Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth

Download Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781772581355
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (813 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth by : Hannah Tait Neufeld

Download or read book Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth written by Hannah Tait Neufeld and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book makes a compelling contribution to the field of Indigenous and maternal studies. The editors have put together a powerful collection that honours the spirit of pregnancy and birth, and the strength and resilience of Indigenous women and families"--Page 4 of cover.

Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth

Download Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781772581454
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (814 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth by :

Download or read book Indigenous Experiences of Pregnancy and Birth written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional midwifery, culture, customs, understandings, and meanings surrounding pregnancy and birth are grounded in distinct epistemologies and worldviews that have sustained Indigenous women and their families since time immemorial. Years of colonization, however, have impacted the degree to which women have choice in the place and ways they carry and deliver their babies. As nations such as Canada became colonized, traditional gender roles were seen as an impediment. The forced rearrangement of these gender roles was highly disruptive to family structures. Indigenous women quickly lost the.

Indigenous Experiences of Preguancy and Birth

Download Indigenous Experiences of Preguancy and Birth PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Demeter Press
ISBN 13 : 1772581437
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (725 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Indigenous Experiences of Preguancy and Birth by : Neufield Hannah Tait

Download or read book Indigenous Experiences of Preguancy and Birth written by Neufield Hannah Tait and published by Demeter Press. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional midwifery, culture, customs, understandings, and meanings surrounding pregnancy and birth are grounded in distinct epistemologies and worldviews that have sustained Indigenous women and their families since time immemorial. Years of colonization, however, have impacted the degree to which women have choice in the place and ways they carry and deliver their babies. As nations such as Canada became colonized, traditional gender roles were seen as an impediment. The forced rearrangement of these gender roles was highly disruptive to family structures. Indigenous women quickly lost their social and legal status as being dependent on fathers and then husbands. The traditional structures of communities became replaced with colonially informed governance, which reinforced patriarchy and paternalism. The authors in this book carefully consider these historic interactions and their impacts on Indigenous women’s experiences. As the first section of the book describes, pregnancy is a time when women reflect on their bodies as a space for the development of life. Foods prepared and consumed, ceremony and other activities engaged in are no longer a focus solely for the mother, but also for the child she is carrying. Authors from a variety of places and perspectives thoughtfully express the historical along with contemporary forces positively and negatively impacting prenatal behaviours and traditional practices. Place and culture in relation to birth are explored in the second half of the book from locations in Canada such as Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Aotearoa. The reclaiming and revitalization of birthing practices along with rejuvenating forms of traditional knowledge form the foundation for exploration into these experiences from a political perspective. It is an important part of decolonization to acknowledge policies such as birth evacuation as being grounded in systemic racism. The act of returning birth to communities and revitalizing Indigenous prenatal practices are affirmation of sustained resilience and strength, instead of a one-sided process of reconciliation.

Reproduction on the Reservation

Download Reproduction on the Reservation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469653176
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Reproduction on the Reservation by : Brianna Theobald

Download or read book Reproduction on the Reservation written by Brianna Theobald and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pathbreaking book documents the transformation of reproductive practices and politics on Indian reservations from the late nineteenth century to the present, integrating a localized history of childbearing, motherhood, and activism on the Crow Reservation in Montana with an analysis of trends affecting Indigenous women more broadly. As Brianna Theobald illustrates, the federal government and local authorities have long sought to control Indigenous families and women's reproduction, using tactics such as coercive sterilization and removal of Indigenous children into the white foster care system. But Theobald examines women's resistance, showing how they have worked within families, tribal networks, and activist groups to confront these issues. Blending local and intimate family histories with the histories of broader movements such as WARN (Women of All Red Nations), Theobald links the federal government's intrusion into Indigenous women's reproductive and familial decisions to the wider history of eugenics and the reproductive rights movement. She argues convincingly that colonial politics have always been--and remain--reproductive politics. By looking deeply at one tribal nation over more than a century, Theobald offers an especially rich analysis of how Indigenous women experienced pregnancy and motherhood under evolving federal Indian policy. At the heart of this history are the Crow women who displayed creativity and fortitude in struggling for reproductive self-determination.

Ngangk Waangening

Download Ngangk Waangening PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Fremantle Press
ISBN 13 : 0645129011
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (451 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Ngangk Waangening by : Rhonda Marriot

Download or read book Ngangk Waangening written by Rhonda Marriot and published by Fremantle Press. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a unique book of Noongar and Yaatji mothers' accounts of their birthing experiences. These Elder and Senior women have generously shared their stories as a legacy for their families and communities, and as an educational tool for midwives.

