Pregnancy and Childbirth Books

A Good Birth, A Safe Birth; Diana Korte, Roberta ScaerThis book is great! Thorough, sensible, and extremely well organized, these knowledgeable authors cover topics of pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum care for mother and child in an accessible, very easy-to-follow format. (The Doula)
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Special Delivery; Rahima Baldwin Dancy
An informative book that covers every topic of pregnancy with a very detailed explanation of childbirth. Gives empowering advice on everything from pain relief and homebirth to emergencies and life after delivery.
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Gentle Birth Choices, by Barbara Harper, Suzanne Arms (Photographer)
A Guide to Making Informed Decisions About Birthing Centers, Birth Attendants, Water Birth, Home Birth and Hospital Birth.
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Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth, Healing for Mothers and Babies ; Benig Mauger
Without abandoning the useful and sometimes lifesaving tools of Western medicine, Mauger suggests a natural approach to childbirth… Ariel Gore.
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Unassisted Homebirth: An Act of Love. by Lynn M. Griesemer
For any who is seriously thinking about a private birth or even if you’re simply curious about this birthing process, this book offers inspiration and confirmation that women are capable of giving birth without interferance.
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Open Season ; A Survival Guide for Natural Childbirth and Vbac in the 90s
Nancy Wainer Cohen, Clar Doyle
Nancy Wainer Cohen is THE pioneer of VBAC in the United States. Thanks to her activism in this area, Once a c-section, always a c-section no longer applies.
This book is a marvelous collection of thoughts, insights, experiences, and tools for helping women avoid cesarean, either primary or secondary, and is well worth the reading.
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Mind Over Labor, Carl JonesIn his breakthrough book, Jones introduces a new, highly effective method of childbirth preparation using mental imagery. He shows expectant parents how to prevent the pain and fear associated with childbirth.
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Elizabeth Davis’s Heart and Hands, though subtitled A Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, is not just for midwives. It’s an excellent and thorough resource for parents-to-be who are thinking about delivering their child with a midwife, or who are concerned about the medical establishment’s over-control of birth.
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Labor Pain; A Natural Approach to Easing Delivery by Nicky WessonNicky Wesson shows how natural alternatives can provide effective pain relief during labor and childbirth without dangerous side effects for mother and baby.
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Spiritual Midwifery; Ina May GaskinThe classic book on home birth! The first section details the experiences of parents and midwives during the birth experience. The second seciton is a technical manual for midwives, nurses, and doctors. Includes information on prenatal care and nutrition, labor, delivery-techniques, care of the new baby, and breast-feeding.
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Homebirth; Sheila KitzingerThis book offers several stories of homebirth, their joys and triumphs. The pictures are breathtaking, and the author does an impressive job in her descrpitions of the events. Highly recommended for anyone considering homebirth, or simply interested in the beautiful process of childbirth.
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Birth Without Violence; Frederick LeBoyer“The book that revolutionized the way we bring our children into the world”.
This book is a poetically written but alarming view on the birth experience of the newborn. It describes how for many decades what little was known about what the newborn experiences and how a more respectful and gentle method of childbirth was discovered. “The Leboyer Method” is a simple, well proven and popular way to birth your baby without causing fear and harm.
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Safe AlternativesOffers comprehensive information on natural birthing options available to women.

The Homebirth Advantage; Mayer M.D. EisensteinThis book challanges America’s traditional hospital based birth system, the system which has placed the United States at the bottom of the list of industrialized nations with regard to healthy babies and healthy mothers. Dr. Eisenstein explains that birth, for the majority of women, may even be safer without the routine hospital procedures: electronic fetal monitoring, episitomy, iv’s, epidurals, etc.

Birthing From Within; Pam, CNM MA England, Rob, PhD HorowitzThis book touches on the areas that expectant mothers are often to afraid to discuss, as well as light-hearted instruction on creative projects. It gives outstanding advice on dealing with empowerment, pain control, self expression and many others subjects that fans of natural birth will encounter. This book is worth it’s weight in gold just for the chapter on pain-management alone
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The Making of Me;Countdown to a Miracle: The Making of Me is a daily narrative detailing the miracle of creation from conception to birth. Unlike other pregnancy books, it is written from the child’s point of view and focuses on the child-not the mother-and the daily changes taking place as your child grows from a single cell into a miniature human being.
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The Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth; Kaz CookeThe Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth sets out to offer “the soundest, sanest, wittiest advice you’ll ever get” about life as an expectant mum. Covering “the scary parts, the funny parts and your private parts” Australian author Kaz Cooke counts down to motherhood using a week-by-week format, at each stage explaining what’s going on to you and baby, exploring common health complaints, suggesting remedies and looking at what will happen at antenatal visits. She also includes a semi-fictitious weekly diary account that provides a friendly and very funny voice to reassure you that you’re not alone.
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My Pregnancy, A Record BookA delightful pregnancy diary with space for photos and drawings. There is a part with old wives tales, advice recieved from family and friends, a section for doctor visits questions and answers, and even a part for daddy-to-be to record his feelings and ideas on parenting. A great gift to yourself!
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Alternative Infertility Treatments: Enhance Your Optimum Health and Improve Your Chances of Conceiving Naturally . Nicky Wesson.Using case histories, this guide explains how to improve fertility naturally through diet, exercise and relaxation techniques, and how to detect ovulation to maximize the opportunities of conception. It also describes the benefits of existing therapies such as acupuncture and reflexology.
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The Alternative Pregnancy Handbook: Complementary Remedies for a Healthy and Stress-free Pregnancy, Tanvir Jamil, Karen EvenettThis book offers practical information on all complementary remedies that are safe to use during pregnancy and which remedies are most effective for easing nausea, backache and other ailments associated with pregnancy. The book provides stepp-by-step advice throughout every stage from preconception until after the birth. In addition is explains how to get the most from acupuncture, shiatsu, sound therapy, pilates, meditation, flotation, massage, herbal medicine and nutritional therapy.
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Alternative Therapies for Pregnancy and Birth, Pat ThomasInformation on a wide range of alternative treatments that can be used in conjunction with conventional medicine, this comprehensive guide includes discussions of good nutrition, handling physical and emotional changes, overcoming fatigue and morning sickness, and maintaining intimacy. Use all-natural methods, including aromatherapy, hypnotherapy, massage, reflexology, acupressure, yoga, homeopathy, and herbal remedies to relieve common discomforts such as nausea, constipation, heartburn, varicose veins, and insomnia. There’s advice on preventing miscarriage and birth defects, turning a breech baby, and inducing labor. Plenty of suggestions and techniques are offered for handling the pain of labor and ensuring a rewarding birth experience .
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