essentialmidwifery

The Essential Homebirth Guide: A Book for Families Planning or Considering a Homebirth

by Jane E. Drichta, CPM and Jodilyn Owen, CPM (Simon and Schuster)

With endorsements from Dr. Bill and Martha Sears, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Mayim Bialik, Jan Tritten, and other experts in their fields.

Order today at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and check out a review from Seattle’s Child

This book is perfect for families, midwives, and birth professionals.  Check out what our readers have said:

For Families:  Welcome to the heart of birth.  Take a gentle and joyful insider’s look at prenatal care and birth through the lens of midwifery care. You will see the full range of the pregnancy experience, from the history of homebirth, to working through complications, to how to prepare your home for the big day. Each chapter is full of stories and first-hand accounts from families just like yours.   This book is a comprehensive resource guide that will increase your personal knowledge of the processes of the body, mind, and spirit during pregnancy, birth, and early parenting.

“I love the Question and Answer format of this book–it feels like I am sitting in my living room surrounded by my sisters and friends who are sharing their inner knowledge.  Some of the pregnancy books out there are so fear-based.  The Essential Homebirth Guide fills me with knowledge and the sense that I am really going to be able to do this. I laughed and cried straight through this book—and after reading it I truly feel educated about what to expect , how to ask questions, and why pregnancy and birth are so important to who I am and the kind of family I want to build.  All of the stories punctuate the lessons and leave my heart full every time I pick up this wonderful book! ”

–Annabelle

For Midwives and Birth Professionals:  The Essential Homebirth Guide offers a play-by-play for engaging families in a positive and reassuring way.  This is not a text book on the technical management of complications or charting.  It is however, destined to become the manual for developing relationships and honoring each member of the families you serve in an individualized way.   It offers creative models for problem solving, sharing information, and getting to the heart of midwifery care.  This book speaks to authentic midwifery: That age old model of holding a woman’s dreams and supporting her as she does the work of gathering information, making decisions, and birthing a child from a place of strength and health.

“As a midwifery student I found this book so inspiring.  It shows me the kind of midwife I want to be one day.  Kick off your Dansko’s and make a cup of tea–you won’t be able to put this book down once you start!  The knowledge is set in a tone of genuine care and a clear understanding of what it is like working with expecting and birthing mothers.  And somehow they do it all with a great sense of humor!”

–Melisssa

“I started reading this book to see if it was something I felt comfortable sharing with my midwifery clients.  I wound up awake the whole night immersed in this book and can’t wait to share it with my clients and colleagues–what a great asset to community and what a fantastic addition to our library!”

–Cindy

“I am a seasoned doula and with the demand for homebirths so much on the rise I found I really needed to educate myself about the exact differences between home and hospital birth and to be able to talk intelligently about midwifery care.  My clients often ask me for help switching providers in the middle of pregnancy or finding a provider early on and this gives me such great language to share with them.  I can’t wait until it is published and I can send mothers to read this book.  As a doula I want my mothers to make super informed choices so they will feel great about their births and this book really teaches parents how to do that.  It is fantastic for parents regardless of where they will birth their babies!”

–Debbie