Natal Signs: Cultural Representations of Preguancy, Birth and Parenting

Download Natal Signs: Cultural Representations of Preguancy, Birth and Parenting PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Demeter Press
ISBN 13 : 1772580368
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (725 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Natal Signs: Cultural Representations of Preguancy, Birth and Parenting by : Nadya Burton

Download or read book Natal Signs: Cultural Representations of Preguancy, Birth and Parenting written by Nadya Burton and published by Demeter Press. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natal Signs: Cultural Representations of Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting explores some of the ways in which reproductive experiences are taken up in the rich arena of cultural production. The chapters in this collection pose questions, unsettle assumptions, and generate broad imaginative spaces for thinking about representation of pregnancy, birth, and parenting. They demonstrate the ways in which practices of consuming and using representations carry within them the productive forces of creation. Bringing together an eclectic and vibrant range of perspectives, this collection offers readers the possibility to rethink and reimagine the diverse meanings and practices of representations of these significant life events. Engaging theoretical reflection and creative image making, the contributors explore a broad range of cultural signs with a focus on challenging authoritative representations in a manner that seeks to reveal rather than conceal the insistently problematic and contestable nature of image culture. Natal Signs gathers an exciting set of critically engaged voices to reflect on some of life’s most meaningful moments in ways that affirm natality as the renewed promise of possibility.

No Alternative

Download No Alternative PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 1477316760
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (773 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis No Alternative by : Rosalynn A. Vega

Download or read book No Alternative written by Rosalynn A. Vega and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-11-14 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent anthropological scholarship on “new midwifery” centers on how professional midwives in various countries are helping women reconnect with “nature,” teaching them to trust in their bodies, respecting women’s “choices,” and fighting for women’s right to birth as naturally as possible. In No Alternative, Rosalynn A. Vega uses ethnographic accounts of natural birth practices in Mexico to complicate these narratives about new midwifery and illuminate larger questions of female empowerment, citizenship, and the commodification of indigenous culture, by showing how alternative birth actually reinscribes traditional racial and gender hierarchies. Vega contrasts the vastly different birthing experiences of upper-class and indigenous Mexican women. Upper-class women often travel to birthing centers to be delivered by professional midwives whose methods are adopted from and represented as indigenous culture, while indigenous women from those same cultures are often forced by lack of resources to use government hospitals regardless of their preferred birthing method. Vega demonstrates that women’s empowerment, having a “choice,” is a privilege of those capable of paying for private medical services—albeit a dubious privilege, as it puts the burden of correctly producing future members of society on women’s shoulders. Vega’s research thus also reveals the limits of citizenship in a neoliberal world, as indigeneity becomes an object of consumption within a transnational racialized economy.

Outlawed

Download Outlawed PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1635575435
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (355 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Outlawed by : Anna North

Download or read book Outlawed written by Anna North and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-01-05 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK * INDIE NEXT SELECTION * LIBRARY READS SELECTION * AMAZON EDITORS' CHOICE * WASHINGTON POST BEST OF THE YEAR The "terrifying, wise, tender, and thrilling" (R.O. Kwon) adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West. In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw. The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada's life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows. She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a band of outlaws led by a preacher-turned-robber known to all as the Kid. Charismatic, grandiose, and mercurial, the Kid is determined to create a safe haven for outcast women. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan that may get them all killed. And Ada must decide whether she's willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all. Featuring an irresistibly no-nonsense, courageous, and determined heroine, Outlawed dusts off the myth of the old West and reignites the glimmering promise of the frontier with an entirely new set of feminist stakes. Anna North has crafted a pulse-racing, page-turning saga about the search for hope in the wake of death, and for truth in a climate of small-mindedness and fear.

Embodying Culture

Download Embodying Culture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780813548302
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (483 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Embodying Culture by : Tsipy Ivry

Download or read book Embodying Culture written by Tsipy Ivry and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Embodying Culture is an ethnographically grounded exploration of pregnancy in two different cultures—Japan and Israel—both of which medicalize pregnancy. Tsipy Ivry focuses on "low-risk" or "normal" pregnancies, using cultural comparison to explore the complex relations among ethnic ideas about procreation, local reproductive politics, medical models of pregnancy care, and local modes of maternal agency. The ethnography pieces together the voices of pregnant Japanese and Israeli women, their doctors, their partners, the literature they read, and depicts various clinical encounters such as ultrasound scans, explanatory classes for amniocentesis, birthing classes, and special pregnancy events. The emergent pictures suggest that athough experiences of pregnancy in Japan and Israel differ, pregnancy in both cultures is an energy-consuming project of meaning-making— suggesting that the sense of biomedical technologies are not only in the technologies themselves but are assigned by those who practice and experience them.

