Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this book based on the glowing reviews. As a first time mom-to-be I was excited to learn all I could. While I knew I would be having a hospital birth I thought I could still learn a lot. Instead, this book absolutely terrified me for what was to come. I "learned" that hospitals give you episotomies, mandatory IVs and monitors which leave you immobile, enemas, shave you, don't let you eat or drink anything, and push everyone toward epidurals and c-sections. I was so scared for my baby's birth day, because I didn't want ANY of that! And then I took a class run by the hospital and learned that while this may have been true in the 70's and 80's, they DON'T do ANY of these things anymore. The hospital also supports delayed cord clamping for the baby (this is the norm now, not something you even have to ask for), immediate skin to skin contact, delayed bathing (unless you ASK for your baby to be washed right away), breastfeeding, and rooming in with the baby is the norm- my hospital doesn't even HAVE a nursery. They have birthing balls, peanut balls, squat bars, water birth tubs, and even twinkle (Christmas) lights if you ask. They happily work with doulas and midwives. I spent a whole month needlessly terrified for what was to come thanks to this stupid book, thinking all these things were only available on some farm community I could never attend, and instead I was going to be almost tortured in a hospital. If you want to be hopelessly misinformed then this is the book for you. Otherwise, don't read it.