Rachel Gurevich - Birth Plans For Dummies

Birth Plans For Dummies

by Rachel Gurevich and Sharon Perkins, RN

Birth Plans For Dummies

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Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012949503

ISBN 978-1-118-31737-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-43209-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-43213-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-43212-9 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Rachel Gurevich is a freelance health writer and author, most notably of The Doula Advantage: Your Complete Guide to Having an Empowered and Positive Birth with the Help of a Professional Childbirth Assistant (Three Rivers Press, 2003). Rachel also writes about fertility for About.com, a New York Times Company. Originally from the United States, she currently lives in Israel with her husband and four children, including a set of twins. With three very different births under her belt a plan-gone-wrong birth, an amazing natural childbirth, and an unwanted but very necessary cesarean-section birth she understands not only the importance of birth preparation and planning but also the need for flexibility and the difficulty in facing disappointing births. Her website is www.rachelgurevich.com .

Sharon Perkins has been an RN for over 25 years, mostly in maternal-child health, and has seen more than her fair share of birth plans. She has also spent her fair share of time on the maternity floor, both while at work and while having five children, although one arrived via plane from Korea. She lives in New Jersey but visits Disney World frequently and loves spending time with her three grandchildren more than just about anything on earth. She has written seven other For Dummies books and is still grateful to her very first acquisitions editor for taking a chance on her and coauthor Jackie Thompson over a decade ago.

Dedication

From Rachel: This book is for my mother, Iris Bollinger, and my grandmothers, Blossom Mendlowitz and Jean Bollinger, whose labors never included birthing balls or birth plans, and for the women of their generations, whose lack of birth choices led to a birth revolution and a reclamation of the birthing experience.

From Sharon: I dedicate this book to all the nurses and midwives working with women in labor to help them have the best birth experience possible. There is no better job on earth than helping a couple become a family.

Authors Acknowledgments

From Rachel: I feel honored to have had the privilege to work on this book, on a topic so dear to my heart. I want to thank agent Lauren Ruth, for bringing the project to me, and the entire team at Wiley most especially acquisitions editor Erin Calligan Mooney, project editor Elizabeth Rea, copy editors Caitie Copple and Amanda Langferman, and technical reviewer Penny Lane for making this book the best it can be. A very special thanks to Sharon Perkins, my coauthor, who was an excellent book doula as I dived into the writing of a For Dummies book. I never imagined writing a book with a coauthor could be so much fun, and maybe well meet one day in Disney World so we can laugh together, in person!

Writing a book with 2-year-old twins underfoot isnt easy, and I owe thanks to those who supported me, including Jessica A. Naiditch, Dawn Zuckerman, Rachel Rabinowitz, Lindsey S. Daniels, and Tamar Gross. Id also like to acknowledge the hundreds of women (and a number of men) the mothers, fathers, and childbirth professionals who have shared their stories and wisdom with me over the years. I also must thank my children, for providing so much material to draw upon, and most especially thanks to my big kids, Menachem and Eliezer, for helping so much with the twins. Last but not least, I thank my husband Eli, for encouraging me to take on the project and giving up almost all his free time to watch the kids so I could have time to write.