[REVIEW] Birth Partner Handbook

With my daughter being mere weeks, hopefully, away I appreciate one whole text being devoted to the birth process. I have read many books on the subject of pregnancy as a whole and I think I am more worried and confused about the next few weeks than I was for the other 38 prior. With the Birth Partner Handbook, Carl Jones helped put my mind at ease with this work and I appreciated the effort.

Birth on average is a staggeringly long process on average, “For a first baby, the average length of the first stage of labour is 12 to 14 hours, the second stage 1 to 2 hours and the third stage 5 to 60 minutes.” (Palmer, 2000) This was a daunting precipice to stare at the beginning of our pregnancy. As someone who struggles with paying attention and staying on task for mere minutes, 18 hours seemed insurmountable. I really enjoyed the text breaking up this process into small steps and making it comprehensible to my overwhelmed brain.

My detractions would be the overall length and lacks of diagrams/tables are not helpful in trying to keep my attention. I know it is a trite complaint to say that there are not enough pictures, but I would have appreciated tables or graphs that help organize the suggestions fn the author into a more visual representation considering the whole book is over 200 pages.

Those detractions aside, I enjoyed the work as a whole and recommend it for the essential library of every expectant father. Should it be the only book you read for the subject of pregnancy? No, definitely not. I also understand this was not the intention of the text and I do recommend other texts from my earlier reviews if you are looking for a “one and done” book on the subject. I like to think of the Birth Partner Handbook as a great supplement for a murky stand alone subject of labor and delivery.

The opinions expressed are those of the author, who received no compensation other than the complimentary copy of the title reviewed.

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