Table of Contents
Hello! Start Here 1
Dear Readers 1
What Is a Doula Anyway? 3
Setting the Foundation 5
Part 1 Drowning Out the Noise and Learning to Listen to You 7
Tuning In: Learning to Listen to You 12
Let That Baby Guide You 15
What Is Your Body Telling You?! 17
Go with Your Gut: #ThisIsHowIWasBorn 22
Your Emotions Are Telling You Important Shit 24
The Soundtrack in Your Head 28
Getting Support: Setting the Record Straight (WTF?!) 34
Getting Support: Building Your Squad 41
Getting Support: Working through Those Extra Blocks for LGBTQ+ Folks 43
Putting It All Together: This Is Your Birthday Party. You're the Boss 49
Part 2 This is Why You're Boss: The Crazy Cool Shit Your Body Can Do 53
Your Body Has Been Prepping for This from the Beginning 55
This Is How You Grow a Baby: New Ways to Think about Your Changing Body 58
Meet Your Hormones 62
Welcome to Your Baby's Home-That You Freakin' Made from Scratch! 69
The Uterus Part 1: Oh How it Grows (and Shrinks!) 73
The Uterus Part 2: Demystifying Those Contractions 75
The Almighty Cervix 80
The Pelvis Part 1: A Pelvis like Elvis 82
The Pelvis Part 2: I Have a What?! Discover Your Pelvic Floor 85
Got Milk 88
Don't Forget Your Baby: It Takes Two 92
Part 3 The Perenatal What-IFS 97
What If … I Don't Get the Birth I Want? 98
What If … I Stay Pregnant Forever? 101
What If … I'm Told I Need to Be Induced? 103
What If … My Water Breaks on My Boss's Shoe? 108
What If … I Give Birth in the Car? 112
What If … My Baby Is Too Big? 115
What If … My Labor Stalls? 118
What If … I Have Back Labor? 121
What If … I Have a 72-Hour Labor? 125
What If … It Hurts Like Hell? 131
What If … I Have to Transfer? 134
What If … The "Cascade of Interventions" Happens to Me? 136
What If … I'm Told I Need a C-Section? 141
What If … I Poop Myself While Pushing? 146
What If … My Vagina Tears Open? 147
What If … Something Goes Wrong? 152
Part 4 The Postpartum What-IFS 155
What If … I Can't Stand My In-Laws? 156
What If … I Lose Myself? 158
What If … I End Up with a Saggy Chest, a Pooch, and a Stretched-Out Vag Forever? 162
What If … I Don't Have Enough Milk? 165
What If … I Irreversibly Mess Up My Baby? 171
What If … I Never Sleep Again? 176
What If … My Baby Never Stops Crying? 179
What If … I Get Postpartum Depression? 181
What If … I Never Want to Have Sex Again? 185
What If … I Don't Feel Ready to Go Back to Work? 189
Part 5 Your Tools to Return to 193
Can Your Birth Place and Care Providers Actually Give You What You Need? 194
Building Your Dream Team 199
Rethinking Stages of Labor 203
Cheat Sheet: Coping with Labor 212
Positions to Open the Pelvis (Prepping for and during Labor) 218
Resting Positions (In Labor) 223
Top Tips for an Epidural 224
Top Tips for Breast/Chest-Feeding 228
Top Tips for Your Postpartum Body 232
Don't Freak Out If…: Quelling Your Postpartum Concerns 236
Don't Freak Out If…: Weird Baby Stuff That's Totally Normal 237
Partners, Read This Page 240
We'll Leave You with This…
Birth as a Life Metaphor: Your Own Power as Creator 245
Acknowledgments 247
Resources 248
Citations 251
Index 260
