What's New in Preparing for Birth: Our Popular Guide for Expectant Parents

May 17, 2023

Since 2016, Preparing for Birth has been our most popular resource at Plumtree Baby. We understand that you have relied on this book to be the pillar of your childbirth classes, and we're thankful for all the love it's been given.

As with any book, ensuring that the content is up-to-date and relevant is vital. With that in mind, we are excited to announce our third edition Preparing for Birth book was published in July and is now in stock.*

We know that any changes made to this book can cause disruptions to your lesson plans. Therefore, we want to highlight these changes to help you prepare for this new edition so you're ready when the latest book releases. In addition to the summary below, you can download the table of contents here.

Brand New Welcome Page

The first update you'll notice is the new Welcome page (pictured below) at the beginning of the book. This page highlights four keys for a positive birth experience. By starting the book with these keys, expectant parents will clearly understand what they can expect from the book and what they need to focus on to have a positive experience during their birth.

Stages of Labor Content Overhaul

The content for Stage of Labor has been overhauled. The layout has been improved and expanded, and the organization has been made more user-friendly. In addition, the content is now organized by page according to each stage and phase of labor, making it easier for readers to navigate. (Don't worry, we've kept the popular two page "Your Labor Guide" in the new book.)

Medical Interventions Revamp

Medical interventions can be overwhelming if parents are not prepared for the various options and informed about the influence that interventions can have on the birth experience. The third edition Preparing for Birth has expanded content and easier to read text covering most common medical interventions. This means that expectant parents will have a comprehensive understanding of their medical options, and have the knowledge and tools needed to ask questions and make informed decisions for their medical care.

New Preference Tools

In addition to the content updates, Preparing for Birth now includes preference worksheets for labor, comfort measures and newborn care practices. These worksheets are similar to the comfort preferences in the previous edition, and they will help expectant parents to plan for and communicate during their entire birth experience.

Expanded Comfort Tips

Our Comfort Measures chapter remains one of the shining stars of this book. To make it shine a little brighter, we added the labor coping scale, expanded our tips and tools section and updated some of our labor positions photos. By having a variety of comfort measures to choose from, expectant parents can practice and find the techniques that work best for them.

Postpartum & Newborn Content

The postpartum and newborn content (third chapter) had the biggest transformation. We recognize that preparing for postpartum is just as important as preparing for birth and our new edition introduces key postpartum topics to prepare parents for this time. However, we streamlined the content to not overwhelming parents or duplicating much of the content that they may learn in a newborn care, breastfeeding, or comprehensive postpartum class.

The updated version of Preparing for Birth includes many new features beyond those described above while still maintaining the comprehensive content you've trusted over the years. This book serves a comprehensive guide for expectant parents, from the Welcome page to the preferences tools section at the end. We hope these updates will make Preparing for Birth an even more valuable resource for your business and your clients.

If you need more time to make the transition to the new edition, you can still stock up on our second edition books while supplies last. Feel free to leave a comment or contact us if you have questions or comments.

We hope you love this new edition!

Disclaimer: All content provided is for educational and informational purposes only, and should not be construed as medical advice. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and no alterations in exercise should be taken solely on the contents of this website. Consult your physician on any topics regarding your health and fitness. Plumtree Baby, LLC does not assume any liability for the information contained herein, be it direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages.

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