Tony Lawson, Joan Garrod, Ian Marcousé

Praise for the 1st edition: 'A well written and powerful book which is a must for midwives, mothers and the medical profession. Denis Walsh eloquently exposes the faults and failures in our current provision of maternity services and offers alternatives that challenge the orthodoxy of the biomedical model.' - Professor Paul Lewis, Academic Head of Midwifery and Child Health, Bournemouth University, UK 'This scholarly, readable book provides a springboard for practitioners to jump into the deep pool of their own and their client's experiences...Throughout, this book celebrates the dignity of childbearing women, emphasizing their need for kind, respectful, and compassionate care.' - Jane Pincus, Birth, September 2008 'In his multi-faceted book Denis Walsh explores research-based evidence about birth, examining practices in the orthodox medical method and empirically-based and more adventurous midwifery practice. He raises the questions that need to be asked about the medical management of birth, and considers ways in which it might be changed to focus instead on women's needs and spontaneous psycho-physiological processes. Denis Walsh stimulates creative thinking...he is essential reading for all student midwives.' - Sheila Kitzinger, birth activist Praise for the 2nd edition: 'I believe that this book will be of great help to students and practising midwives, and open the way to deeper awareness of their role in helping women in childbirth with quiet, continuous, personal support without directing, dogmatising, yelling 'Push!' or other potentially harmful interventions... This book points the way to the future.' - Sheila Kitzinger, birth activist. 'Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It brings the evidence together beautifully and simultaneously offers a great starting point for readers who are new to the area and a useful updating tool for those who have been around longer. The tone is friendly while incorporating an appropriate level of academic debate, and the book will inform, educate and challenge readers to think about care during labour and birth from a woman-centred and physiologically based perspective rather than a medicalised one.' - Sara Wickham, Editor, Essentially MIDIRS, 2012

• Chapter 1 A; Chapter 2 B; Chapter 3 C; Chapter 4 D; Chapter 5 E; Chapter 6 F; Chapter 7 G; Chapter 8 H; Chapter 9 I; Chapter 10 J; Chapter 11 K; Chapter 12 L; Chapter 13 M; Chapter 14 N; Chapter 15 O; Chapter 16 P; Chapter 17 Q; Chapter 18 R; Chapter 19 S; Chapter 20 T; Chapter 21 U; Chapter 22 V; Chapter 23 W, X, Y, Z;