ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Polly Block is a world renowned and highly respected midwife. Midwives from all over the United States and world wide frequently seek her counsel in midwifery (natural childbirth),pregnancy, because of her broad experience with special birthing techniques. Polly was invited by a scholar from a national foundation to assist in research on birthing customs in different cultures. Home obligations prevented her from accepting this honor.

Polly's special interest has been the effect of herbs on pregnancy, labor, and delivery of birthing mothers, (natural childbirth)/midwifery. She has also developed an extensive home nursing file in natural childbirth and midwifery skills, which stresses diet, massage therapy, natural food supplements, and advanced first aid techniques as the basis for preventive health care and home preparedness. Polly has often been invited to share her data with leading researchers and practitioners,as well as midwifery schools in the field of home birth, natural childbirth and midwifery.

Polly was guest speaker at University seminars on childbirth,midwifery taught six-day training classes in midwifery in many of the states. Polly participated in the Carol Sakala research, reported in Content of Care by Independent Midwives, published in the Social Science & Medicine Journal, printed in Great Britain in 1988. She was asked to donate six weeks of training to a newly developed program, The Russian Birth Project, in St. Petersburg, Russia, wherein three of the nineteen maternity hospitals were being devoted to the training of midwives. Polly did not attend, but both Pollys birth book and A Superior Alternative,Childbirth at home were used.

At retirement, the author was a great grandmother, and spent a lot of time writing good family reading materials to "help raise" some of the many children she helped bring into the world. Her sixteen titles and Polly's Birth Bookspeak for her. All Pollys birth books, A superior Alternative childbirth at home, Aaron your Awesome and other writings of her writings are paperback and very affordable.

In 1988 the Utah County Sheriff's Emergency Preparedness Department asked Polly Block to enroll as an Emergency Midwife in the event of a natural disaster. Polly was also asked to prepare the Emergency Childbirth Handout issued from their office for the public.

It is a well known fact that in disaster situations Triage rules the day! This means that women will be told to stay home or go elsewhere to deliver their babies because childbirth is not a life threatening emergency! Rightly, the Sheriff's Office wanted to help the layman to become prepared to assist a mother in natural childbirth. While Pollys Birth Book alone lacks the element of hand-on experience for the reader, nevertheless it is by far the most sought after childbirth "how-to".