❀Maggie Ellison
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Maggie EllisonDoula & Midwife

You Weren't Meant to Do This Alone.

The Birth Book — everything I tell the mothers I attend. The last ten weeks, labour, birth, feeding, and the first six weeks with a newborn — 108 numbered practices, written plainly, with the parts you need at three in the morning marked so you can find them fast.

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13Parts
108Numbered Practices
$37One-Time Payment
Maggie Ellison
“ The parts you need at three in the morning are marked so you can find them fast.
The Birth Book · A Note From Me to You
I

The Book

What frightens mothers is not the pain, and not even the risk. It is the not knowing.

I have spent my working life in rooms where babies are born — hospital rooms with the lights turned down, bedrooms with a birth pool wedged between the wardrobe and the radiator, operating theatres where a woman who had planned something entirely different was still, always, the person giving birth. And what strikes me is how similar the women were beforehand: not knowing whether this tightening was the real thing. Not knowing what the midwife meant by that word. Not knowing whether to say yes to the thing being offered.

The Birth Book takes the unknown out of it. You will walk into your labour knowing what is happening in your body, what your options are at every fork in the road, what to ask, and what to do with your hands — and you will walk out of it into a fourth trimester you have actually prepared for, which is more than most women get. There is no correct way to have a baby. There is only your body, your baby, your circumstances, and a set of decisions to be made well. Read it once before thirty-six weeks. Then keep it near you.

II

The Difference

Two ways to walk into the same birth.

Going in coldGoing in accompanied
2 a.m. panic-Googling every twingeThe Red Flags card at the back — which sensations are the body working, and which mean call
A birth plan copied from a templateA plan built from questions you actually asked your provider
A partner hovering, helplessA partner with a manual of their own — with the actual words to say
Guessing which comfort methods are folkloreNine positions — and which problem each one solves
Coming home to silence and a list of fearsComing home with a plan for sleep, healing, feeding — and yourself

Same birth. Entirely different memory of it.

III

What's Inside

Parts I–III · The Last Ten Weeks

Preparing a Body, a House, and a Mind

Practices 1–24: the last ten weeks done calmly, what your body is actually doing (so nothing is a surprise), and the bag and the logistics — what to pack, what to arrange, what to ignore.

Parts IV–VII · The Day Itself

Is This It? — Through Every Stage

Practices 25–62: early signs, false alarms, and when to go; the stages hour by hour from first twinge to placenta; every drug-free comfort method ranked honestly by what it can really do; and nine positions, with which problem each one solves.

Part VIII · Practices 63–70

The Partner's Manual

A section your partner can read alone — with the actual words to say and the jobs that help. Every practice is numbered so they can be told "read number sixty-four" instead of "read the book."

Parts IX–X · The Forks in the Road

Medical Options Without the Politics

Practices 71–84: induction, monitoring, epidural, caesarean — as tools to say yes or no to on purpose, not failures. And when plans change: the birth you did not picture, and afterwards.

Parts XI–XIII · The First Six Weeks

The Fourth Trimester, Prepared For

Practices 85–108: the golden hour, the checks, and the first night; feeding — latch, supply, pumping, bottles, and getting help; then healing, sleep, mind, and returning to yourself.

Throughout · The Markings

Sage Panels · Clay Panels · Rose Notes · The Back of the Book

Sage panels tell you what the evidence actually says, in plain words. Clay panels mean call someone — these are the ones that matter most. Rose notes are the common mistakes I see go wrong again and again. And the Back of the Book holds the Red Flags card, the question cards for appointments, the checklists, and the glossary.

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IV

From New Mothers

★★★★★

"I read the birth chapters out loud to my husband. I just told him "read number sixty-four." At the hospital he did the counterpressure exactly like the book said and the nurse asked if he'd done this before. First baby. He glowed for a week."

— Chelsea · Ohio, USA
★★★★★

"The Red Flags card from the back of the book lived on my nightstand. I stopped Googling at 2 a.m. — that alone was worth more than the price."

— Priya · Manchester, England
★★★★★

"Nobody had told me the truth about the fourth trimester until Part XIII. I cried at the practice that said the feelings I was hiding were normal — and the clay panel told me exactly when they deserve help. I made the call. I'm glad I did."

— Amanda · Alberta, Canada
V

About Maggie

Maggie Ellison

I'm Maggie Ellison. I've spent my working life beside birthing women — as a midwife and a doula — through hundreds of births in hospital rooms, birth centers, and bedrooms with the kettle on downstairs.

On my channel I talk women through pregnancy, birth, and the weeks after the way I would if I were sitting on the edge of your bed — plainly, warmly, and honestly about what helps and what's just expensive noise. The Birth Book is all of it in one place — everything I tell the mothers I attend, written the way I talk: plainly, warmly, and without pretending things are simpler than they are.

— Maggie
VI

Order the Book

The Birth Book

Delivered to your email in the next two minutes.

  • The complete 133-page book (PDF) — 13 parts, 108 numbered practices
  • The last ten weeks, the day itself, and the first six weeks after
  • Comfort and pain ranked honestly · nine positions · the stages, plainly
  • The Partner's Manual — a section they can read alone, with the actual words
  • Medical options without the politics, and when plans change
  • The Back of the Book: the Red Flags card, question cards, checklists, glossary
You pay today$67 $37
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VII

Questions

Is this medical advice?

No — the book says so itself, in a box on page four: it is education, not medical advice, and it does not replace your midwife, doctor, or maternity unit. If something in it ever contradicts your care team, follow your care team and ask them why — that question is a good one, and they will not mind it.

When should I read it?

The book's own plan: read it through once between thirty and thirty-four weeks, then go back and start actually doing things — ten weeks is enough to change how your birth feels. Very little time? Part IV (is this it?), Part VI (comfort), Part VIII (your partner's job), and the Red Flags card — about forty minutes. Already in labour? Practice 25, Practice 31, then hand the book to whoever is with you.

Is it only for natural births?

No. The book is clear about interventions — induction, epidurals, caesareans: they are not failures, they are tools, and the mothers who are happiest afterwards are almost never the ones who avoided them. They are the ones who understood what was being offered and said yes or no on purpose. That is the whole aim of the book.

Will it help my partner?

Part VIII is the Partner's Manual — eight practices written to be read alone, with the actual words to say and the jobs that help. Every practice is numbered, so mid-labour you can just say "read number sixty-four."

How is it delivered?

Instantly, as a PDF — phone, tablet, or printed. The checklists and the Red Flags card are made to print, and the parts you need at three in the morning are marked so you can find them fast.

Get the Book · $67 $37Launch price · Instant download
The Birth Book
Before You Go

Less than one hour of a doula's time.

Everything I tell the mothers I attend — 108 practices for the last ten weeks, the birth, and the six weeks after. $37, yours forever.

Get the Book · $37Instant download · Yours forever or see what's inside →