Life After Birth: A Parent’s Holistic Guide for Thriving in the Fourth Trimester

book cover

Life After Birth

A Parent’s Holistic Guide for Thriving in the Fourth Trimester

https://vimeo.com/750556492
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Amazon US
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Amazon UK
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barnes & noble
“The most authoritative document (“the bible”?) about the “fourth trimester”
Michel Odent, MD
“A remarkable and stunningly comprehensive book”
Dr. Vicki Matthews, Naturopathic Physician
“Refreshing and wide-ranging”
John W. Travis, MD, MPH, co-author, Wellness Workbook
“A wonderfully informative and comprehensive guide”
Elly Taylor, Author and Founder of Becoming Us
“Life After Birth was a very exciting and uplifting read”
Crystal Sada CNA,  CPPD, LCCE
“Dr. Speier’s book is also a generous reference source”
Sonia Still

About the Book/What you will learn:

Having a baby is a game changer. The mix of emotions is intense – life is exciting and frightening, exhilarating and exhausting, blissful and stressful. Knowing what to expect and how to handle the changes relieves feelings of anxiety and apprehension, so you can feel confident and competent as you optimize your time during the fourth trimester. Although the transition to parenthood will transform your lives, as individuals and as a couple, there’s a real gap in practical information on how to successfully steer through the early days and weeks of the postpartum period.

Life After Birth: A Parent’s Holistic Guide for Thriving in the Fourth Trimester is the first book to apply energy medicine to the postpartum period, with techniques that make it a perfect strategy for managing the energy lows of the fourth trimester. These techniques become powerful self-care strategies for handling the intense day to day responsibilities of newborn parenting.

This book addresses the gap with up to date holistic knowledge and resources for empowering the whole family, with a purposeful emphasis on the mother’s wellbeing. The important topics that are covered include:

  • The Fourth Trimester
  • The Dynamics of Hormones and the Stress Response
  • Breastfeeding
  • Bonding & Attachment
  • Nurture Your Partner Relationship
  • What’s Next? Maternity Leave/Going Back to Work
  • Father’s/Partner’s Lived Experience
order
Amazon US
order
Amazon UK
order
barnes & noble
about Dr Diane S. Speier, author
Message from Diane: 

I am a practicing psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, specializing in perinatal psychology, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and recovering from birth trauma. I am also a celebrant, co-creating ceremonies with my clients that mark life’s significant transitions, helping to restore the sacred nature of life-changing events.

Before immigrating to the UK, I was the founder/director of The Family Tree Centre for Parents in New York, offering classes, groups and workshops for prospective and new parents for 20 years. I became a certified childbirth educator and started attending births as a doula in 1978. My book, Life After Birth: A Parent’s Holistic Guide for Thriving in the Fourth Trimester (Praeclarus Press, 2019), draws on my 40+ years of experience helping parents make a smooth transition from pregnancy to parenthood. Digital Doula®2.0, its companion app, is designed to complement and supplement the book with additional material and resources not included in the book, and brings the links in the book to life.

In 2023, I am excited to introduce an online course on thriving in the fourth trimester, an 8 module preparation for what happens after birth covering the range of experiences new parents encounter.

Reviews

The most authoritative document (“the bible”?) about the “fourth trimester”

“In the age of overspecialisation, the book by Diane Speier is a perfect demonstration of what we should expect from interdisciplinary perspectives. Diane can write as a mother, who had a personal experience of hospital and home births, and also as a grandmother. She can write as a psychologist. I have known Diane in the 1980s as a popular childbirth educator. As a conference organiser, she knows how to attract lay people and medical people as well, and how to communicate with them. She is familiar with the concept of energy medicine. She is a doula. She has been working with British “Health visitors”. She can shift from an American way of thinking to a British way. “Life after birth” may be currently classified as the most authoritative document (“the bible”?) about the “fourth trimester”.
Michel Odent, MD

A remarkable and stunningly comprehensive book

“This is a remarkable and stunningly comprehensive book, a book every woman (and man) should read whether they are beginning or continuing their parenting journey…It not only anticipates basic parenting concerns likely to occur during the first crucial months after birth, it includes almost every physical, emotional, mental, and social issue parents might face when they welcome a new baby into their lives.

The scope of Life After Birth is truly remarkable. Of particular import is her use of many subtle energy techniques and protocols which are part of energy medicine as it is taught today. Dr. Speier’s inclusion of them here adds greatly to the thoroughness of this book. In fact, so comprehensive is Life After Birth that I believe it is destined to become one of the most relevant parenting handbooks of our time. An absolute must read!”
Dr. Vicki Matthews, Naturopathic Physician

Life After Birth was a very exciting and uplifting read

“As a childbirth educator and doula instructor for many years I have always shared a reading list with my class participants…. The one area that has always been lacking is postpartum or, the fourth trimester….  Over the years it has been challenging to find a good book to recommend on this topic, until now!  In the book Life After Birth, Diane S. Speier discusses life with a newborn and how parents can find the support, time and coping skills to make a smoother adjustment. 

Not only does the author map out how the postpartum phase unfolds but she also gives tips and hints on what can be done to help the new mother heal and recover from childbirth,  including getting rest and good nutrition…. The partner is given concrete ways in which they can help. She discusses nurturing the parent’s relationship which is vital in this new phase of life.

I would recommend the book to be read during pregnancy and then referenced during postpartum because most parents are in a fog during the postpartum period, and will not have the energy to put into reading the whole book…. Life After Birth was a very exciting and uplifting read, a valuable book with much important information.”
Crystal Sada CNA,  CPPD, LCCE