Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Childbirth [Paperback]

Giuditta Tornetta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2008

Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Birth is a nine-step guide designed to help mothers better understand themselves and the baby that is forming inside their belly. Painless Childbirth promotes self-confidence, urging women to take charge of their well-being as they make informed decisions about their prenatal care, their life choices, and their emotional state.

Giuditta Tornetta offers a clear, easy-to-follow process that leads women to discover their innate ability to give birth to their babies and build their self-esteem. She'll help you tune out some of the supposed "experts" and fear-based pregnancy guides and help you rely on your own inner knowledge. Studies have shown that the quality of life in the womb is in direct correlation with the quality of the future life. Over the course of nine months, a mother is encouraged to look at the mix of emotional, psychological, and spiritual influences that have shaped her and will mold her baby's present and future. This essential guide is filled with practical tools and exercises to empower the mother to overcome the many obstacles and fears that stand in the way of her serenity and preparation for a natural delivery.

Author Giuditta Tornetta says, "This is not a new technique, but a call to a shift in consciousness from 'pregnancy and labor are happening to me,' to 'my baby and I are working together towards the same joyful goal: the making of and arrival of new life.'"

Here's what the experts say about Painless Childbirth:
"Pregnancy is a beautiful balance of life, love and spirit and Giuditta reflects that perfectly in her gentle book. What a lovely way to prepare for your new life ahead."
--Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP, creator of the book/DVD The Happiest Baby on the Block

"Painless Childbirth is filled with heartfelt, practical and scientifically accurate information. It helps women expect the best - and then create it."
--Christiane Northrup, MD, bestselling author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"The author in her doula practice incorporates pre- and perinatal psychology principles with matter-of-fact assertiveness, and basic p&p premises are authoritatively conveyed throughout the book. This might be the most interesting book yet on a doula's life."
--Joel Evans, MD, OB/GYN, director of The Center for Women's Health in Stamford, CT, author of The Whole Pregnancy Handbook

"As we birth our babies, we also give birth to ourselves as mothers. Giuditta's gentle guidance and spiritual nourishment will give confidence and joy on the exquisite journey to motherhood."
--Sarah Buckley, MD, is the author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Giuditta Tornetta experienced her own painless childbirth in 1984, and the experience inspired her to dedicate her life to helping women obtain painless, natural childbirth. A certified birth and postpartum doula, she also is a lactation educator, a clinical hypnotherapist, and a NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner. A contributing editor for Los Angeles Family Magazine with her monthly column, "Ask Doula Giuditta," Las Vegas Family Magazine, The Wet Set Gazette, and SheKnows.com, Tornetta has published more than 300 articles in the United States and United Kingdom. Excerpts from this book have appeared in Mother Magazine in the UK and Mothering Magazine in the USA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581826400
• ISBN-13: 978-1581826401
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In 1984, Giuditta Tornetta experienced a painless childbirth, delivering her daughter at home, with the support of a midwife, meditation, and hypnosis tools. This riveting experience inspired her to dedicate her life to helping women obtain a painless and natural childbirth. Today Ms Tornetta has written "Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Birth" and can be reached at www.joyinbirthing.com

"The author in her doula practice incorporates pre- and perinatal psychology principles with matter-of-fact assertiveness, and basic p&p premises are authoritatively conveyed throughout the book. This might be the most interesting book yet on a doula's life, and we have to thank Giuditta for having shared with us such deep stories of her own voyage into motherhood and her doula practice." Joel Evans MD is an integrative OB/GYN, director of The Center for Women's Health in Stamford, CT, author of The Whole Pregnancy Handbook, and the newest member of APPPAH's Board of Directors.

