Joy of Natural Childbirth

by Helen Wessel

Discusses the spiritual aspects of natural childbirth and offers information on prenatal care, the birth process, breast-feeding, and family relations

300 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1983

Reviews

[Paige Cuthbertson| Turning_Every_Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a Christian book on childbirth first published in the 60s, this book was surprisingly forward-thinking!

It’s not just a birth book, but a Christian family planning book. It dives into God’s plan for marriage, how to have enjoyable sex, info on prenatal nutrition, a breakdown of hospital births vs. clinic births vs. home births. There’s a detailed breakdown of labor and delivery, all with utmost respect for the birthing mother’s wishes. It takes an honest look at the problem with hospitals and the institutionalized views on birth in American culture. Gender roles. What biblical marriage means. Treating your child as a person, not an object or a possession.

It’s a pretty expansive book! Occasionally there was some outdated info, but overall, it’s an excellent resource!

I’m only subtracting a start because the first part of the book is written like a fictional narrative, and is a total cheese-fest.😂

[Rachel Gula · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think you're going to get some BS about how women need to just take labor as the pain designated by God, you are mistaken. This book goes back to the original writings of the Bible and what the words actually said (e.g. the word should not be translated to 'pain' but 'hard work'). This is only a small part of it all, however: the book explores pregnancy and a natural birth from the perspective of a Christian couple (I could do without the story part, it's a little too "perfect" for me- hence the loss of one star). They discover what the Bible actually says, and we learn, through them, some practical tips for pregnancy nutrition and posture (although some is outdated, so take with a grain of salt), and birth positions and comfort in making for a more natural birth. Highly recommend this book to anyone who identifies even remotely as Christian (or not, too, if you are just interested in the pregnancy/birth parts). Again, the storyline is a cheese fest, but the information is good.