TOP BOOKS TO READ ON NATURAL BIRTH
I recently polled my audience on instagram around their interest in resources on natural birth and the response was incredible! So many of you are hungry for more guidance and resources, so I wanted to give some good books to start with. I’ll do an additional blog on our resources to consider having for labor, but let’s start here.
I am a trained doula and almost pursued that as a career but God took me somewhere else in life - and that’s ok! So now I want to use my training and the information I received and help share it with others so they can learn more. Here are some books I would make sure to purchase and read in preparation for labor and delivery.
1.) Ina May Gaskin’s Guide to Childbirth
If you’re not familiar, Ina May is one of the world’s leading midwives and she has incredible information. When I was pregnant with my first , I devoured this book. It was also required reading for me in my doula training and I am so glad that it was. She has assisted in over 1,000 births and if you want to feel empowered to naturally birth - this is a must read. If I could get women to read only one book while pregnant - this would be it.
You can purchase it here.
2.) Hypno Birthing
If you’re looking for a way to prepare your mind for natural birth, this is a great resource. There is a CD or tracks you can download online that go with it as well to meditate daily in preparation for birth. Many couples choose to take hypno birthing classes as well prior to labor. Do a google search for classes in your area as it has become more widely used by doulas and child birth educators. The book is filled with ways to prepare your body and mind for a calm birthing experience. You can purchase the paperback here.
3.) The Birth Partner
Penny Simkin is a PT who has worked with over 13,000 couples in preparation for labor, delivery and postpartum. She does an amazing job prepping pregnant women for what a labor partner should learn. This is definitely a book to have your labor partner read if you can get them to. But it also may give you an idea of whether you feel the need for a doula due to not having a supportive or attentive birth partner. You can purchase here.
4.) Mindful Birthing
With Mindful Birthing, Nancy Bardacke, nurse-midwife and mindfulness teacher, lays out her innovative program for pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, mindfulness meditation, and mind/body medicine, Bardacke offers practices that will help you find calm and ease during this life-changing time, providing lifelong skills for healthy living and wise parenting. You can purchase here.
5.) Nurture : A Modern Guide
A comprehensive and judgement-free pregnancy companion: Nurture is the only all-in-one pregnancy and birthing book for modern mothers-to-be and their partners who want a more integrative approach. Author Erica Chidi Cohen has assisted countless births and helped hundreds of families ease into their new roles through her work as a doula. Nurture covers everything from the beginning months of pregnancy to the baby's first weeks.
This empowering book includes:
• Supportive self-care and mindfulness exercises, trimester-specific holistic remedies, nourishing foods and recipes for every month of pregnancy, and expert tips for every birth environment.
• More than 40 charming and helpful illustrations, charts, and lists can be found throughout.
• Dozens of important topics that every modern mom needs to know including fetal development, making choices for a hospital, home or birth center birth, the basics of breastfeeding, tips on what to expect postpartum, and more.
You can purchase here.
I hope you find this list helpful. There are so many other wonderful books that I could list, but these are a few of my favorites. Stick around for my post partum recommendations as well as other birthing items I recommend in my following blogs.
