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Natural Birth
MBush4
member
Rec natural birth books
MBush4
member
I REALLY REALLY want to have a natural birth. The more I read about it, the more convinced I am that I want to do this for me and my baby (unless of course there is an extreme emergency which would, of course, hinder this). I want to prepare for it though, so far I've read some good advice such as, "think of it similarly to interval training" and such, but I think I may want to take a class or read a book. I'm not sure which to invest in though.
I'm a reader so a book may be helpful since DH and my schedules are so crazy that it would be difficult to nail down an evening when we would both be able to go to a class. So which books would you recommend?
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Re: Rec natural birth books
I *think* that there's an argument to be made that some of the "older" techniques and practices actually might be worth revisiting. Not that medical interventions aren't sometimes necessary, but they're pretty uniformly over-used these days, and finding out some ways to avoid them unless they ARE needed is probably worthwhile. Plus, it'll be a neat way to gauge your medical practitioner's comfort level with natural birth. If you say "Ina May Gaskin" and your OB freaks out, then you might get a little insight into his/her view of natural childbirth.
I agree. I would read a variety of books including some suggested by PPs, and maybe some that are more pro intervention (no idea what those might be, sorry). That way you can make your own informed decision about what seems right for you and your situation. I found the documentaries "The Business of Being Born" and "Pregnant in America" both helpful in my research as well. I think they are both on Netflix.
I have read an embarrassing number of books this pregnancy (easily 10-15) . For me, I found it helpful to know as much as possible. Of all of the books I've read, including all titles mentioned by PPs my two favorites were: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Natural Hospital BIrth. Although the Ina May book is a little older, I don't think it makes it any less relevant, and I found the positive birth stories in the first half to be very comforting to read. I actually have re-read the stories again now that I'm getting close.
ETA: Every book I read I checked out from my Library. If there is something they don't have that you want to read, they can probably get it for you... for free. Can you tell I'm a librarian?
Natural Hospital Birth by Cynthia Gabrial is really a great book. I am a FTM so I have not yet tried it out but I like the stories and straightforward information. Bradley Method was also good.
I actually found some of the "old school" techniques to be refreshing, because she includes the statistics for those methods preventing other interventions. My first birth was an induction/epidural, so I found a lot of her thoughts on interventions, and the way the hospitals work in L&D to be very accurate. This is the only NB book I've read so far, but I've read it three times because I love the way the info is presented. The only thing I've had to look past is some of the SUPER crunchy birth stories. They're fun to read, but obviously very old.