The Miracle of Birth

Each page of this book has the same illustration of a woman, with half of her torso (later her entire torso) cut out and replaced with acetate. The acetate shows the inside of her body, so the reader can see her organs change as the baby develops. This is a "just the facts" approach to pregnancy and childbirth, but it is clear and matter-of-fact. The act of sex is described briefly, in the context of the fertilization of the egg. I've used this book with children as young as two, but I edit the content to fit their age. As they ask more questions, I include more information. The illustrations particularly help a young child understand what is going on as a pregnant mother's belly grows larger. This helped me explain, for instance, why I was short of breath and unable to exert myself as much as I had in the past. The book describes a natural childbirth, assisted by either a midwife or doctor. It refers to breastfeeding and mentions that formula can never duplicate breastmilk exactly. The different terms for a growing baby (fetus, embryo) are used in the appropriate parts of the book, but the baby is also referred to as a baby throughout the book.

This book is recommended in the forward by Dr. Beth W. Lieberman "for all readers, both young and old."There are 17 vividly illustrated pages which include all of the important, relevant facts in the most precise, succinct way I've EVER read. Simply stated, if you are pregnant or even curious about the birth process, you MUST have this book! If every book was written as well as this one I'd read at least 2-5 a day!Here is a great quote from the 1st chapter which sets the tone:THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH: "Every 55 minutes 10,000 babies are born all over the world. Many hundreds are being born right now as you read this book! What is even more amazing is that every one of those babies is different... But no matter how and where each child is born, to the parents, each one is a miracle."The chapters include: 1) THE MIRACLE OF BIRTH 2) THE FEMALE BODY 3) THE BREASTS 4) MIGHTY MUSCLES 5) THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM 6) A NEW LIFE BEGINS 7) THE EARLY WEEKS (2-4 WEEKS) 8) THE BABY'S LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEM (4-8 WEEKS) 9) THE PLACENTA (8-12 WEEKS) 10) ULTRASOUND SCANS (12-20 WEEKS) 11) WHAT DOES A FETUS DO ALL DAY? (20-24 WEEKS) 12) THE LUNGS (24-28 WEEKS) 13) THE FINAL WEEKS (28-40 WEEKS) 14) LABOR 15) THE NEWBORN BABY.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK! When I got pregnant with Kaitlyn I was so fascinated by the birth process and pregnancy in general that I bought at least 10 books and THIS ONE was the BEST. As an added bonus, when she gets older I can use this book to explain to her how she grew inside me and was born!