First of all, I’m not pregnant. Just want to clear that up from the beginning.
I have, however, been pregnant on at least 3 occasions, and pregnancy and birth are simply a marvel. I think the birth process is teeming with symbolism about the Savior, and bringing life into the world can be an extremely sacred experience.
This post is a stop on the Virtual Book Tour for The Gift of Giving Life.
A few women I know and respect have contributed to this new book, “The Gift of Giving Life.” It is very thorough collection of essays from women who address pregnancy, birth, delivery, post-birth, and nursing from a uniquely LDS perspective.
It is a large book with a lot of essays and shared experiences. Many of them brought me to tears– some for joy, some for pain. I think the book does a good job of addressing the many different kinds of birth experiences (from home births to scheduled C-sections), but because birth decisions are so personal, it’s always hard to write or read about them without being tainted by one’s own personal experience and preferences. (Personally, I think we should all let each other handle birth and pregnancy and parenting in general in ways that trust one another’s motherly instincts, personalities, and preferences and spend less time trying to convince each other of why our way of doing things is the best way. Moms do the best they know to do and we shouldn’t diminish one another’s experiences. And the book doesn’t do that, but it’s just a little soapbox issue I have.)
Anyway, I recommend the book, with the caveat that the essays and experiences shared within, while inspirational and often very insightful, are personal (some are a little speculative) and do not represent any official LDS doctrine. It’s a beautiful book that shows a lot of work and research, and it’s a wonderful collection about the joy and spiritual meaning that can be found in our unique role as women and life-givers.
Visit The Gift of Giving Life site to sign up for their newsletter and to receive a free Meditation MP3 as well as tips to help increase spirituality in your pregnancy and birth.
For my readers, I have a coupon code for 10% off a copy of The Gift of Giving Life. Click here and after you add the book to your cart use this coupon code. GWFWXR3F This code is good until Father’s Day 2012.
Diapers and Divinity 
Hi Stephanie! I met you at Jana’s a few weeks (no, wait, it’s been a month already) ago. I’m blogging about this book tonight and I’m not pregnant either. My friend Sheridan is a contributor and I’m so glad to see other people supporting her efforts!
Thanks for sharing your insights about the book. Just wanting to clarify – do you think the book is supportive of all types of births? It seems like you are saying that, but I am not sure.
I do think it is supportive as a book and shows a good range of different kind of births, but some of the indvidual essays are obviously skewed more toward their own experience.
Thanks for your insights stephanie! And as much as we tried to stay our hardest to stay in the middle, when you are sharing others personal experiences there will always be bias– on both sides of the issue. Our hope though was to present stories from all sides and all sort of experiences so that women could find ideas that resonated with them . And mostly to show that birth is first and foremost a spiritual experience no matter how it happens
Ahh, I gotcha. That is true, each mom is going to have a skewed view of their birth and their own appreciation of a type of birth.
This book sounds great, I can’t wait to read it! Birth definitely is always a spiritual experience. Last October I gave birth to my fifth and last baby, and the sense of wonder and awe was still there that time just like it was the other 4 times. My husband cried every time one of out babies was born, but for some reason he cried the hardest with this sweet fifth baby. I feel so blessed that I have been able to provide bodies for these sweet spirits Heavenly Father has entrusted to my care.
This sounds incredible. Being pregnant and having babies was a very special and spiritual time in my life that I think I may have just kind of suffered through.