Faith-Filled Childbirth: A Christian Approach to Hypnobirthing

by Tara Menzies

Many people don't realize that fear is one of the biggest causes of pain in childbirth.
This book will help you overcome fear and experience a more confident, relaxed, and faith-filled birth. Combining the childbirth education and relaxation exercises used in hypnobirthing with the incredible love, strength, and support that come from faith in our Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, creator of the best selling Christian Hypnobirthing App, Tara Menzies, equips expecting mothers with research and information to make informed, empowered decisions and tools to help them feel peace and confidence throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Whether you're planning a water birth at home, a cesarean birth in the hospital, or anything in between, this book will teach you techniques to help you relax and draw near to God, develop a deeper understanding of our miraculous design, and support your body's natural physiology — no matter where or how you plan to give birth.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, Parenting, Christian

Kindle Edition

Published January 9, 2025

Reviews

[Samantha Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite book - it has completely transformed my perspective on childbirth. Incredibly practical and reassuring, I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who ever plans to give birth at any point. Regardless of your feelings about birth, or your perspective on faith, it’s incredibly educational and empowering.

[Natalie Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful and encouraging. I would recommend for anyone who wants to understand why a mother might be choosing birth preferences they may not understand.

[Moriah Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tools

This book is not fluff. It’s packed with solid science, an understanding of how women’s bodies are designed, and the processes that take place throughout labor, birth, and postpartum. It supports the idea that women can give birth without interventions, but it is also extremely supportive of using interventions when they become necessary. More than anything, this book is meant to arm you with information—not convince you to have a specific kind of birth. It would be easy for a book like this to turn into a persuasive essay for why you should have a water birth at home, but that’s not at all what it is. She is careful to continually say that any birth can be faith-filled as she presents information regarding various options. Even though I’ve had one baby before, I am still extremely thankful for the tools & info in this book and highly recommend it!

[Kelsey DeLoatche · Rating 5 out of 5]

The birth prep book I was looking for!! Practical, encouraging, educational and balanced.

[Maddie McElroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED how practical this book was and am excited to put into practice what I learned. I think with every faith and birth book, I don’t want to take everything as 100% truth and felt there were some parts of this book that didn’t seem realistic (at least for me!). But overall I feel this book gave me lots of confidence and peace in my upcoming labor choices

[sand shurt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was everything I needed at the time I read it, less than two months before the birth of my son.

My pregnancy, labor & delivery with him was a spiritual experience from start to finish. It was so refreshing for me to find a book that encompassed many of my feelings and goals for the birth of my little boy. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking literature that recognizes the holiness, sanctity, and divinity of birth. Gaining knowledge of birth and understanding that it is a process and gift from God changed everything for me.

Whether you’re planning a drug-free or medicated birth, at-home or elsewhere, this book has facts and truths that will help educate and prepare you to do the divine work of bringing life into this world. 🫶🏼

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read (and listened to) this book in preparation for my second birth. I found that Tara struck a really good balance between education and encouragement. I walked away feeling ready to embrace the birth process again and excited to meet our little baby.

[Rachel Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to overstate just how helpful and comprehensive this book is for an expectant mama. Educational without being overwhelming or fear-inducing, Tara shares her faith and vast knowledge in ways that are saturated with Scripture, personal experiences, and encouraging birth stories. She lays out options for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum in ways that are clear and easy to understand, without judgement. Would highly recommend to anyone preparing for birth! Even though this will be my third labor, this book empowered me and helped me turn away from fear of birth and toward the presence and strength of Christ who is always with me.

[Brooklyn Seagrave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly encouraging and empowering - I would recommend this to any pregnant woman. I feel really confident in my desires for birth and no longer feel any amount of fear of it- I’m actually excited! I love how the focus is on God’s natural physiological design for birth, and the detailed teaching on every birth option and intervention, empowering the reader to make informed decisions regardless of birth preference. There are so many great affirmations tied in to birth as well. I will be purchasing my own copy to use as a guidebook throughout pregnancy!

[Ana Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. Slightly overwhelming, but I guess in a good way. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I appreciate the emphasis on the “mind over matter” concept, and the biological breakdown of the role of hormones and how they are affected by our mindset, in turn greatly impacting the birth process.

[Emma Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ this book is a great intro to Hypnobirthing and I really appreciate the Christian lens/ethos, and encouragement through scripture throughout. It was a super easy read, covered all the need to knows, and takes a really natural approach to childbirth! Would absolutely recommend to others :) have downloaded the app and will give that a go too!

[Natalie Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book so encouraging and affirming as I prepare for birth and am definitely incorporating the scripture and affirmations she walks through as I work on relaxation practices that will help me to work with my body through labor.

[Stephanie Cowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to prepare for having a baby. Reminded me that the Lord designed my body to birth and my body knows what to do. Full of tools and different methods I’m excited to practice and use in my next birth!