Birthing Justice

Download Birthing Justice PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317277201
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (172 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Birthing Justice by : Julia Chinyere Oparah

Download or read book Birthing Justice written by Julia Chinyere Oparah and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a global crisis in maternal health care for black women. In the United States, black women are over three times more likely to perish from pregnancy-related complications than white women; their babies are half as likely to survive the first year. Many black women experience policing, coercion, and disempowerment during pregnancy and childbirth and are disconnected from alternative birthing traditions. This book places black women's voices at the center of the debate on what should be done to fix the broken maternity system and foregrounds black women's agency in the emerging birth justice movement. Mixing scholarly, activist, and personal perspectives, the book shows readers how they too can change lives, one birth at a time.

Birth Settings in America

Download Birth Settings in America PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309669820
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (96 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Birth Settings in America by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Download or read book Birth Settings in America written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and Native American women. There are a variety of factors that influence childbirth, including social determinants such as income, educational levels, access to care, financing, transportation, structural racism and geographic variability in birth settings. It is important to reevaluate the United States' approach to maternal and newborn care through the lens of these factors across multiple disciplines. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings.

Spiritual Pregnancy

Download Spiritual Pregnancy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN 13 : 0738735515
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (387 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Spiritual Pregnancy by : Shawn A. Tassone

Download or read book Spiritual Pregnancy written by Shawn A. Tassone and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow the Hero’s Journey from Pregnancy to Motherhood Filled with unique insights into the spiritual nature of pregnancy, this compassionate guide takes you, the expectant mother, and your loved ones along a “hero’s journey” of discovery. Each trimester correlates to a stage of the epic journey where emotional, spiritual, and physical connections heighten your awareness of yourself and your unborn child. Through these stages, the mundane and everyday are elevated to the sublime and transformative. With their extensive training and experience in allopathic wellness and integrative medicine, Shawn A. Tassone and Kathryn M. Landherr have created a book full of guided meditations, journaling exercises, and spiritual traditions from a variety of cultures. Spiritual Pregnancy also includes yoga postures created by popular doula and pregnant-fit yoga instructor Jennifer (Wolfe) More for specific times throughout pregnancy. Praise: "Spiritual Pregnancy presents birth as the spiritual initiation it truly is. I highly recommend this deeply moving book."—Christiane Northrup, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause “. . . the information shared by the authors will show future mothers how to unify the two lives within them during pregnancy.”—Bernie Siegel, MD, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles “Spiritual Pregnancy is the best guide I know on developing, nourishing, and sustaining [the mother-infant bond].”—Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words “Expert integrative obstetricians, [the authors] guide you through the traditions of the ancients, and illuminate the vibrant path to your own heroine’s journey.” —Victoria Maizes, MD, Executive Director of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine “From the practical to the profound, I'm confident you will find what you are looking for within this book's pages. I highly recommend it.”—Tieraona Low Dog, MD, Fellowship Director at University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine “Spiritual Pregnancy does an incredible job at marrying the physical and the spiritual . . . It will be a great resource to anyone having a baby and it makes me proud to be an ob-gyn.” — Jeniffer Ashton, MD, leading medical correspondent for ABC and ob-gyn physician

Life Stages and Native Women

Download Life Stages and Native Women PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Univ. of Manitoba Press
ISBN 13 : 0887554164
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (875 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Life Stages and Native Women by : Kim Anderson

Download or read book Life Stages and Native Women written by Kim Anderson and published by Univ. of Manitoba Press. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rare and inspiring guide to the health and well-being of Aboriginal women and their communities.The process of “digging up medicines” - of rediscovering the stories of the past - serves as a powerful healing force in the decolonization and recovery of Aboriginal communities. In Life Stages and Native Women, Kim Anderson shares the teachings of fourteen elders from the Canadian prairies and Ontario to illustrate how different life stages were experienced by Metis, Cree, and Anishinaabe girls and women during the mid-twentieth century. These elders relate stories about their own lives, the experiences of girls and women of their childhood communities, and customs related to pregnancy, birth, post-natal care, infant and child care, puberty rites, gender and age-specific work roles, the distinct roles of post-menopausal women, and women’s roles in managing death. Through these teachings, we learn how evolving responsibilities from infancy to adulthood shaped women’s identities and place within Indigenous society, and were integral to the health and well-being of their communities. By understanding how healthy communities were created in the past, Anderson explains how this traditional knowledge can be applied toward rebuilding healthy Indigenous communities today.

Unassisted Childbirth

Download Unassisted Childbirth PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313397163
Total Pages : 185 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (133 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Unassisted Childbirth by : Laura Kaplan Shanley

Download or read book Unassisted Childbirth written by Laura Kaplan Shanley and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-02-22 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reveals how giving birth is an inherently safe, relatively painless process that is best performed without the assistance of doctors or midwives, and how confidence and a positive attitude reduces fear—and therefore the pain—of labor. According to Laura Kaplan Shanley, a renowned leader in the natural-birth movement, human birth is inherently safe and relatively painless—provided we refrain from physical or psychological interference. The problems often associated with birth can be traced to three main factors: poverty, unnecessary medical intervention, and fear. When these causes are eliminated, most women can give birth either alone or with the help of a partner, friends, or family. This second edition of Unassisted Childbirth leads with a history of childbirth and then describes how most deliveries occur today, detailing why these processes don't serve mothers or babies. The information in this unique book gives women yet another legitimate choice in childbirth that doesn't rely on doctors and technology, and allows parents, birth professionals, and general readers to reexamine their most basic ideas about birth and learn to think in new ways.

Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America

Download Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9783030100704
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America by : David A. Schwartz

Download or read book Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America written by David A. Schwartz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ambitious sourcebook surveys both the traditional basis for and the present state of indigenous women’s reproductive health in Mexico and Central America. Noted practitioners, specialists, and researchers take an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the multiple barriers for access and care to indigenous women that had been complicated by longstanding gender inequities, poverty, stigmatization, lack of education, war, obstetrical violence, and differences in language and customs, all of which contribute to unnecessary maternal morbidity and mortality. Emphasis is placed on indigenous cultures and folkways—from traditional midwives and birth attendants to indigenous botanical medication and traditional healing and spiritual practices—and how they may effectively coexist with modern biomedical care. Throughout these chapters, the main theme is clear: the rights of indigenous women to culturally respective reproductive health care and a successful pregnancy leading to the birth of healthy children. A sampling of the topics: Motherhood and modernization in a Yucatec village Maternal morbidity and mortality in Honduran Miskito communities Solitary birth and maternal mortality among the Rarámuri of Northern Mexico Maternal morbidity and mortality in the rural Trifino region of Guatemala The traditional Ngäbe-Buglé midwives of Panama Characterizations of maternal death among Mayan women in Yucatan, Mexico Unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and unmet need in Guatemala Maternal Death and Pregnancy-Related Morbidity Among Indigenous Women of Mexico and Central America is designed for anthropologists and other social scientists, physicians, nurses and midwives, public health specialists, epidemiologists, global health workers, international aid organizations and NGOs, governmental agencies, administrators, policy-makers, and others involved in the planning and implementation of maternal and reproductive health care of indigenous women in Mexico and Central America, and possibly other geographical areas.

Childbirth Across Cultures

Download Childbirth Across Cultures PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9048125995
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (481 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Childbirth Across Cultures by : Helaine Selin

Download or read book Childbirth Across Cultures written by Helaine Selin and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-12-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will explore the childbirth process through globally diverse perspectives in order to offer a broader context with which to think about birth. We will address multiple rituals and management models surrounding the labor and birth process from communities across the globe. Labor and birth are biocultural events that are managed in countless ways. We are particularly interested in the notion of power. Who controls the pregnancy and the birth? Is it the hospital, the doctor, or the in-laws, and in which cultures does the mother have the control? These decisions, regarding place of birth, position, who receives the baby and even how the mother may or may not behave during the actual delivery, are all part of the different ways that birth is conducted. One chapter of the book will be devoted to midwives and other birth attendants. There will also be chapters on the Evolution of Birth, on Women’s Birth Narratives, and on Child Spacing and Breastfeeding. This book will bring together global research conducted by professional anthropologists, midwives and doctors who work closely with the individuals from the cultures they are writing about, offering a unique perspective direct from the cultural group.

Why Did No One Tell Me This?

Download Why Did No One Tell Me This? PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Running Press Adult
ISBN 13 : 0762495677
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (624 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Why Did No One Tell Me This? by : Natalia Hailes

Download or read book Why Did No One Tell Me This? written by Natalia Hailes and published by Running Press Adult. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full of honest advice and inclusive options, Why Did No One Tell Me This? is the funny, personality-filled, illustrated guide to pregnancy, birth, and beyond that modern parents have been waiting for. Pregnancy and childbirth are full of big questions -- what if my baby is enormous? Will my water break naturally? What even goes into a 'birth plan'? How on earth am I going to keep this child alive once it's here? And where do I turn for advice that will really work for me and my life? In Why Did No One Tell Me This? doulas and reproductive health experts Natalia Hailes and Ash Spivak answer these questions and more for today's wellness-focused, intersectional parents-to-be. Drawing on years of experience in their birth doula practice Brilliant Bodies, Natalia and Ash guide readers through the entire process, from the earliest stages of pregnancy to the jungle of postpartum feelings and responsibilities. Bite-sized pieces of advice are interspersed with vibrant illustrations by artist Louise Reimer to break down the doubts and fears that often surround childbirth, empowering readers to explore their own individual needs, know their rights, and find their voice both during and after pregnancy. By addressing common fears, incorporating regular tips for partners, and providing information on a wide array of birth and parents styles, this unique and inclusive guide is the perfect tool for a new generation of parents.