Book Review: The Natural Pregnancy Book: Herbs, Nutrition, and Other Holistic Choices
“I can’t imagine practicing midwifery without this book.” –Mindy Cash (my botanicals teacher)
I am so glad to add this book to my library, both as a reference to myself in providing care for pregnant mamas, and as a book I can recommend wholeheartedly to any mother who wants to know how to care for herself holistically during pregnancy.
This book approaches pregnancy as a normal part of life, not something that must be treated, monitored, and feared. It is a part of a woman’s life that brings an opportunity for deep reflection and for a heightened sense of creativity and insight.
True to a midwifery model of care, after discussing pregnancy from a societal expectations viewpoint the author dives right into nutrition. Not the “watch your weight, young lady” that one hears from the medical establishment, but a “make sure to eat plenty of good, wholesome food” whole-person kind of way. How you eat and how you view your body does make a difference in your baby’s formation, as much as any way that you treat yourself has an effect on your baby. And this does not stop when the baby is born; one of the best gifts we can give our children is treating ourselves well, seeing ourselves as worthy to be treated well.
A whole chapter is dedicated to discussing what herbs are wonderful for pregnancy, which are potentially harmful, and when you might consider using herbs. In another chapter, pregnancy discomforts are discussed in detail, and herbs are given as remedies for each of these. However, they are not seen as the primary way to deal with the discomforts; rather, the author points out ways that one could change her lifestyle in order to alleviate these problems, including diet changes. Herbs are a part of the big picture, but are not used in a medical way, of just throwing a remedy at the problem to try and make it go away. Herbs are also integrated into the diet, as well as other helpful foods.
More than just a pregnancy book, this book incorporates ideas of feminism and worth of women in their own right. A feminine spirituality is discussed and even encouraged. Birth as a female right of passage, the ultimate in creativity, is celebrated. This book encourages us to love our selves, our bodies, our way of being. If it has a fault, it is that it is probably a little too “woo-woo” for many, taking great stock in dreams and such, believing they can tell us exactly what we need to hear if we listen. Which, really, they can, because listening to dreams is listening to our own selves. I love the section on Blessingways, and hope to incorporate them into my practice.
Actually, I have one more small quibble with this author. She goes a long way out from most pregnancy authors, in acknowledging that she understands that not all families are traditional, and that she is conscious of the fact that she always uses “he” when referring to the mother’s partner. However, I think it is somewhat of a cop-out to realize this, and beg off from further exploring the topic with the explanation that she just doesn’t have much experience with lesbian moms. I wonder how much more work it would have taken to do a little research into the subject and to address those needs, either separately or integrated into the text? There are so few pregnancy books that even acknowledge this phenomenon, and I would really like to see her thoughtfulness extended to the gay community. This could be done in the same simple way as she addresses the baby: he or she, or simply writing “partner” to avoid pronouns.
Even with those small considerations, I found this to be the most helpful book for pregnancy I’ve read. It didn’t have any pictures of what the fetus looks like at any given stage, but it does address what the mother will feel and experience at any given stage. There are lots of resources for seeing what is happening with the baby, but precious few discussing the mother’s experience except to acknowledge pregnancy discomforts without giving any idea about what to do about them. For all these reasons, this book will be on my main bookshelf and I will refer to it often in my midwifery practice.
