Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth

By The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective
Simon & Schuster

Reproductive health, sexuality, and fertility affect all women. Regardless of lifestyle, background, socioeconomic status, and sexual preference, these concerns touch every woman who passes through the swirling questions about her body and its ability to birth. The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective realizes this. After launching the first Our Bodies, Ourselves book over 30 years ago, the Collective has released several must-haves to complete every women’s library in her common quest for wellness and balanced decision-making.

Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth continues in the rich tradition of inclusive information written in accessible language for each woman to understand. Leaving no health stone unturned, OBOS covers every angle imaginable for women considering pregnancy and/or motherhood. From the expected topics of how to deal with backaches and ensuring sufficient iron intake to traveling while pregnant, partner consideration, and even hypnosis as a technique to deal with labor pain, the information is presented with limited medical jargon.

The book begins with the customary questions of a planned or unplanned pregnancy and how to deal with not only our own psychological, emotional, and physical reactions, but also that of partner, families, and friends. A genuinely holistic approach to health, OBOS takes the reader on a journey of considerations, options, and alternatives to find the best and most comfortable choice for each woman in respect to her individual environment.

Complete with pictures that capture the miracle of childbirth and the honest comments of diverse women that personalize the chapters, readers will find a 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 that positions itself as necessary for women in any stage of her contemplation and pregnancy.

Review by Lisa Factora-Borchers

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Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth