Belly Button Bliss

Belly Button Bliss: A Small Collection of Happy Birth Stories
Edited by Jennifer Derryberry Mann
Fairview Press, 2010. 104 pgs. Nonfiction

This is a short, sweet book meant to help soon-to-be mothers who may have been exposed to too many horror stories from the delivery room. The aim is to show the positive side of birth with stories from women who share their good experiences giving birth. I appreciated that many of these stories didn't hide the negative things that happened, but rather showed how the women pushed through them and ultimately triumphed. I was also touched by the descriptions of the moments that these mothers first hold their children and what they felt. "He gives a little cry and breathes his first breath of life while lying on my chest."

I think after reading this, women will be able to look on the delivery room experience with a little less foreboding and a lot more excitement. Highly recommended for first-time mothers.

BHG