Customer Reviews

The Childbirth Kit: Ideas and Images to Help You Through Labor

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This "kit" is unique and creative - it's a collection of 17 beautiful and symbolic cards that a woman in labor and her support team can use for visualization and imagery. The back of each card outlines suggested techniques for relaxing and relieving pain such as breathing, positions, activity and massage/touch suggestions. The kit also includes an informative book of ideas, suggestions and resources for birthing women. This kit is unique and an excellent tool for any birthing woman. It will help her find her own path and reinforce her strengths and coping techniques as she welcomes a baby into her life.

If you want something JUST for labor, this is a great resource. The book covers pretty much any perspective/approach out there, so no matter where you are coming from, it has something you'll recognize. Plus, there are so many suggestions of things to try, you'll probably never run dry of ideas. Since you can't really tell what will work before you are actually THERE, having all the options so handy is really nice. If you want to just look at the pictures (no talking), fine, if you want to close your eyes and hear a visualization, fine, if you just need one word, or an idea about a position change, or encouraging words, they are all there. Plus, the pictures/images are beautifully done. Makes a great baby-shower gift - or give it to the father/partner as a companion to The Birth Partner (penny simpkin), as it helps the support person, too!

The information in the book is a helpful addition to your childbirth class series as it does not favor any particular method, encouraging the mother to find her best coping techniques in labor. The cards will help the novice coach to feel more at ease because they can aid in remembering points learned in class. The cards offer a focal point for mothers who wish to keep their eyes open during labor, and because the tips and visualizations are printed right on the back, the coach can read them while the mother looks at them. Certainly, the relaxation, imagery, and labor tips on the cards will be helpful to the coach even if the mother has her eyes closed.

I didn't read the book (yet) but recently attended a friend's birth, and though she had an epidural, it didn't work very well. I read the back of the cards to her as she focused on the images on the fronts, and the visualizations were SO GREAT. Some are metaphors for the process of labor, some are more "direct" in nature, all are really good. She said it was helping her a lot, and I often saw her visibly relax her tense muscles when she heard certain passages. Each card also has a series of words at the bottom that can be read slowly to her, and suggestions for both the laboring woman and the partner to try. I highly recommend the cards, and I'll bet the book is great, too. (I've borrowed it from her for my own birth!)