Penny Simkin, PT, is a physical therapist, childbirth educator, doula, and birth counselor. She is nationally recognized as a premier authority on childbirth, having helped 9,000 expecting women and birth partners in childbirth and attended hundreds of couples though the birth process. Simkin is a prolific author and serves on more than 10 different consultant and editorial boards, including the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, The International Childbirth Education Association, and The Seattle Midwifery School, where she also provides training for doulas and lectures to students. She has written myriad books, journal, and magazine articles. Simkin is also co-founder of DONA International (formerly Doulas of North America) and The Pacific Association for Labor Support. In addition to providing childbirth education, birth counseling, and labor support, Simkin travels extensively throughout the country, lecturing and presenting at conferences and workshops. For more information, please visit Simkin’s website at pennysimkin.com. Melissa Cheyney, PhD, is both a professor of clinical medical anthropology at Oregon State University and a practicing licensed midwife. She is a leading expert on the many ways parents’ cultural backgrounds affect their goals for, and experience of, birth. She has served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s “Birth Settings in America Study” and the “Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Statistics Project.” She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care and the mother of a daughter born at home.