Book excerpt: As healthcare professionals and consumer activists examine the reasons for the significant increases in the length of labor, C-Section rates, inductions and the overall dissatisfaction with hospital births, pregnant woman and their partners are left hanging with more anxiety and fear about their impending experience than ever before. Just like the ground breaking 'Painless Childbirth' written by Fernand Lamaze in 1952, Cut Your Labor in Half! Secrets for a Faster & Easier Birth give women an updated and welcome ray of sunshine through the darkening labor clouds. Highlighting evidence based studies and rejuvenated techniques for making each contraction more useful, efficient and bearable - whether at home or in the hospital - the reader and her support partner are educated in methodologies for reducing the overall length of labor and increasing her satisfaction. Written with input from hundreds of women who have taken Mindy's childbirth classes in London and Southern California and containing factual birth stories, humorous anecdotes and refurbished strategies, Cut Your Labor In Half! allows the reader to achieve the birth she wants. Cut Your Labor in Half is a classroom course in a book; a 'cheat sheet' of ideas for understanding how the reader's choices may impact other aspects of birth and early motherhood. This book will appeal to the new millennial generation of pregnant women, birth partners and supporters, childbirth educators and professional healthcare workers who are short on time and want to see immediate results. According to Cockeram, "labor has increased in length by an average of two hours over the last 30 years and this book looks to cut the average labor in half by reducing fear and educating the next generation of parents."