Transformed by Birth: Cultivating Openness, Resilience, and Strength for the Life Changing Journey from Pregnancy to Parenthood

"Britta, you are a master at what you do." — P!NK, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter As expecting parents, you’re bombarded with more information—and opinions—than ever about the “right” approach to pregnancy and childbirth. How do you navigate this ocean of information—not only to find the best practical solutions for you personally, but also to embrace this incredible opportunity for emotional and spiritual transformation that comes from bringing a child into this world? With Transformed by Birth, Dr. Britta Bushnell has created the transformative, intelligent, and empowering pregnancy and childbirth guide you’ve been waiting for. This book embraces birth as a metamorphic experience—a rite of passage in which you are initiated by opening to the unbidden, embodying your own wisdom, and gaining freedom from limiting beliefs. Our culture has inundated us with limiting ideals that prevent us from fully engaging in the journey of pregnancy and childbirth—including a need for control and certainty, vilification of pain, and reverence for technology and intellectual knowledge, among others. Dr. Bushnell helps you clear away unwanted beliefs and behaviors so you can open to the meaning and power of this uniquely life-changing experience. Here she offers daily practices, rituals, exercises, and more to help you cultivate resilience, power, and connection during this transformative time. Childbirth is more than just having a baby. Transformed by Birth invites you to discover childbirth as a transformational experience that alters your knowing of who you are and lasts long after pregnancy and birth are over. "This is not your What to Expect When You're Expecting. This is a book about helping expectant parents face pregnancy, childbirth and parenting as a personally transformative experience where the parent will learn tools that will serve them well in all the roles they play in life. There are dozens of pregnancy books on the market that help the expectant mother plan and create her perfect pregnancy and delivery, and the idea of orchestrating a flawless birth experience is particularly appealing to millennials. But what if things don't go according to that painstakingly designed birth plan (and for the most part they will not go according to plan)? Does the expectant mother have the necessary information and, more importantly, the resilience and adaptability, to deal with the unexpected in this heightened state? And what if building that resiliency was not only great preparation for dealing with the unexpected during pregnancy and childbirth but, moreover, part of the design of the enormous transformative event that birth is? Childbirth is more than a biological event, more than a psychological event, more than a relational event, and more than a medical event. Childbirth is a transformational experience that alters parents' knowing of who they are. Transformed by Birth is for the individual who wants to come out the other side of giving birth a better and more resilient person. It is for those who know there is more to birth than the physical act. It is for those who want to be engaged in the process for their own personal growth and development, as they feel the pull of something big about to happen that they can hardly imagine"-- Provided by publisher