Don't give birth without reading this first! I have been waiting years for Henci Goer's latest book. As expected, it's well-researched, easy to understand, and jam-packed with information that every birthing person should know. I have been a prenatal yoga teacher, birth educator, and support person for new families for 20 years and I am recommending this book to all of my clients. This is the kind of information birthing people are asking for and rarely getting from their health care providers. Thank you Henci, for helping people to be better consumers in their perinatal care! -Jeanna, birth educator & childbirth support person

Reading Labor Pain: What's Your Best Strategy? is like having a conversation with a wise, knowledgeable, caring friend. Goer presents pain relief options and then, simply but in great depth, the evidence-based benefits and risks of each option. A must-read for not only childbearing women but for those who care for them! -Judith Lothian, RN, PhD, LCCE, FAAN; Associate Editor Journal of Perinatal Education; Co-author of Giving Birth with Confidence

This book is not just for expecting moms, it's for the entire birth team. As a doula and childbirth educator, I am constantly in awe of Henci's ability to present evidence in a non-judgmental way. I'll be recommending this book with zero hesitation to all of my clients and students for years to come. -Kyleigh Banks, childbirth educator & doula, Founder of Birthworker.com

For fans of Emily Oster's Expecting Better and Penny Simkin's works:

Plenty of pregnancy and birth books tell you what to expect during birth. This guide, though, is one of the few to delve deeply into one topic, delivering up-to-date access to the best medical research. In this data-driven birth book, award-winning childbirth writer and educator Henci Goer brings her thirty-plus years of experience analyzing the obstetric research to the table, delivering the most thorough synthesis on the market. Yet she structures the book thoughtfully so you can take in information however suits you. Dig into every detail or skip to the summaries. Read about every topic or jump to the ones that interest you most. Henci creates a judgment-free zone where you're in the driver's seat.

And she won't just provide the information you need to choose among your options, she'll also give you practical strategies for developing your plan and putting it into action. You'll know what you want, why you want it, and how best to get it-how to have the birth that fits best for you.

Inside, you'll find:

• Thorough, up-to-date, researched-based information on every strategy: epidurals, combined spinal-epidurals, opioids, nitrous oxide, and non-drug childbirth pain relief options.
• Advantages and disadvantages of those strategies-including pros and cons your doctor or midwife may not mention!
• Practical, actionable advice preparing you to implement your plan once you've made it.
• A comprehensive table comparing each of your pain relief options side-by-side, letting you see at a glance how the methods stack up against each other in terms of degree of pain relief, cost, side effects, effect on the baby, and more.
• Info useful to first-time and experienced parents alike.

You're the best person to decide what's right for you. Here's your opportunity to get the data. Make a plan. And TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR BIRTH.

As an intelligent woman, you are probably used to learning as much as you can before making major decisions. But when it comes to one of the most important decisions of your life--how you will give birth--it is hard to gather accurate, unbiased information. Surprisingly, much of the research does not support common medical opinion and practice.

Birth activist Henci Goer gives clear, concise information based on the latest medical studies. The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth helps you compare and contrast your various options and shows you how to avoid unnecessary procedures, drugs, restrictions, and tests. The book covers:

• Cesareans
• Breech babies
• Inducing labor
• Electronic Fetal Monitoring
• Rupturing Membranes
• Coping with slow labor
• Pain medication
• Epistiotomy
• Vaginal birth after a Ceasarean
• Doulas
• Deciding on a doctor or midwife
• Choosing where to have your baby
• and much more . . .

Anyone working to improve the childbearing experience and help women avoid unnecessary intervention has encountered numerous obstetric myths or old doctors' tales. And while the evidence in the medical literature may be solidly, often unequivocably, against whatever the doctor said, without access to that evidence, the pregnant woman is quite reasonably going to follow her doctor. This book is an attempt to make the medical literature on a variety of key obstetric issues accessible to people who lack the time, expertise, access, or proximity to a medical library to research concerns on their own. This compact, accurate, yet understandable reference is designed for people without medical training and organized for easy access.

After an introductory chapter giving basic information about the different types of medical studies, how to evaluate them, and some basic statistical concepts, Goer provides chapters on cesarean issues, pregnancy and labor management, and a review of alternative approaches. Each chapter begins with a stated myth, followed by an examination of the reality. Goer then analyzes the mainstream belief, pointing out its fallacies. Then comes a list of significant points gleaned from the studies and keyed to her abstracts. Next is the outline by which the abstracts are grouped. Finally come the numbered abstracts of relevant articles published, in most cases, after 1980. The book concludes with a glossary of medical terms and an index. This compact, accurate, and understandable reference tool is designed for people without medical training as well as care givers.

Anyone working to improve the childbearing experience and help women avoid unnecessary intervention has encountered numerous obstetric myths or old doctors' tales. And while the evidence in the medical literature may be solidly, often unequivocably, against whatever the doctor said, without access to that evidence, the pregnant woman is quite reasonably going to follow her doctor. This book is an attempt to make the medical literature on a variety of key obstetric issues accessible to people who lack the time, expertise, access, or proximity to a medical library to research concerns on their own. This compact, accurate, yet understandable reference is designed for people without medical training and organized for easy access.

After an introductory chapter giving basic information about the different types of medical studies, how to evaluate them, and some basic statistical concepts, Goer provides chapters on cesarean issues, pregnancy and labor management, and a review of alternative approaches. Each chapter begins with a stated myth, followed by an examination of the reality. Goer then analyzes the mainstream belief, pointing out its fallacies. Then comes a list of significant points gleaned from the studies and keyed to her abstracts. Next is the outline by which the abstracts are grouped. Finally come the numbered abstracts of relevant articles published, in most cases, after 1980. The book concludes with a glossary of medical terms and an index. This compact, accurate, and understandable reference tool is designed for people without medical training as well as care givers.