Brahm's Reviews > The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions

The overall tone of this book was extremely reassuring, even while discussing possible complications and things not going as planned.

What I enjoyed most: each section of the book (covering a different stage of birth) talked about what the person giving birth might be feeling, and what the birth partner (i.e. me) might be feeling. These were total spectrums, from abject panic to a flood of excitement. This was informed by the co-authors' experience as doulas (not any more-stale clinical data), and I think was most useful for me to hear.

In addition to the content being polished and well-organized, the authors adopted gender- and role-neutral language in this 5th edition. "Mother and father" are replaced with "person giving birth and birth partner" or "pregnant person and co-parent". This took just a page or two to get used to, but I think was a terrific choice. In addition to making the book much more accessible to people who are in the LGBTQ community, unloading gender and parenting roles from a book about *birth* helps the reader focus on the *birth* and not all the obligations that come after that. (Discussed with Robyn while typing and she agreed: "I'm reading another book that uses the term 'birthing mother' instead of 'birthing person' and it gives me a lot more anxiety. I have to be a mother after this!?")

One detail I found very funny and also extremely useful was a high number of unsubtle hints addressed to the reader/birth partner to BRING A TOOTHBRUSH and keep their breath in check 😂