Customer Reviews

Welcome With Love

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book on the recommendation of a midwife in the homebirth practice I used with my 2nd child. I was amazed by the beautiful story & lovely pictures. My 3 year old loved it too - especially the pictures of the little children meeting the new baby. I was so happy to have this book to introduce this topic to my daughter so she wouldn't be afraid by what was happening. It really prepared her well.

As a home birth mom myself I adore this book! I needed a "how was I born book" for my daughter. So many books talked about the hospital birth and I did not want to imbed that into her precious mind. Co sleeping, brestfeeding, labor and love are all beautifully portrayed! I nerer noticed the rusticness until I read it in these other reviews. BUY IT, KEEP IT FOREVER!

Welcome With Love talks about childbirth with love, feelings, and great respect. It is about the kind of birth that all women are entitled to have -- and all families are entitled to be part of.

This wonderful children's book depicts a gentle, natural home birth on a windy, fireplace-lit night. The whole family participates in welcoming the new baby into the world. The story of a mother's fourth baby being born, is told in her young son's voice. He speaks of his mother's great noises during labor but he's not afraid, because she had told him beforehand that she "might make a lot of noise", he mustn't worry because "that's what it's like when babies are being born," and that she'll feel better if she yells and screams. The book shows the mother in full naked splendor pushing her baby out, the family watches with great love, tears in their eyes and excitement in their faces. The pictures were illustrated with absolute respect and regard for the birthing woman's privacy and dignity.

The book describes childbirth with touching honesty and realism. This is a perfect book to prepare children for the homebirth of a sibling. I found this beautiful story at our local library and enjoyed reading it so much I purchased a copy for my family. I love this book and highly recommend reading it to children of all ages.

I had a homebirth and loved it. I think everyone, adults and children, need to know more about the absolute joy and safety of birthing at home. My 2 children who attended their baby brother's birth now accept homebirth as normal, not just for people who "don't like hospitals".

On the other hand, I was disappointed that the family portrayed wasn't just a regular, ordinary family. They were removed from the life that most of us live- they heated only with wood, and lighted their home with candles. Few of us do that. Most of us have central heat and lights, a water heater and a gas stove. We drive to our midwife's prenatal appointments in our cars purchased a Any Dealer USA. We aren't "back to nature" people. I fear that this book portrays a homebirthing family as out of the ordinary. As long as we view it that way, Boulder's 12% homebirthing rate will be *exceedingly* rare, and 99% of US births will continue to be in hospitals. That is a shame.

It seems like every book about the arrival of a new sibling tells a child he should be jealous -- do we set them up for this? This book, instead, illustrates wonder and love as it tells the story of the birth of a family's fourth child through the eyes of the third, while acknowledging subtly and honestly that young Jack is aware of the change in his place in the family, through a single sentence near the end ("[The baby]'s between Mum and Dad, which is where I'd like to be.") In this home birth, though a midwife attends, family is central: Julie Vivas depicts the girls holding a hot water bottle against Mum's back and bringing her towels; an aunt arrives bearing flowers and soup; Dad holds Mum tight during contractions. Breasts and nursing and naked Mum are illustrated naturally and beautifully. Yes, the setting is rustic (as some reviewers note) but the book takes place in Australia, which probably accounts for cultural differences. Homebirthing, breastfeeding, and family-bedding folks will find content that supports these practices. My 15-month-old loves to turn to the page with a large illustration of a wrinkly, naked boy baby with the cord still attached. I plan to use this book liberally with my son when we begin preparing for his first sibling in a couple of years.

I wish this book had come out before my last homebirth! The text and illustrations evoke perfectly both the events and the emotions of a homebirth. Moments such as the mother's moaning through labor and the birthing of the baby's head are depicted and described naturally, with neither undue vagueness NOR excessive clinical detail. I also love that "mum" is shown and said to be actively birthing her baby.

My son (26 months) loves this book. He calls it "teeny tiny baby socks" because in the book the baby's socks are "so tiny they fit on my fingers" and then later when the baby wears them, they look too big. Those socks seem to be giving him a good idea of how tiny a newborn is. The other day I showed him his birth "blood guts and gore" photos, which includes one with just his head sticking out of me. There is a very similar, realistic but pastel, drawing of the Mum and baby in this book, and that night when we read the book, he pored over the picture, like he was really taking in the similarity with his birth photos. The other picture in the book that fascinated him was the one with the baby hanging from the umbilical cord (it's kind of cartoony in that the mom isn't in the picture, but really cute homebirthing newborn in its alertness). He measured his hands against the baby-in-the-picture's hands, just like we'd measured his hands against his 3-day-old handprints that we found with the birth photos. It also covers the issue of the baby getting the place "between Mum and Dad, where I would like to be" and the little boy then solving the situation by hopping into Dad's sleeping bag with him (they are all spending the baby's first night in front of the fire in the lounge).

A few people have commented the house was very rustic, but really you don't see much of the house. It is possible there is a TV and microwave out of sight (there is a phone there), and coming from a warm climate that does have winter like Australia (where the book is from), I don't think it's "rustic" to have a fire in your lounge, especially on a special occasion. In countries without central heating, you have to make a plan in winter. I think because the sleeping arrangements are so obviously for that night only, families who have separate rooms and beds as well as families who have a family bed can relate to it. Similarly, although the "garden" is shown to have loads of trees and look very homesteady, the boy talks about "everyone in town" hearing that the baby is being born.

This is a great book about a family giving birth to their fourth child at home. While I agree with the previous reviewer about the "rustic" setting being removed from what most of us are used to, I still found the book very useful. My two year old daughter loves the book and it really helped her understand what is going to happen at our upcoming birth.

The book is told from the perspective of the youngest child, a little boy, who is seeing birth for the first time. [His two older sisters got to see him born]. The language and action are very appropriate for a young child [I can imagine my daughter doing and saying the same things]. The illustrations are unusual and wonderful - different from any I've seen before, but very eye catching and interesting.

This book has been very helpful to me in preparing our daughter for the birth of her sibling. It has helped us talk about "normal" noises when mommies have babies, as well as about the mechanics of what happens. I'm very pleased that we bought this one!

I've had two homebirths and this book is an awesome illustration of what it's like. It's honest without being unnecessarily graphic but still gives you an idea of what the birth would be like. Someone said that it seemed weird that there was no electricity, but I wouldn't have noticed that if someone hadn't pointed it out. It's very well done, peaceful, and accurate. I checked a copy out of the library and then bought a copy (which I don't usually do). It's worth noting that you can get a soft cover copy with the title "Hello, baby" (same book different title) from the UK from abebooks.com for $10 instead of $40 from Amazon.

We are planning a hospital birth but after my 3yr old son asking if my baby was going to come out my belly button or nipples I knew we needed to educate him! Our midwives have a wonderful lending library and this book was in it. My son loves it and now wants to be a midwife when he grows up. :-) He is intrigued by the umbilical cord on the baby and the little clothes for baby. I don't think it is too graphic in any sense. It is just a beautiful realistic book about a natural experience. We will be buying a copy as my son was not happy when I said it had to go back to the library. I will recommend it to my friends too.