[Lauren Berrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

as an expecting mother who is nervous about childbirth, this was an extremely helpful read. “hypnobirthing” may sound like a woo-woo or polarizing term, but this book is essentially words of affirmation and empowerment among a collection information about childbirth/postpartum.

our thoughts can be so powerful, and it was so helpful to read a body of work that is so encouraging. this book was recommended to me by a couple of different people, and I’m *so* glad I gave this a try.

[Esther McNevich · Rating 5 out of 5]

will surely be reading this many more times. 🤰🏻🤍🙏🏻

[Callahan McIlnay]

Beneficial to read earlier in pregnancy. I went into labor before I could finish the book but I really liked what I did listen to!

[Kendra Bently · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfection

[Sara Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one!! It honestly helped take a lot of the fear out of childbirth for me. 10/10 recommend to any expecting mamas 🫶

[Grace McKnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am SO grateful for this book. Will be revisiting its contents right up until birth, and am already utilising the Hypnobirthing tracks on the app! 🫶🏻🫶🏻

[Morgan Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great and empowering book for Christian women wanting a birth led by God and their natural instincts. Lots of wisdom and does a good job at presenting different studies as support for birthing differently!

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!! Love! Tara Menzies does a fantastic job at advocating for and explaining natural, physiological birth while also emphasizing that birth is not black and white and every birth will be different. I am new to Hypnobirthing, but already resonate with pretty much everything in the book, just further deepening my understanding, peace, and confidence about birth.

The Christian perspective that it brings to birth is so incredible. I love the up-breathing and down
-breathing imagery of Hypnobirthing, As well as the overall idea of turning fear into faith. Even though I have a plan and a vision for how I hope my birth will go, this book reminded me that I can still have peace and trust God if it unfolds differently.

[Kathryn Noorani]

4.5 stars rounded up! A great, informative, beautiful read. I wish I had read this before my first two births. I hope to carry the wisdom and knowledge of all of this into my following births as well!

[Caroline Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️
This book was a wonderful preparation for what’s to come! It was a little crunchy for me, and there were parts of this book that I chose to ignore, but the majority of the content was great!

[Emma Gish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great read, especially for first time mothers. It walks you through the steps and phases of birth and explains a lot of things like what all the types of midwives are and how they're different from OBs and Doulas. I feel like while I learned a ton of information from what all is covered, there could have been more of an elaboration on the actual concept of hypnobirthing itself. It definitely spoke on the topic, and I learned a lot about hypnobirthing from the book, but I feel like it was spending 50% of the time being a hypnobirthing book and the other 50% of the time it was a general "what to expect, what to know" book. Granted I think this is due to the need of mothers to have knowledge on what's going on and what to be prepared for in order to be relaxed and focused, but I walked away from the book feeling like I only have a 75% grasp on hypnobirthing. Now I have never given birth before so that's probably most of it, but aside from the consistently iterated message that hypnobirthing is essentially a state of deep focus and relaxation, I don't really understand it as much as I was hoping I would. I feel like my takeaway about the Christian approach to hypnobirthing is essentially to just listen to the audio tracks in the app and that's it, while I was hoping for more on how to create your own hypnobirthing space in your mind with Christian resources. This is why I am giving this book 4 stars.

Other than that, I really learned a lot about birth and labor from this book. I am taking a 12 hour birth class alongside reading this book and the book touches on pretty much all of the topics (and more) than the $250 class. I never would have considered how the hormonal balance of birth can be so imperative to labor, especially in how hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline can affect the speed of labor and lead to the "cascade of interventions". It was also really nice to get an international perspective on birth and postpartum, as a lot of the information in the US is OB and Hospital focused and not necessarily mother and child focused. I especially appreciated the QR codes and references to additional reads and resources to topics that might need that elaboration. I found some additional reads I am really looking forward to reading that I found from this book.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this. If you are a first-time mother looking for Christian encouragement and understanding on the process of birth to overcome any fears you have, this is your book. It's loaded with scripture to meditate on while you are hypnobirthing and tackles pretty much all of the common fears you may have going into birth. Also, if you are looking to get a grasp on what Christian hypnobirthing looks like, this is your book. You will not be a hypnobirthing professional by just reading the book, I think really you need to practice the breathing techniques and supplement what you learn in the book with physical practice of deep relaxation to master the concept. If you're a seasoned mother who understands birth and the mechanics of birth and already have a basic understanding of hypnobirthing, you may not take away very much from this book, but checking out the "Christian Hypnobirthing" app might help you.

[Candus Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just What I Needed In My Hour Of Need

I have been hoping to find a way to express how impactful this resource has been. So I am glad to have the opportunity to express how I feel with this review. Hopefully, it helps you know the value of all the available components!

I had taken a previous traditional hypnobirth course with a couple of previous babies, and I was wanting to take a refresher course and use hypnobirth again with this baby (#8). But due to finances, I was unable to buy the class again. Then, on Facebook someone recommended Christian Hypnobirthing, and I was quick to look it up.

