Customer Reviews

Heart and Hands: A Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This *textbook* is awesome. There is so much information in here, do not borrow this book from your library! Purchasing this wonderfully helpful book is the only way to go. You won't be sorry! There are so many pictures, drawings and exemplary descriptions to assist you in your lifetime learning of this 'calling' - midwifery care and assistance.

If you're a doula - you want this book. If you're a childbirth educator - you want this book. If you're an aspiring midwife of any kind - you want this book. If you're a mother, a grandmother, an expectant parent, or a natural childbirth advocate - you too, want this book!

Guiding you through prenatal care, problems during pregnancy, the birth process, complications during labor, postpartum care for mothers and babies - this guide will last many, many lifetimes over. Included also, is information about becoming a midwife, and even setting up your own practice - or finding the right careeer route for yourself.

This is a timeless piece of artwork! Enjoy!

Newly revised, this book is an old friend of mine. One of the first midwifery books I read, it covers an enormous breadth of information, yet is understandable for the beginner. It is still one of the 2 or 3 books I refer to first when I need to look something up. Elizabeth Davis just revamped and revised this book in 1997, and it is better than ever, with new sections on herbs and homeopathy, working with apprentices, hepatitis and HIV, midwifery practices, and issues of legalization, NARM, and MANA.

The book is very well-organized, with lots of excellent illustrations that make concepts easy to understand. There are many boxed areas for quick reference on herbs, and issues for pregnant women reading the book. These include questions to ask a potential midwife, self-care in pregnancy, danger signs in pregnancy, and many more. I recommend this book to consumers as well as midwives, as I think educating yourself during your pregnancy is very important, and this book is a wonderful resource.

My only criticism with the book is that the information is not very well documented- Davis will mention that research has found such-and-such, but doesn't cite the researcher or where it was published.

I'm not a midwife, but I wanted lots of information about childbrith before the birth of my first baby. This was our favorite book about childbirth: the information was specific, the drawings were clear and beautiful, and the whole book was encouraging.

Elizabeth Davis's classic Heart and Hands just keeps getting better and better with each new edition as she strives to keep current with the craziness that is going on in obstetrical practice today. Geared toward midwives of all persuasions (CNM, CM, LM, DEM, etc.) some of whom may find themselves in a homebirth practice by default (as I did after completing midwifery school in 1980 and unable to secure hospital privileges until 1984), it's also essential reading for those pregnant couples who plan to give birth with a midwife in attendance. It is also an excellent resource for those who, because of their insurance, are destined to birth with doctors in hospitals but still want to be prepared with knowledge that will help them claim as much control as possible.
Beautiful photographs, exquisite drawings, and personal stories complement the appeal of this classic book that is destined, one hopes, never to go out of print.

Within the first few lines of this book, it is clear that this has a very different feel from your `average' midwifery textbook: Elizabeth begins by talking about how women have helped each other give birth since the dawn of time and her words throughout the book focus on the social ~ rather than the medical ~ context of birth and midwifery. In fact, throughout the book, the woman remains the focus of the whole experience, something which might sound obvious but isn't always achieved in reality. The text is interspersed with quotes from women, practical suggestions and stories from her own experience, beautiful photographs and drawings which clearly show the positions of relevant organs while acknowledging that women and babies come in three dimensions (as opposed to the cross-sectional pictures which tend to characterise the more medically-focused textbooks).

Heart and Hands intersperses the clinical with the practical, social, psychological and spiritual, and key terms are in bold, which makes it easy to find what you are looking for and to scan a whole page for relevant information. There are fourteen appendices including suggestions for records / notes for different stages of childbearing, a birthkit list and a "postnatal instructions" handout.

It is noticeable that some aspects of this book have changed over time, so it is well worth taking a look at the new edition even if you have one of the older versions. For example, the book now incorporates more reference to research on key clinical topics (while managing to retain both the practical flavour and the emphasis on women's ways of knowing that have always made it popular with midwives) and Elizabeth herself reflects on how practice has moved on from the days when midwives tended to `overinvolve' themselves in labour. All in all, this is a lovely book which I am sure would soon become well loved (and probably quite tatty from repeated use!) in the hands of any midwife, doula, childbirth educator or pregnant woman!

Sara Wickham, author of "Midwifery: Best Practice"

As an unassisted homebirthing mother, I love this book. It gives a wonderful amount of information without giving too much. I have a copy of Williams Obstetrics and several other texts, but this is my favorite!

I was exceedingly pleased when I received this book. As a student interested in Midwifery as a career I found this book up to date, simple to understand, but detailed in its explanations. It's list of resources was very helpful for me to find educational plans and schools.

This reader has an issue with a woman's whole body. In many birth books all you see is from the wasit down like the woman is not a whole person. When we focus on the whole picture (a womans torso, breasts and FACE!) we remember this isn't a birthing machine that needs fixing; this is a person, a woman, a mother.

This book has got to be one of the best books written for childbirth professionals. The information is informative and interesting, and the book actually contains professional forms for readers to consider in their own practice. This is a book I recommend for the shelf of anyone who is interested in studying midwifery, or anyone interested in hiring a midwife for their own birth.

This tender book has given me, as a student Nurse-Midwife, a precious insight to the essence of Midwifery that has gotten lost for some. In the midst of Midwifery school where details on the hows of birth are heavily concentrated on I pick up this book when I need to 'feel' that deep-seeded passion that Midwives have for their careers and their precious patients. The text is simply written, but also complex in its coverage of many aspects of birth. Ms. Davis does a fantastic job giving an explanation to the psychological and mystical events surrounding birth. Thank goodness that this sister Midwife shares her insight and experience with those of us who are doing everything we can to learn this challenging information.