Book Review: Birthing the Easy Way

I've decided to start reviewing the birth books I'm reading (and hopefully someday all the ones I've already read!) in hopes of making this blog more useful. They won't be long book reports, more like short blurbs. Still, I hope someone finds them useful. Please feel free to leave your own thoughts about the books in the comments. I'm going to start with Birthing the Easy Way by Sheila Stubbs, in part because it's the book I finished most recently, but also because I have the pleasure of calling Ms. Stubbs a friend.


The first fun thing about this book is that it comes tied with a single white shoelace. Ms. Stubbs shares the story of one of her children, born unexpectedly early. The only thing they had prepared for the birth was a shoelace to tie the cord. As it turns out, that was enough.

The book is divided into four parts, suggestively titled "First Base," "Second Base," "Third Base" and "Home." The slightly sexual theme runs throughout the text, making reading light and fun and also tying into the main theme that birth is an extension of a woman's sexual function, as is breastfeeding. Ms. Stubbs contends that, like conception, birth is ideally accomplished privately between a husband and wife; that the woman is giving back the fruit of the seed planted so many months before.

The book is written in an easy, unpretentious way, more like talking to the mom next door than reading an educational book. I highly recommend this one to anyone expecting a child, in the past present or future.