The Second Stage Handbook

Jan Tritten, editor

[2003, Eugene, Oregon; Midwifery Today, Inc., 72 pages, saddle stitch booklet. See pricing.]

[Review first published in Midwifery Today Issue 69, Spring 2004, © 2004, Midwifery Today, Inc. Review by Cher Mikkola.]

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Midwifery Today has again reached into its vast storehouse of accumulated knowledge and added a third book to its Holistic Clinical Series. Drawing upon articles from back issues, editor Jan Tritten has gathered "exactly what I wanted for my birthkit when I was actively practicing." We find 21 essays about myriad aspects of second stage, including pushing for primips, second stage in home versus hospital, the medicalization of second stage and insights about pushing. Noted authors such as Gloria Lemay, Michel Odent, Robin Lim, Judy Edmunds and Marion Toepke McLean offer both practitioners and birthing mothers everything from hands-on help for physiological circumstances to birth stories to the philosophical underpinnings of birth itself. Sprinkled generously throughout are highlighted tips and techniques drawn from the magazine's "Tricks of the Trade" column, birth photos and helpful line drawings.

Practitioners will never tire of this kind of handbook. They can read it while they "birth sit" to reinvigorate their understanding of the culmination of labor and to inspire the hours to come. They can loan it to their women to help them understand every aspect of this most important passage. And they can share it with their apprentices to help them gain a well-rounded appreciation for all the facets of this exquisitely orchestrated miracle: birth itself.

Reviewer Cher Mikkola is a contributing editor at Midwifery Today magazine, the editor of Midwifery Today E-News, and a freelance writer, editor and proofreader who specializes in the field of birth.

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