Highsmith, Susan: - "Susan Highsmith is an author, counselor, and educator. She has been a Nationally Board-Certified Counselor (NBCC) for over thirty years, holding a Ph.D. in Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology as well as a Doctorate of Divinity. She mentors birth educators and speaks at international congresses addressing consciousness in the womb and the long-lasting effects of our earliest experiences. Susan is dedicated to health and well-being throughout the lifespan, seeking to balance psychological theory and practice with spiritual and holistic wisdom.Susan has published an easy-to-read primer, The Renaissance of Birth: Changing the Language of Childbirth, introducing prenatal and perinatal psychology to young audiences. In addition, she has written four fairy tales that are designed to be read by pregnant women to their babies still in the womb. After their birth babies can hear familiar stories because they were heard while in utero. The First Fairy Tale, Books I - IV are metaphors about (I) conception, (II) the first three weeks of gestation when the heart begins to beat, (III) the developing senses, and (IV) birth. Research reveals that newborns prefer to hear their mother's voice and like stories they have heard before. Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) are encouraging parents to read to their premature infants to promote loving bonds, stimulate auditory discrimination systems and provide foundations for language development and secure attachment. It's never too early to start reading to your children or to speak softly, whispering secrets of connecting to Nature and the Divine in All Life."