Introduction

PART 1 – PREPARATION

CHAPTER ONE - AWARENESS

Providing Care
Cultivating Attention
Respect and Relationship
Empathy and Compassion
Judgement and Tolerance
Boundaries
Negotiation
Helping - Offering or Imposing?
Beginner’s Mind

CHAPTER TWO - COMMUNICATION

Hello There!
The Heart Of Listening
The Art of Positive Language
Cliché Awareness
Feeling the Rhythm
The Language of Touch
When and How to Touch?
Touching Vaginas
Inviting Connection with the Baby
Trusting Instinct and Self Knowledge

CHAPTER THREE - THE MIDDLE WAY

The Middle Way
Finding Balance
Equanimity
Under-involved or Over-involved?
'I Am and I Work as...'
Managing Stress
Care for the Care-provider
Running on Empty

CHAPTER FOUR - RELATIONSHIP

Energetics of Relationship in Birth
Dipping In and Out of the Birth Milieu
Holding the Space
Transference
Group Dynamics
Teamwork
Conflict
Exploring Edges

PART 2 – BIRTHING

CHAPTER FIVE - WORKING WITH LABOUR

Intuition
Instinct and Obstruction
Pain, Suffering and Distress
Focus and Connection Through Labour
Breathing for Birth
Directed Sound
Dynamic Anatomy in Labour
Freeing Up Stuck-ness
Working with Anxiety and Fear
Working with Overwhelm and Panic
Working with Exhaustion and Despondency
Shock and Trauma

CHAPTER SIX - THE BIRTHING JOURNEY

Transformation
Richness and Adversity
Stresses and Stretches of Childbearing
Unhappiness and Depression
Body Structure, Cellular Memory, and Inherited Attitude
The Legacy of Abuse
What About Death and Disability?
Sharing the Story
Respectful Goodbyes

PART 3 – THE BIGGER PICTURE

CHAPTER SEVEN - THE BIRTHING FIELD

Safety For Who?
How Informed?
Whose Responsibility?
Comfort and Familiarity
Birth Culture
The Medical Model Meets Natural Birth
Crossing Cultural Paradigms

CHAPTER EIGHT - THE WHOLE PICTURE

Holism
Spiritual Birthwork
Birth is Sacred
Accepting the Mystery
Loving Presence

PART 4 – FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Bodywork
Vaginal Exploration And Preparation
Letting Down in the Pelvis
The Sacrum
Useful Remedies
Working with Water
Nurturing Breastfeeding
Fields of Care
Sources