Creating Your Birth Plan: The Definitive Guide to a Safe and Empowering Birth
by Marsden Wagner, MD, MS

[2006, New York: Penguin Group, 270 pages, paperback.]

[Review first published in Midwifery Today Issue 80, Winter 2006, © 2006, Midwifery Today, Inc. Review by Cheryl K. Smith.]

Don’t let the title of this book fool you into thinking that it covers only a narrow subject: It gives women all of the information they need to develop a birth plan—by explaining what their choices are from pre-pregnancy through postpartum. Dr. Wagner provides pros and cons for various birth choices, and unlike many pregnancy books, gives midwives their due. I highly recommend this book for any woman who is considering having a baby; it will tell her exactly what to expect in a hospital, at a birth center or at home, what questions to ask and how to be an active partner in the many decisions that come up during childbirth.

Reviewer Cheryl K. Smith bio