Everything the expectant mother needs to know about childbirth, from one of the foremost experts in the field.

Childbirth is one of the most important and powerful events in a woman's life - and yet many women look back on it as an ordeal. Sheila Kitzinger, acknowledged around the world as an expert in the psychological, social and physiological aspects of birth, has rewritten her first book for today's women.

Herself a mother of five, all born at home, she believes that birth can be a positive and deeply satisfying experience. She co-created the teacher training scheme of the National Childbirth Trust, and was the first person to introduce couple's classes, pregnancy and postnatal counselling, and birth companions to give personal support and help in childbirth. Written with warmth, elegance and understanding, THE NEW EXPERIENCE OF CHILDBIRTH explores emotional as well as the physical elements in childbirth and is essential reading for every mother- (and father-) to be.