Unassissted Childbirth

Unassisted Childbirth

“This book did not threaten me as a midwife. Instead, it opened my eyes to the need to defend and protect the natural birth process in as noninterventive a way as is safely possible.”–Midwifery Today

“Although I am personally an advocate of planned, midwife-attended home birth, I also believe that we must make conceptual and legal room in the technocracy for those women who choose to fully claim their power as birth-givers by going it alone. This is a very brave book and Laura Kaplan Shanley is a remarkable and courageous woman.”–Robbie Davis-Floyd, Ph.D. author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage

“Laura Kaplan Shanley is not crazy: she had no other choice than either to give birth with her own hormones in complete privacy, or to be delivered by white coat experts.”–Michel Odent, M.D. Primal Health Research Center, London

“Unassisted Childbirth is more than a practical guide. It is an inspiration for every parent regardless of whether they plan to give birth at home, childbearing center, or in the hospital. It inspires confidence and creates the positive attitude toward birth that reduces the fear and pain of labor.”–Carl Jones, C.C.E. author of Mind Over Labor and The Expectant Parent’s Guide to Preventing a Cesarean Section

Laura and her husband delivered their first child without the aid of a doctor or midwife. Laura alone delivered the next three children, assisted by her belief that giving birth was a natural process for which a woman’s body had been well designed. Shanley’s birth experiences, combined with subsequent research, have confirmed her belief that with the proper mindset, delivering one’s own baby is the safest, most fulfilling way to give birth. Shanley gives numerous references, both historical and contemporary, to support her theory. She tells of her own experiences in childbirth as well as those of other women who have given birth without medical assistance. Although many contemporary writers deal with the concept that we create our own reality according to our beliefs, Shanley is the first to fully apply this to the birthing experience.