Thank You Dr Lamaze

A new edition of the original work, including a revised Lamaze exercise manual for the '80s.

The Lamaze method is virtually synonymous with natural childbirth in America. In the 1970s, taking Lamaze classes was a common rite of passage to parenthood. The conscious relaxation and patterned breathing techniques touted as a natural and empowering path to the alleviation of pain in childbirth resonated with the feminist and countercultural values of the era. In Lamaze, historian Paula A. Michaels tells the surprising story of the Lamaze method from its origins in the Soviet Union in the 1940s, to its popularization in France in the 1950s, and then to its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s in the US. Michaels shows how, for different reasons, in disparate national contexts, this technique for managing the pain of childbirth without resort to drugs found a following. The Soviet government embraced this method as a panacea to childbirth pain in the face of the material shortages that followed World War II. Heated and sometimes ideologically inflected debates surrounded the Lamaze method as it moved from East to West amid the Cold War. Physicians in France sympathetic to the communist cause helped to export it across the Iron Curtain, but politics alone fails to explain why French women embraced this approach. Arriving on American shores around 1960, the Lamaze method took on new meanings. Initially it offered a path to a safer and more satisfying birth experience, but overtly political considerations came to the fore once again as feminists appropriated it as a way to resist the patriarchal authority of male obstetricians. Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Michaels pieces together this complex and fascinating story at the crossroads of the history of politics, medicine, and women. The story of Lamaze illuminates the many contentious issues that swirl around birthing practices in America and Europe. Brimming with insight, Michaels' engaging history offers an instructive intervention in the debate about how to achieve humane, empowering, and safe maternity care for all women.

Guilt abounds among women who are unable, for whatever reason - illness of mother or child, premature birth, adoption - to experience the required period of bonding with their babies. In this absorbing book, Diane E. Eyer traces the history of the bonding myth and explains its continuing popularity despite its demonstrated lack of validity. Most important, she shows how it reflects a disturbing tendency in our society to accept "scientific" research without question - and without awareness that it can be distorted by professional agendas and public demands. Eyer argues that the concept of bonding was developed at a time then hospitals were losing their appeal for many women who wanted to deliver their babies in birthing centers or at home. Hospitals seized on the bonding idea as a way to make their services more attractive to pregnant women and to reassert medical authority over the birthing process by regulating the bonding procedure

THE BIBLE FOR EVERY COUPLE PREPARING FOR THE BIRTH OF A BABY When it was first introduced more than thirty years ago, the Lamaze method was a revolutionary childbirth technique. Since that time, it has made pregnancy and childbirth easier for millions of women, lessening their dependence on pain medications before and after birth. Elisabeth Bing’s classic book on the Lamaze method guides women through the physical and psychological challenges of pregnancy. Six Practical Lessons for an Easier Childbirth details the changes a woman can expect in her body during pregnancy, labor, and delivery and provides a complete program of exercises for increased muscular control and relaxation during childbirth. This guidebook also emphasizes the partner’s supportive role in the Lamaze method, both in preparation and in the delivery room. This newly revised edition includes an expanded program with new photographs of exercises for every pregnant woman. Elisabeth Bing also provides more information on what to expect in the hospital, including updated information on cesarean births and the medications commonly prescribed during delivery. Filled with vital information and reassurance, Six Practical Lessons for an Easier Childbirth will make expectant couples better prepared than ever for this joyous, rewarding experience.

Comprehensive, user-friendly, and up to date, Chestnut's Obstetric Anesthesia: Principles and Practice, 6th Edition, provides the authoritative clinical information you need to provide optimal care to your patients. This substantially revised edition keeps you current on everything from basic science to anesthesia techniques to complications, including coverage of new research that is paving the way for improved patient outcomes. An expert editorial team ensures that this edition remains a must-have resource for obstetric anesthesiologists and obstetricians, nurse anesthetists and anesthesiology assistants, and anesthesiology and obstetric residents and students. Presents the latest information on anesthesia techniques for labor and delivery and medical disorders that occur during pregnancy, emphasizing the treatment of the fetus and the mother as separate patients with distinct needs. Contains new chapters on shared decision-making in obstetric anesthesia and chronic pain during and after pregnancy. Features extensive revisions from cover to cover, including consolidated information on maternal infection and postoperative analgesia. Covers key topics such as neonatal assessment and resuscitation, pharmacology during pregnancy and lactation, use of nitrous oxide for labor analgesia, programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) technique, epidural analgesia-associated fever, the role of gastric ultrasonography to assess the risk of aspiration, sugammadex in obstetric anesthesia, the role of video laryngoscopy and new supraglottic airway devices, spinal dysraphism, and cardiac arrest in obstetric patients. Incorporates the latest guidelines on congenital heart disease and the management of sepsis, as well as difficult airway guidelines that are specific to obstetric anesthesia practice. Offers abundant figures, tables, and boxes that illustrate the step-by-step management of a full range of clinical scenarios.

Written in a clear, easy-to-read manner, this book helps readers understand exactly what to expect every day of the pregnancy. In-depth information lets couples prepare for every step involved when expecting a baby, from conception to delivery to bringing the baby home.