"Pregnancy is a beautiful balance of life, love and spirit and Giuditta reflects that perfectly in her gentle book. What a lovely way to prepare for your new life ahead." Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP, creator of the book/DVD The Happiest Baby on the Block

"Painless Childbirth is filled with heartfelt, practical and scientifically accurate information. It helps women expect the best - and then create it." Chirstiane Northrup MD best-selling author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"In my pediatric practice, I have witnessed the wonderful work that Ms. Tornetta's does with my families. In her book Painless Childbirth she empowers mothers to begin parenting their child while in the womb. I love her work! Jay Gordon MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics, UCLA Medical School

"Every woman expecting a baby should read this book. Additionally, maternity caregivers, be they doctors, midwives, nurses, who meet the woman as she faces this immense transformative event will gain more understanding of their power to help or hurt the woman in this vulnerable state of releasing her baby into the world. Support people, partners, and doulas will also benefit by having a greater depth of knowledge of the potential of their roles and how to provide the appropriate support as they travel on the journey of birth with the woman. Phyllis Klaus, MFT, CSW Perinatal therapist, researcher, co-founder of Doulas Of North America, and author: Your Amazing Newborn, Bonding, The Doula Book, When Survivors Give Birth

In 1993 Giuditta Tornetta received a certification for Hypnotherapy. In 1995, she was initiated in Transcendental Meditation and harnessed both experiences through her work as a Doula. She has worked in hospital labor and delivery rooms, and home environments, attending and assisting with hundreds of births. Ms. Tornetta is a certified birth and post-partum doula, a certified lactation educator, a certified clinical hypnotherapist, a NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner, and a certified shiatsu therapist.

Giuditta practices clinical hypnotherapy and a method of natural childbirth that uses hypnotic techniques to reduce stress and fear during labor and delivery, alleviating pain and making the birth experience positive and enjoyable. She also teaches infant mental, emotional, and cognitive health and development.

She focuses on infant mental health and pre-post birth bonding, where she uses guided meditations and visualizations to help women communicate and empower their babies before birth. As a lactation educator and postpartum doula, Ms. Tornetta helps couples settle into a natural routine once the baby comes home. Through education, compassion, practical as wells as emotional support, Doula Giuditta teaches new parents how to decipher the newborn's vocal and body language.

Ms. Tornetta is a member of Doulas of North America (DONA), of the Doula Association of Southern California (DASC), and a volunteer with Operation Doula Care, an organization created in response to the life-changing events of September 11th, 2001. Its primary purpose is to provide free Doula support to the pregnant wives of the United States military. Giuditta Tornetta received certification from UCLA as a Lactation Educator and is a member of the Breastfeeding Task Force in Los Angeles, a non-profit organization dedicated to making breastfeeding the cultural norm in Los Angeles. She is the founder of DWLA (Doulas of West Los Angeles), a non-profit sub-group of DASC (Doulas of Southern California www.dascdoulas.org)

Giuditta Tornetta's passionate approach to life, and her accomplishments as a Doula, writer, workshop leader, entrepreneur, and performer, have made her a popular speaker. Television appearances include TLC Property Ladder (birth expert), Newborn Rescue (pilot for Discovery Channel) and she has been a regular guest on TLC's successful series "Bringing Home Baby."

She has been a guest of several radio stations and was recently featured in the popular radio show "Community Focus" on K-Mozart, 105.1 FM, in Los Angeles, on Contact Radio with Gina Cloud, and The Rolanda Watts Show - Greenstoneradio.com.

She has been featured as a guest at Whole Children Expo with Anna Getty, Kaiser Permanente Hospital 's "Women & Children's Health Service Line Operation Team Meeting." She is a regular speaker at Whole Foods Supermarket--national retail chain--and Wild Oats--a health-food supermarket chain. She has been a key speaker at WRS (Women's Referral Services), presenting to over 250 members at a time, and at Emerge (a women-in-business association) and has hosted lectures for parenting groups all over the country.

She resides in Los Angeles with her two dogs --Tony and Amore -- amid photo albums of the many new mommies and babies she's coached through life's most precious and powerful transitions, including her own two experiences with son Azzurro and daughter Natascia.

Ms. Tornetta is a contributing editor for Los Angeles Family Magazine with her monthly column "Ask Doula Giuditta", Las Vegas Family Magazine, the Wet Set Gazette, and Sheknows.com. She has published over 100 articles, in the United States as well as in the U.K. Excerpts from Painless Childbirth have been published by Mother Magazine in the U.K., and Mothering Magazine in the US. Doula Giuditta was the host and editor of "Natural Living" and "Pediatrics," two popular web pages dedicated to natural living and parenting at bellaonline.com (one of the largest websites devoted to women).

