A Natural Birth Annotated Bibliography...

...because I want to get these thoughts out before I forget. These are my favorite books that I read during my pregnancy. I also wrote why I recommend each one.

I actually wasn't too crazy about this one, but I'll include for the reasons that I did like it:
What to Expect When You're Expecting
This is the book that everybody reads, and frankly, it is only good for 2 things: 1) Making you feel less crazy, because it has these huge long lists of pregnancy symptoms, concerns, and questions with answers; 2) Updates on how big your little baby is, and what new things they can do "this week"
However, this book is woefully incomplete. THERE IS ONLY ONE CHAPTER ON LABOR AND DELIVERY! Aaaaaaand, that chapter is also woefully incomplete! It actually makes my blood boil to think about it. If I had only read this book, I shudder to think how my pregnancy, labor, and delivery would have turned out. Knowledge is power, and this book tells you almost nothing.

Pushed By Jennifer Block
This book provides a clear, detailed, and evidence-based explanation of the current state of obstetric care in the U.S. Interestingly, it goes into the history of OB care and the why and how OBs are now the norm instead of midwives. Block walks you through a typical c-section and a typical hospital birth. It paints an accurate and alarming picture of the pitfalls of OB care in our country, the slippery slope of interventions, and the lack of testing of intervening procedures.
This book was important to me because it helped me to understand WHY natural birth is safer and better for mom and baby. This book started me on the natural birth path. Every pregnant woman should read it.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth  By Henci Goer
This book is an AMAZING guide to "the pros and cons". It is divided into chapters that each deal with one labor procedure/situation. It covers c-sections, routine IVs, inductions, home birth, etc. You can read all of it or just which chapters interest you. At the end of each chapter, she sums up the information by listing it in a "pros and cons" format. The information is well-researched and unbiased. Truly. And, the best part is that she gives you the bibliography of her research at the end of each chapter, which is incredibly helpful if you want to research on your own.
This book helped me prepare for my induction, and I'm so glad that I read it. I think that any woman that plans on delivering in a hospital should read it. It is an excellent way to make sure that you thoroughly understand different hospital procedures so that you can decline any of them if necessary.

Birthing from Within By Pam England and Rob Horowitz
This book is written by two therapists. Its goal is to help you identify and understand the social and cultural preconceptions that you have about birthing. It also helps you identify your fears about birthing, provides information that counters those fears, and then helps you work them. This book is mostly from a more psychological standpoint, and has a huge section on the power of birth art.
I thought that the birth art part was a little hokey, but that's probably because I'm not artistic in the least. I did love this book because it really did help me wrap my mind around the idea of an unmedicated birth. I had a lot of misconceptions and fears about natural birth, and as I identified those fears and their sources, I got over them! Really! This book has lots of different mental strategies that you can employ during labor. (For instance, during my labor I imagined a man holding a big foam finger in the corner of the room, and he cheered me on during contractions. It sounds weird, but it really helped, and I don't think I would  have thought to do that without this book.) One of the best things about this book, though, is that there is an entire chapter about the difference between pain and suffering. That chapter helped me SO MUCH. Holy cow.

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth By Ina May Gaskin
The entire first half of this book is birthing stories of births that Ina May has attended, written by the women themselves. Each one is a positive story about a successful natural birth. The second half is Ina May's take on the current state of OB care in the U.S., and details different things that you can do to have a successful natural birth.
This book is invaluable. Part of our culture in the U.S. is to always prepare someone for the worst. When I was pregnant, people came out of the woodwork to tell me their birthing horror stories. On one hand, I think it is good to be informed and to know how things can go, but reading the first half of this book helped me feel so much better about my natural birth decision! It was seriously uplifting to read so many great stories. I loved reading this book.

In my childbirth preparation, Greg and I also took a natural childbirth class for 6 weeks. We both agree that it was one of the best things that we did to prepare. We learned how to navigate the hospital system, common hospital newborn procedures, how to relax through contractions, and how Greg could help me through it all. We even had a home labor rehearsal with our teacher, which sounds silly, (and we felt silly), but it was SO HELPFUL for when I was having contractions because we already knew which relaxation techniques worked for us, and Greg didn't have to scramble around to help me.

I also really liked reading birth stories and other natural birth ideas on this blog.
I watched The Business of Being Born on Netflix, which I do recommend, as long as you're not offended by seeing naked laboring women. (I read Your Best Birth, by the makers of that movie, but it was pretty much the same as the movie.)

As with anything else in life, take what you can use, and leave behind what you can't. I will say this, though:
Knowledge really is power. There is so much misinformation out there about natural childbirth. I originally became interested in it because I always get all the bad/rare side effects from prescription drugs, and when I had hand surgery, I hated the way that the anesthesia made me feel. I wanted to know more about going drug-free. As I learned more, I found my fears slipping away, and found that natural birth was not only safer for mom and baby, but the recovery for both is better as well.
So many people de-value the birth experience. You always hear "At least the baby is healthy", and while I do agree that the baby's health is the most important thing, I know from experience that preparation is the best way to not only have a healthy baby, but to have a good experience.
The media and our society would have you believe that childbirth prep means getting the right "stuff" for the baby's room and getting an epidural, but if that's the only preparation that you get, you will regret it later.

OK, enough ranting.