An Anthology Of Canadian Birth Stories

"This book is a 'must-read' for expectant parents, because it will help them to make the right birthing choices for themselves, and for those who have already given birth, because it will help them to better understand their own birthing experiences. -Robbie Davis-Floyd (PhD), world-renowned scholar on birth and author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage and of Ways of Knowing about Birth: Mothers, Midwives, Medicine, and Birth Activism "The stories cover births of all kinds: rapid, unmedicated, epiduralized, surgical, preterm birth, preeclampsia and stillbirth, and all kinds of perinatal providers: doulas, midwives, nurses, and physicians. All are described with respect and positive energy. Coping with labor is not instinctive. Humans require support. Each generation needs to learn how to give this support. The writers in An Anthology pass on the instructions for labor coping in their stories without being dogmatic. Those who read this book while expecting will have many visions of labor and birth to draw on. -Cecilia M. Jevitt(RM, CNM, APRN, PhD, FACNM), Director of Midwifery and Associate Professor in the Department of Familiy Practice in the Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia "My take home: You have a voice and your voice deserves to be heard." -Jenn Fountaine (LCCE, CD/BDT(DONA), PCD(DONA), CLE, FACCE), DONA International Birth Doula Training, Lamaze Program Director, and Birth and Postpartum Doula "This anthology is a must read of firsthand experiences and insightful wisdom for birthing families and those that support them" -Sondra Marcon, Education Director and Instructor, Doula Training Canada, Association of Ontario Doulas' board member An Anthology of Canadian Birth Stories is a MUST READ for every new doula. The book takes you through a journey of just how varied birth experiences can be. It reinforces that satisfaction with birth has EVERYTHING to do with how we're supported, not just the outcome we had hoped for. The book will bring you through every emotion and inspire you to continue your work as a birth worker, reinforcing the DEEP INNER KNOWING that we are needed more than ever before. -Stefanie Antunes, LCCE, FACCE, BDT/CD/PCD(DONA), Association of Ontario Doulas' board member

A fascinating account of childbirth rituals in the first half of the twentieth century from the initial diagnosis of pregnancy, though childbirth - who was present, and where it took place - to the definition of what constituted a normal birth.

Thirty acclaimed writers share their personal birth stories—the extraordinary, the ordinary, the terrifying, the sublime, the profane It's an elemental, almost animalistic urge—the expectant mother's hunger for birth narratives. Bookstores are filled with month-by-month pregnancy manuals, but the shelves are virtually empty of artful, entertaining, unvarnished accounts of labor and delivery—the stories that new mothers need most. Here is a book that transcends the limits of how-to guides and honors the act of childbirth in the twenty-first century. Eleanor Henderson and Anna Solomon have gathered true birth stories by women who have made self-expression their business, including Cheryl Strayed, Julia Glass, Lauren Groff, Dani Shapiro, and many other luminaries. In Labor Day, you'll read about women determined to give birth naturally and others begging for epidurals; women who pushed for hours and women whose labors were over practically before they'd started; women giving birth to twins and to ten-pound babies. These women give birth in the hospital, at home, in bathtubs, and, yes, even in the car. Some revel in labor, some fear labor, some feel defeated by labor, some are fulfilled by it—and all are amazed by it. You will laugh, weep, squirm, perhaps groan in recognition, and undoubtedly gasp with surprise. And then you'll call every mother or mother-to-be that you know and say "You MUST read Labor Day." Contributors: Nuar Alsadir Amy Brill Susan Burton Sarah Shun-lien Bynum Lan Samantha Chang Phoebe Damrosch Claire Dederer Jennifer Gilmore Julia Glass Arielle Greenberg Lauren Groff Eleanor Henderson Cristina Henriquez Amy Herzog Ann Hood Sarah Jefferis Heidi Julavits Mary Beth Keane Marie Myung-Ok Lee Edan Lepucki Heidi Pitlor Joanna Rakoff Jane Roper Danzy Senna Dani Shapiro Anna Solomon Cheryl Strayed Sarah A. Strickley Rachel Jamison Webster Gina Zucker

It's an elemental, almost animalistic urge—the expectant mother's hunger for birth narratives. We are inundated with how-to guides and month-by-month pregnancy manuals when what we truly crave are artful, entertaining, unvarnished accounts of labor and delivery. We want to know what really happens—the good, the bad, and the ugly. In anticipation of the publication of Labor Day: True Birth Stories by Today's Best Women Writers, celebrated author Elissa Schappell brings us "What We Talk About When We Talk About Birth." In this frank, funny, and bittersweet essay she explores the phenomenon of sharing birth stories, reveals her reluctance to tell her own, and discovers that talking about childbirth—the joy, the fear, the pain—is as instinctual as the act itself. And if you love birth stories as much as we do, read thirty more essays like this one in Labor Day: True Birth Stories By Today's Best Women Writers, including Lan Samantha Chang, Julia Glass, Lauren Groff, Ann Hood, Danzy Senna, Dani Shapiro, and Cheryl Strayed.