Having a baby is one of the most fundamental of human experiences - for both mother and father - and yet it is almost impossible to imagine what the experience will feel like before it happens. In this collection of photographs, accompanied by the reactions and feelings - in their own words - of parents and medical staff, Nancy Durrell McKenna portrays 14 different births. The women vary in age from their teens to mid-forties. Some are having their first child, others their second or subsequent children.;The author has photographed the widest possible range of types of birth - in hospital, at home, underwater, Caesarean, using epidural anaesthesia, breech delivery, twins and so on. The photographs help to reveal the joy and the pain of the experience. At each stage what is happening is explained with comments from midwives, GPs and obstetricians and any necessary medical information, such as the use of foetal heart monitors in given.
