Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth

Reviews

BIRTH
December 2008
"... celebrates and  validates the wide range of experiences that make up the journey to motherhood ... informative and accessible ... a pleasure to read."

Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health
September/October 2008
"… an outstanding resource for pregnant women and new mothers…. It should be in every
midwife’s lending library and on every list of recommended reading for pregnancy and birth….
its authors’ respect and compassion for the realities of women’s lives shines through on every page." 

Citizens for Midwifery News
Spring 2008
"Many women view the book Our Bodies, Ourselves as an essential women’s health resource and also as a radically transformative influence in their lives. New this year from the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective is a confident volume specifically about pregnancy and birth. I hope Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth will become to pregnant women what the original book has been to women’s health and empowerment..."  Read more.

Feminist Review
April 4, 2008
"Complete with pictures that capture the miracle of childbirth and the honest comments of diverse women that personalize the chapters, readers will find a lot more than information in this book... Readers will turn the last page with a deep sense of trust and gratitude to the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective for their latest installment..."  Read more.

Publishers Weekly: Web Exclusive Reviews
March 17, 2008
"This book will help women make confident and informed choices about the birth process as they negotiate the healthcare system and balance their options… This comprehensive guide is sure to take its rightful place among its sister titles, empowering a new generation of expectant mothers."  Read more. 

Citizens for Midwifery blog
March 15, 2008
"This book would be an excellent addition to the library of most pregnant women… It goes beyond the scope of most basic pregnancy books though in its willingness to address important, though uncomfortable, topics such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, depression during pregnancy, HIV, STDS, & substance abuse that are often neglected or ignored in other books."  Read more.

Library Journal Reviews
January 15, 2008
“…includes current information on making health-care decisions (e.g., choosing a provider and a birth setting), nutrition, labor and delivery, Cesarean birth, recovery, feeding an infant, and life as a new mother…. The information goes beyond the usual pregnancy self-help material by placing childbearing and parenting within a psychosocial and political context…. a superlative guide…”

Advance praise

"Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth contains a treasure trove of information you won't find in other books on pregnancy and birth.  The advice is balanced, honest, medically up-to-date and beautifully presented.   If you read only one book in preparing to deliver your new baby, this should be it.
-- Sandra Blakeslee - co-author of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own.

"As a new mother myself, I appreciated all the scientific evidence that was used to back up recommendations or to question standard practices. And yet this book manages to be a smart, readable guide that is not preachy -- a rarity for pregnancy books."
 -- Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born
   
"The trusted Boston Women's Health Book Collective has written a comprehensive, accessible, and up-to-date book for expectant mothers. It balances important facts, scientific data, and evidence with the voice of the "wise woman"; and it provides questions to ask, issues to think about, and options to consider and discuss. This is the #1 book I am going to recommend to my patients."  
 --  Timothy R B Johnson MD FACOG, Bates Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Women's Studies, University of Michigan

"Once again, OBOS is the voice of reason and sound evidence in what has become a fear-based culture of childbirth in America, where medical technologies abound but often increase risks to mothers and babies unnecessarily.  This book is an essential resource for women who want to make informed decisions about who will attend them at birth, where they give birth,  and how they will manage the pain of labor."
 -- Lorrie Kaplan, Executive Director, The American College of Nurse-Midwives

"Too much current maternity care overuses technological and surgical interventions in normal pregnancies, often detracting from the joy and optimal mother and baby outcomes that are possible. This book is a clarion call for more sanity in our maternity care system."
 -- Charles S. Mahan, MD, FACOG and Professor Emeritus of Public Health and Obstetrics and Gynecology, USF, Tampa

Other Media Coverage

Line One: Women’s Health
KSKA Public Radio (NPR) interview with Judy Norsigian
May 4, 2009 

Library Journal
Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth is listed as one of the best consumer health books for 2008.
January 1, 2009

Women's Health Activist
Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth
November/December 2008

BIRTH
"Encouraging Women to Consider a Less Medicalized Approach to Childbirth Without Turning Them Off: Challenges to Producing Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth" 
Sept. 2008 

Feministing
Interview with Judy Norsigian on pregnancy and birth
May 10, 2008

A letter of endorsement from Dr. Timothy R.B. Johnson, chief of ob-gyn at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor (view as .pdf)

The Oregonian
Women's health remains a career 40 years after book
April 23, 2008

The Daily Pennsylvanian
A new approach to birthing practices and maternal care
April 22, 2008

The 10! Show (NBC Affiliate/ Philadelphia)
TV clip with Judy Norsigian
April 22, 2008

Your Call: The State of Women's Health
A NPR radio interview with Judy Norsigian
April 8, 2008

ABC News in Chicago
Brief interview with Judy Norsigian
April 7, 2008