Synopsis:
A comprehensive, non-judgmental overview of labor and delivery.

Review:
I have a dear friend who is a doula and a childbirth educator, and she gave me this book when I became pregnant. The Big Book of Birth is written by the woman who runs Realbirth, where my friend used to teach (before she moved) and where my husband and I will be taking childbirth classes.

This book is incredibly comprehensive, heavy on text, light on pictures, and I found it to be quite informative–though what do I know, really? This is my first. I appreciated that Lyons believes that women should educate themselves about childbirth, and her avoidance of the kinds of scare tactics that other childbirth books employ, leaving women feeling passive and helpless about the birth experience. She talks about all kinds of birth scenarios in an even-handed way, as likely to refute the notion than at early epidural makes a Cesarean a higher possibility as she is to mention attended home births side by side with the traditional hospital stay.