For over two decades, HEART & HANDS has been a beloved guide for both midwives and parents interested in the benefits of midwifery care. This all-new fourth edition has been revised from start to finish, featuring updated material that emphasizes independent midwifery, physiologic (natural) birth, and the art of nonintervention. Midwifery expert Elizabeth Davis includes valuable hints for turning breech and posterior babies, mediating pain in labor, and supporting newborn physiology. Davis also reveals the keys to postpartum recovery, with practical tips on breastfeeding for busy mothers. Comprehensive and compassionate, HEART & HANDS remains a dog-eared classic for parents, midwives, and other birthing helpers.
Elizabeth Davis's Heart and Hands, though subtitled A Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, is not just for midwives. It's an excellent and thorough resource for parents-to-be who are thinking about delivering their child with a midwife, or who are concerned about the medical establishment's over-control of birth. (Two previous editions sold more than 100,000 copies and there are nowhere near 100,000 midwives or midwifery students to buy this book, proving that parents-to-be have looked to this resource for options.)
Completely updated in the third edition, Heart and Hands is a practical guide, textbook, and reference that is both hands- and hearts-on. Davis, a long-time, well-known midwife, gives how-to details on all aspects of midwifery practice, including prenatal care, problems in pregnancy, assisting at births, labor complications (including a devastating and beautiful description of a stillbirth by midwife Shannon Anton), and caring for the entire family postpartum. Each chapter has a special section "for parents," but expectant parents can use all of Heart and Hands to get as much knowledge as possible about their upcoming experience.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Great information from a great source:

I am currently taking the Heart & Hands course offered by the author, Elizabeth Davis, who is a HUGE wealth of knowledge and has been a huge advocate for modern midwifery care in California and the USA. In contrast to most pregnancy/birth books whose target audience is the pregnant mother, Heart & Hands is a resource specifically designed for the birth-worker. The information is presented clearly and is up to date and Davis includes real-life stories of her former clients - which make the book seem... more info

Great Resource Manual:

This book was a little too in-depth for the average reader, but was excellent for practical information and training purposes. I found it worked best as a resource rather than a study item. The author was knowledgeable and communicated well.

To the person who said: More pronography then medical guidance:

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.

GREAT book:

I would recommend this book to anyone pursuing a natural birth. It helped me to understand many of the things that my midwife did, as well as to have faith in the strength of my body. Reading this before labor helped me to make it through 20 hours of back labor without even so much as an aspirin. I would highly recommend this book to parents-to-be!

Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

Binding: Health and Beauty
Published: 2004-08-09

Features:

Braun thermometer is used by more pediatricians and mothers than any other infrared brand
The safest and most accurate method of taking your child's temperature
The small and soft speculum makes it ideal for infants
Disposable lens filters virtually eliminate the risk of transferring germs