Customer Reviews

The Nurturing Touch at Birth: A Labor Support Handbook

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book helped me help one of my doula clients recently, and I am so grateful Polly Perez wrote it! My client decided on an epidural and while she and her husband took a nap I decided to read through the Nurturing Touch at Birth.I had just purchased it the day before and was eager to learn from it. Well, I happened to read about the knee press and how to do it... Guess what? The mom woke up after a 45 minute snooze and had terrible back pain but was not allowed out of bed. So her husband and I did the knee press until the pain passed. Worked like a charm.
Thanks for writing such a great book Polly Perez!
Katrina MacLeod
birth doula
Chester County, PA

This book is an indispensible part of any labor & delivery unit, especially one that supports mothers in their choices of birth experiences. I have used this book in orientation of new labor & delivery nurses with great success. It really opens the eyes of the orientee to other options than a 100% epidural rate. I would highly recommend its reading and application to every labor & delivery nurse.

In this age of high-tech birth, it is refreshing to have a book that addresses what Polly Perez describes as "the soul in the birth room." Perez emphasizes the importance of empowering the birthing woman during her experience of labor and birth. This means that the supportive caregiver will listen to what each individual woman wants and needs, and then, help the woman achieve a labor and birth experience that is uniquely her own.

In this handbook, the mother and the caregiver will find a large variety of helpful nonpharmacologic techniques to address the physical and emotional needs that may be encountered during labor and birth. Together, the woman and the caregiver work as a team to employ the techniques that are most beneficial in meeting the woman's needs.

The importance of continuous labor support is well documented and this handbook provides a wealth of information regarding how to provide that support to laboring women. It is a must-have book for anyone providing support to laboring women!

In this second edition, Polly Perez has taken the best aspects from the first edition and combined them with "new and improved" ideas and techniques for truly physically and emotionally supporting the laboring woman. This book is a useful tool for the new nurse or doula, the woman's partner and other support people she has chosen to be with her in labor. It is augmented with wonderful photographs demonstrating the described techniques for comfort, progress, and communication for labor. There are also tables for quick review and pages filled with resources. Polly has also included in the communication chapter scriptures for supporting the spiritual aspect of labor. At first glance, this seemed odd to me. However, after all the Polly has been through since her stroke in 1998 (learning practically everything over again), it seemed to be a natural addition for "support." It is a very useful, and user-friendly, book that is a welcomed addition to my collection of labor and birth resources.

Paulina Perez's 2nd Edition of The Nurturing Touch at Birth, A Labor Support Handbook is a comprehensive guide for anyone wishing to excel at providing labor support. After several background chapters on the current state of affairs in the childbirth arena, the book delves into the how-tos of providing labor support. Hints, tips, and tricks run the gamut from relaxation techniques, affirmations, scriptures, and suggestions for audio CD's to use in labor, to aromatherapy, reflexology, therapeutic touch, massage, and mental activity techniques. Where this book shines is in its coverage of various positions and explanations of which positions work best for certain situations (such as with back labor or asynclitism). Included are at least 16 different positions, including some this nurse-midwife had never heard of before (the Stomp Squat and Walcher's position)! Black and white photos accompany some of the described techniques and positions. It would have been nice for the others to have at least a simple line drawing to aid in the accurate performance of such positions.
This book is appropriate for any birth setting whether home, free-standing birthing center, or hospital and is useful to labor nurses, doulas, montrices, and midwives. Ms. Perez includes implementation strategies for nurses working in highly technical, low touch environment who may encounter frustration as they attempt to buck the system. Throughout the book, the author offers encouragement and inspiration to those whose work with mothers is needed now more that ever before- the work of humanizing the birthing process.

As a veteran nurse educator, mother, grandmother, and L&D nurse this is a valuable resource for all--the mother, father, caregivers and support person(s). Having extensive training in healing arts, I particularly liked seeing information on aromatherapy, therapeutic touch, massage, and more; all of which is valuable to both mother and those assisting her. The photos are great and remind me of the positive experiences of being a doula to my daughter and daughters-in-law. This book is a must read for all those mentioned. Every childbirth educator should have copies in her/his library.

I love this resource. This is a great reference for the old timers and the young newbees to Ob services. This is a resource I plan to use with our orientees. The topics are very pertinent and can be used to lead lively discussions for staff meetings.

This book is helpful for nurses in the Labor & Delivery setting to learn labor support, and particularly for a new nurse, who may be more focused on watching a fetal monitor screen. While it is very important to be aware of contraction patterns and fetal heart rate, nothing can substitute the caring, compassionate labor support to a birthing woman.
The book makes the point that when a laboring woman feels supported, she also feels empowered. Nurses need to learn to relinquish their own power and empower the mother. It is helpful to have open discussions and encourage questions. Nurses can provide education and promote problem-solving skills.
It is important to recognize that childbirth is a natural, normal process. Different cultures and beliefs, and past experiences affect how a woman copes during labor and childbirth. Recognizing there are three different coping styles can help a woman through natural childbirth. There are visual, kinesthetic, and auditory coping styles and some women use more than one coping skill.
It is important for laboring women to trust those who are providing labor support. It involves nurses getting to know their patients, discussing issues together, and helping the patients to make informed decisions. Assertive communication, active listening, and treating others with respect are vital to help foster trust.
The Labor and Delivery nurse can help create a positive atmosphere for birth by providing privacy, encouragement, affirmations, and helping with relaxation, visualization, and breathing during labor. It may include birth rituals such as a laboring woman's visual focal point, or sounds or movements.
The book describes a variety of positions and strategies for laboring, pushing, and delivering & is helpful as a comfort measure, and also helps promote the progress of labor, encourages the descent and rotation of the fetus, and allows for fetal oxygenation.
This book incorporates education and information that is especially helpful to a new Labor and Delivery nurse, to look beyond the clinical tubes and wires, interventions, and policies, and to the heart of caring and compassionate labor support.

Kay Eltrich RNC, BSN
Unit Educator, Family Birth Center
Tacoma
KayEltrich@fhshealth.org

This book has been sitting on my desk, I just did not have the time to get to it. I picked it up this morning, I could not put it down. I have been a labor nurse for too many years to count, I believe in "natual childbirth" and yet this is one of the most moving and powerfull books I have seen. I only wish the hospital setting allowed for more of this kind of nursing care. We are so technically focused! We forget the love and magic of birth. I will be precepting new grads this summer and it will be on their "must read" list!

This is one of the most comprehensive books on childbirth available to birthing professionals. It is "one-stop shopping" for the knowledge and skills that can be used to provide support during the entire birthing process. There are tips, tricks, and information that can be used for a wide variety of women with differing plans for their birth in any setting. Nurturing Touch at Birth not only teaches how to provide support for a woman giving birth, but provides encouragement and strength to birthing professionals. You don't only get the "how-to's" with this book, you get the "what's" and the "how-comes" as well! It takes the whole spectrum of care for a woman during labor and birth and turns it into a rainbow!