or 'pregnant person and co-parent'. In addition to the content being polished and well-organized, the authors adopted gender- and role-neutral language in this 5th edition. This was informed by the co-authors' experience as doulas (not any more-stale clinical data), and I think was most useful for me to hear. These were total spectrums, from abject panic to a flood of excitement. What I enjoyed most: each section of the book (covering a different stage of birth) talked about what the person giving birth might be feeling, and what the birth partner (i.e. The overall tone of this book was extremely reassuring, even while discussing possible complications and things not going as planned. The book also offers a ton of resources with a number of links to videos, references to websites and other books. It's very pro-mother and its theme is that the mother's choices are the right choices for her.Īs a co-mother, I found the book to be inclusive of different support partners, as well. Instead, pros and cons are laid out for each, and the book is really educational so that the mother and partner can make informed decisions. The tone of the book is really open and doesn't push any agenda of which way is better over another. It also covers the different styles of birth from home births to hospitals and natural labor to different medications that can be used.

The book goes into explicit but easily digestible detail of pregnancy, different types of labor, the types of support one can offer in labor, what you'll encounter in a home birth vs a hospital birth, basic baby care after the birth, and caring for the mother throughout the entire process. This is a really fantastic resource for any person in a supportive role to a pregnant woman.

The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin