The Lord of Birth

Ask any mom who has been pregnant (whether she is a beleive or not) and she will tell you what a miraculous time of life pregnancy labor and birth are!

This book helps expecting Mothers put a Biblical focus on the miracle they are participating in.

I am a midwife and am happy to have this book available to offer my clients!

This book should be read not only by the expectant mother or woman thinking of conceiving, but by teen girls, teen boys, and husbands. As a grandmother, I think the spiritual condition of the parents is vital to both the pre- and post-birth of a child.

This book encourages the reader to draw closer to God.

This book will help women to see the areas in the pregnancy and birthing processes where getting information in advance can help them to make educated decisions about what to do.

The spiritual concepts covered in this book reach farther than just the birthing process. This book gets to the fundamental core issues of Christianity. Do you trust God? Is your faith in Him?

This book helps the reader to see how fear is used to diminish joy and increase suffering not only during pregnancy and childbirth, but in every aspect of one's life.

I appreciate that the author has personal experience and education in what is being discussed, and that she wrestled with all the ideas and concepts put forth in this book.

What is even more exciting to me about this book, is that the spiritual discipline one can develop by doing the study will carry over into the raising up of the beloved child. What a blessing from God.

I wish this book had been available during my six pregnanancies. I know the results the medical interventions had on my body. To find out now there could have been another method used is depressing.

I am sorry to say I disagree with anyone who thinks the purpose of this book is to "guilt" anyone into natural childbirth. The truth is, women don't want someone saying their choice was wrong or endangering to their baby. Facts are indeed facts... medicated birth increases the risks to baby and mother. Sorry, it is just the truth, so don't shoot the messanger. It does not make someone mean or uncaring for saying so.

ANYWAY, I found that this Bible study was nothing more than a way to look past our own strength and look to our Lord Jesus Christ. I had so many reasons to go natural for my first child but it never occured to me that God should have been in the center of it all. This took my spiritual life to a whole new level and helped with my second natural birth. I am just glad someone put the two together. And I suggest that even if a natural birth is not what you are looking for to do this bible study anyway. It is a great tool to get through any stage of birth unmedicated (since you can't be drugged the whole time, ha ha). Besides, growing closer to Christ throughout your pregnancy or any time in your life should never be a negative thing.

I would love to see a Christian birth book that embraces the spiritual and emotional changes that a woman goes through during pregnancy and allows her to celebrate this time when she's so unbelievably close to God and his work, without trying to manipulate the mother with a guilt inducing hidden agenda. The Lord of Birth isn't that book, though.

The book, besides being edited horribly (hello...even if you publish it yourself, you can have a good friend read it. Surely they'll know that thEn and thAn are two different words!), it is terribly biased the harshly judgemental. It has done nothing for my students except make them mad. It is so unbelievably MEAN and basically says that if you don't have a natural birth, you don't love your child and are therefore sinning. I think everyone would agree that having an unmedicated birth is an act of love. But just as some acts of love aren't right for every wife, an unmedicated birth isn't right for every mother. Really. I believe that (and I'm a HOMEBIRTH midwife). I would never tell someone that even if she doesn't want it, she SHOULD have a natural birth. Yes, I'd try to convince her that she wants it (sheepish grin), but if she doesn't, then she shouldn't try for it. She'll just end up feeling like a failure and start her life as a mother negatively.

I would never wish a negative start to motherhood on anyone, which is why I cannot recommend this book. Women, mothers and Christians have enough guilt in their lives already. Don't add to it by purchasing this book.

We need to be looking to God in all areas of our lives, especially pregnancy! Jennifer Vanderlaan has given women and families this wonderful resource for doing just that. It is essential to look to our trinune God for strength, wisdom and understanding for the time of life called "pregnancy" and this devotional is so helpful in creating a peace and joy, within our hearts and souls, in a society where culture looks upon birth with fear and trembling. This is just one more tool, to bring glory to God for the gift of a child - He alone should be praised!