I have used hypnobirth for the past two births mixed with my own list of visual Scriptures. This has been such a beautiful mix of both that I have literally cried tears of joy at how God has not only provided for me with a lack of funds—but superseded my expectations! With this program, I can put the Scriptures on audible repeat on the Christian Hypnobirthing app or in the audio book in the Audible app, and I am already recounting those verses in my everyday life through my regular day. I know that they will come back to me when most needed in my birth.

Not only the hypnobirth scripts and the Scriptures, but the things said in the book and the positive affirmations have literally brought healing and tears to my eyes. For example, when she said that “women can never be a failure in childbirth.” That she (the pregnant mother) has “made a human literally from scratch.” Statements like that will repeat in my ear while I am actually giving birth. Also, the positive affirmations have already been coming back to me throughout my day as well! How neat it is to already have the cards made up!

In my hour of need, God met me powerfully through helping this program come into place and helping me actually find it. Thank you to Tara Menzies for her heroic persistence and to all those that helped her along the way as well. I am now feeling much less anxious and actually starting to feel excited to meet this little baby in a few weeks. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Mairin Schuman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid 3 star book, primarily for a first-time mother. However… the title is misleading (as seems to be a theme in the books I am reading lately 🤪). I purchased this book up because I have used the author’s scripture and breathing tracks for my last couple of births at home, and they have been a game-changer! Having scripture that I have meditated upon for months prior to birth read over me in the depths of transition and emergence gives me something to cling to when I feel I have nothing left. The effectiveness of this on my birth experience obviously made me curious about WHY this works so well on a physiological level, i.e. the mind-body connection. Given that the subtitle of her book is “A Christian Approach to Hypnobirthing”, I bought it because I consider “Christian” and “Hypno-anything” to be paradoxical, so I was very curious about what ideas might be worth taking/leaving. The book was actually only 1, maybe 2 chapters (if I’m generous) actually ABOUT “hypnobirthing” (which I would rename to simply scripture meditation or visualization to remove the more negative spiritual stereotype, because it certainly has nothing to do with actual hypnosis but rather a Biblical application of the principles of what is known as the technique of hypnobirthing). Don’t read this book if you want to learn about the actual technique. It is a wonderful faith-filled resource for those who are exploring their options and don’t know much about the practicalities of birth and want a Christian perspective, but it honestly still doesn’t make my list of top books I recommend for pregnant women.

[Gracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this book at almost 38 weeks pregnant, and it has been so helpful! The way Tara speaks so positively of pregnancy, labor, and birth completely helped change my mindset towards it and actually feel excited about my upcoming birth experience! My husband and I read it together, which prompted great conversations and has helped us prepare together. As someone who’s interested in an unmedicated birth, I really appreciated her positive perspective towards that without demeaning mothers who would like or need a medicated birth for various reasons. She shared about inductions, c-sections, epidurals, etc, and spoke positively about each one in the settings they might be needed, encouraging the readers that they could still have a faith-filled birth even if things didn’t go to plan. As a planner and someone who likes to control outcomes, that was so helpful for me to sit with! She also encouraged women who wanted an unmedicated birth and shared so many encouragements, affirmations, and tactics to work through that. I’ve also been listening to the scriptures and positive affirmations on the app she has, and that has also really helped my mindset. Would highly recommend this book for any mom or couple about to have a new baby, especially a first baby! 10/10 :)

[Kaitlyn Braker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually listened to this one as an audiobook because I couldn't find it in a timely manner to physically read it before I am due. I like that it is read by the author and she is very encouraging and informative. I liked that there were birth stories interwoven, not only those of unmedicated births, but also of those that deviated from the "birth plan" or were scheduled inductions/cesareans. Even though I haven't been using the Christian hypnobirthing app, I realized that I have already been practicing some of the things she teaches and I was also able to add a few more things to my toolbox (such as Scriptures to speak over the last leg of my pregnancy and my birth). I know that however my baby's birth goes, whether it is what I am planning/praying for or not, the Lord will be with me and give me the peace and strength to face whatever comes. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is struggling with anxiety, fear, confusion, and trusting the Lord with their pregnancy and birth.

[Elizabeth Nikac · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a As a Christian mother and a Registered Nurse/Certified Childbirth Educator, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to every expectant mother I encounter. Tara is an exceptionally talented author who offers a comprehensive guide on preparing for childbirth. She emphasizes God's promises and beautifully illustrates what Scripture says about the birthing experience, reminding us that we were designed for beautiful births. Additionally, she incorporates the scientific and physiological aspects of childbirth in a clear and accessible manner that is easy to comprehend. This book is an essential reading for anyone anticipating the arrival of their child (even if it is not your first!) the sense of calm you will experience after just the first few chapters is truly inspiring!

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for Christian Parents approaching birth!
This book is an incredible resource for anyone wanting to learn about how God designed our bodies to have babies, and a really helpful, balanced approach to inviting God in, and involving faith in the journey. It also provides a sound and balanced antenatal education and addresses all the areas important to consider, for pregnancy, birth and postpartum. I would wholeheartedly recommend it (and as a Christian doula, will certainly be signposting my clients to it!) and wish a resource like this was around when I was pregnant with my own children. A priority for the pregnancy book list!