Ms. Tornetta runs monthly workshops and lectures on such topics as Natural and Painless Childbirth, Conscious Procreation, Moon Cycles a Rite of Passage, The Joy of Birthing, and The Joy of Menopause.

For speaking engagements please contact Giuditta Tornetta at 310-435-6054 or visit www.joyinbirthing.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for the Open Minded, June 19, 2008

By 

Sheridan Ripley "Sheridan - mom of 3 boys" (Orange County, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Childbirth (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading Painless Childbirth by Giuditta Tornetta, she is a birth doula and also uses hypnosis with her clients. It was a positive, uplifting book about pregnancy and birth. It is always wonderful to have a book showing that birth can be comfortable and enjoyable. I had a painless childbirth (with no medication) with my last baby, so I know it can be done. I wish more moms knew about hypnosis as an option for birth.

Reasons I liked this book:

It shows that birth can be comfortable and enjoyable. There are some good birth stories included, under many different circumstances, home birth, hospital births, induced births, etc. These stories demonstrate how mom's beliefs can create their reality.

The book helps moms see how they can be empowered by educating themselves and making choices that are best for them and their baby! Birth is not a one size fits all kind of situation. Learn what your choices are, trust your body and baby and you can be empowered.

The only thing that would make me hesitant to say every mom should read the book, is that it is fairly "new-agey". Personally, I am pretty open minded, so this didn't bother me. I just took what I liked and dismissed what didn't fit into my beliefs. For instance, Giuditta divided the book into 10 months, and connected the chakras to the different months of pregnancy. I found that interesting, but others might be turned off by that.

Some moms are very hesitant to try hypnosis for childbirth, because they worry it won't fit into their belief structure. One thing I like about Hypnobabies is that it is very main stream and can fit into anyone's beliefs. It isn't new-agey at all. I would worry that some of these moms, if they started to read this book would straight away assume that hypnosis is only for new-agey people.

In conclusion I would let moms know if they are open to new and different ideas, then this is a great book for them to read in preparation for birth. It will give them some tools and ideas to help them prepare for birth and parenting. I would add that they most likely will need more than just this book for preparation. If they want more tools, scripts, childbirth information, etc. Hypnobabies Home Study Coursewould give them these things.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Perspectives, April 17, 2008

By 

Chris (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Childbirth (Paperback)

This is a great book that offers an interesting mindset on childbirth. Contrasting against society's generally conceived view of childbirth, Giuditta offers powerful insights that one must read in order to fully comprehend the concept of a painless childbirth. Her perspectives and tips throughout the book have convinced me that the childbirth process from start to finish is a joyous celebratory time in the lives of those affected. This is an excellent read for those who are ready to or are thinking about starting a family.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had read this sooner, April 16, 2008

By 

Sumithra Gopalan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Childbirth (Paperback)

This fantastic book showed me what an amazing gift motherhood is. Mama has to be strong and healthy to help baby grow strong and healthy. I found, while carrying Sara, that there were tons of things that other books never told me about - until I landed on this one. This book is a Process - I had to read each page twice over to allow the deep introspective messages to sink-in. Filled with wisdom on the different levels at which true healing is needed, it focusses our attention to them allowing us the freedom to heal those areas in our own unique ways without thrusting the author's opinion on how it needs to be done. It guides Mama through 9 very important aspects that define a person. The book also contains several true-life anecdotes on other pregnant women which helps us empathize and find a common ground and not feel like we are going this alone. Our bodies were created to accomodate an intense experience as delivering a baby - why then should it be deemed painful when the body has been designed to accomodate it unless of course, fear has an influence on our psyche that delivery has to naturally be painful. This book helped me in delivering my baby angel without fear of pain and in total freedom which has made all the difference. I have come a long way as a mom from having read this book. This is a must-read for all pregnant moms. My only wish is that I had laid my hands on it sooner.