Customer Reviews

Hello Baby

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First, this book is beautifully illustrated and written. The text is calm and lyrical, almost like a poem. The pictures in pastel chalks are rich and warm. This is also the only 'new baby' book I was able to find that featured a home birth. We wanted to prepare our then 3-year-old daughter for the home birth of her sister, and help her understand what would be happening, if it turned out that she wanted to be there. This book is realistic without being graphic, and perfect for kids. I highly recommend this beautiful, touching story.

Fed up with all of the books available in mainstream book shops that illustrate mama going off to the hospital to give birth, I was very happy to find this book. Homebirth with a midwife is presented in a calm, peaceful, normal way with lovely illustrations and words.

My only complaint is that the drawings sometimes make it a little difficult to keep the characters straight -- is that the mama? Is that the midwife? What color was the papa's hair again? And there are a lot of names to keep straight as well, my children would point and ask, "Is that ____?" and I wasn't sure myself.

But due to the material itself and theme of the book, I'm sure this will remain a favorite.

This book is about a homebirth, which makes it perfect for us. The story is very simple as the perspective is from the youngest child. Mom goes into labour and everyone clamors together to get ready for the birth. The midwife comes and shows her equipment. The family then watches the whole birth. Then the youngest says hello to the baby and they all fall asleep.

What I like: It deals with the simple things you want to deal with. Someone coming over to be with the kids during the labour, mom screaming loudly during the labour, the midwife shows a dopler and an oxygen tank. It deals with the subtle things that could be scary like trembling after the birth, yelling, and the cord around the babies neck and moves them along without fear. They show the birth itself, the baby with the umbilical cord, the mother holding her baby right after the birth, and the placenta but without the blood and mess. It is complete without being graphic...so the mother is completely naked but not exposed (which would be good for reading in a setting that isn't your home or your kids). The kids all gather around and look with curiosity at the placenta. Then the entire family settles down to sleep together, which I like as it shows the family bed. The other thing I like is simply that the mother isn't attending to the kids but isn't ignoring them. There is one page where the little one is helping mom get the baby clothes together and they talk about the baby to come. There is also a page where the mother takes off for a quiet walk alone. The pictures are soft and calm yet frantic and busy...a very good interpretation of the mood. It deals with the birth so that it isn't scary or foreign but natural and electric.

What I don't like: I personally need a book for a toddler (who cares more about cows then people) this book is for a four or five year old or a sophisticated three year old. I have heard of little kids becoming very interested in babies at a young age...mine is not one of those kids so it is a harder sell...however, I am hoping to alter the text just so that it won't take too long to get through. I can see this book being used by other people just to explain the birth process to a young child...even if that mother is going to the hospital or if the child is just curious about what happens. It is frank and realistic without being condescending or too technical.

I have heard of other books for kids that deal with a homebirth but this one was the easiest to get a hold of since it came from Amazon. I am going to suggest my midwife add this book to her library.

This book has been a favorite to both of my children. When I was pregnant with my daughter, my son loved hearing about what to expect during the birth experience and now my daughter, who is two, wants to read it every night. She's even acting out having her own baby! It's a beautifully written story, captured with the heart, authenticity and simplicity of a child's perspective. I highly recommend this to anyone expecting a second child (or beyond...), especially when you want your child to experience the beauty of birth, rather than how we most often see births portrayed in our culture. This is truly a lovely look at honoring a child's experience in welcoming a sibling into the world.

We loved this book. I was looking for the book Welcome With Love and couldn't find it. Then I decided this must be the same book with a different title. Anyway, it is a great home birth book. Our 2 year loved to read it and look at the pictures. We changed the words sometimes so he could relate to the story better. Very kind, loving and real explaination of birth. Totally appropriate for any age.

My 2 year old boy absolutely loves this book. He wants it read to him every night. It's a beautiful book about birth and welcoming a baby into the world the way we would all like to do it - a natural birth with supportive loved ones around us.

When I was pregnant with my second child, this book (then called Welcome With Love) was our daughter's birthing prep book. We read it over and over again. Julie Vivas' illustrations are beautiful. When we homebirthed our second baby, our daughter knew a lot of what to expect because of the text that is written through a child's eyes. Definitely one of my favorites!

I'm having a home birth (our first child) and my sister is going to be there. She and I both want her six-year old daughter to attend the birth, and once we told the six-year old, she was ecstatic. However, we wanted to prepare her somehow for the process, for things that could possibly be frightening (blood, laboring woman making noise, etc.). The only thing the book doesn't really address is blood. Other than that, as another review comments, a lot of things are addressed - mom "yelling", or making a lot of noise, sometimes mom wants to be alone, etc.

The story has an involved midwife and dad, and three or four other siblings who are also viewing the birth. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest, who of course hasn't seen a birth yet, since she was the most recent birth until this one. There is no fear here. There is no hospital either; everything happens at home by the fire.

The colored pencil drawings are soft and gentle. During labor, the mother is naked but there is nothing really graphic about it. She is shown from the side mostly, standing hanging onto the father during labor, and later, as the baby is delivered you can see her whole body from the side, naked, and the baby's head is hanging between her legs. It is a good illustration of what it may look like, naked enough, but not something I would feel awkward showing a child.

I ordered several books from Amazon that I thought would fit the bill, and the others were a dissapointment. If you are having a home birth, this is a great story to read to children three and up.

We have a 6 year old son, and are expecting in the fall. I was looking for a good book to read with him to give him a sense of what he can expect with our upcoming home birth. Well, I found it! He loved this book, and we had a great conversation about childbirth after reading it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone planning a home birth.

This story, told from a child's point of view is funny and still so touching! I chuckled at one point and was nearly in tears at another. (Note: Pregnancy hormones probably helped.) The artwork is beautiful, as is the honest approach in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in birth, but especially to mothers helping a child prepare for the home birth of a new sibling. Beautiful!