PREGNANCY/PARENTING BOOKS
There are piles and piles of books out there about pregnancy, birth and children!
While there are some AMAZING books in the pile, I have found most of them to be far too clinical for me, focusing on the science of pregnancy and the things that are visible from the outside, such as weight gain, vericose veins, puffyness, fatigue, and the pysical growth of the baby. Not only that, but these books seem to love to couch their information in a less than positive light, discussing the many magical changes of pregnancy as “concerns,” “complaints,” and “problems.” Very subtle, but there too, is an afirmation of unhealthy relationship to body and body image, feeding into women’s fears on this level as well by discussing all of the “unsightly” things that are going to happen to your body as a result of pregnancy.
While much of the information from these books, such as The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn, is useful and quite pertenant, I make sure I read them with a big giant grain of salt, take what I need, and leave the rest behind.
Then there are the books that I LOVE!! These are the books that celebrate the physical changes and do not make us feel as though they are a drag. Our bodies are gifts we can give to our children, and the changes our bodies go trough are beautiful testemonials to our love! These are the books that speak to the magical unfolding of new life, that allow us to feel the wisdom of spirit for giving us such amazing capabilities as pro-creation! They nurture feelings of wholeness, beauty, creativity, healthy sexuality and trust while allowing us to feel magnificent and our partners to feel as though they are part of something truly great. We can feel YUMMY while we are pregnant even when we are feeling yucky because the reason for our feeling yucky is that we are with child!
I had mild morning sickness and fatigue during my first trimester, and I learned to celebrate both as miraculous! My body was telling me to keep my food choices simple for my tiny embrio, and to rest so that it could use my energy for the construction of my child’s placenta. It was saying, hey, I’m feeding a very fragile new being here and building a whole new organ for you both, lets slow down and eat well! Loving What Is is a powerful skill to have in life, and pregnancy is a great time to develop this skill.
I hope you will enjoy some of these books as much as I do, and that they will water all of your best seeds that will grow into a very beautiful pregnancy, birth and beyond!
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Sarah J. Buckley, MD.
One of my absolute favorites! This book was lent to me by a friend who also gave me several other pregnancy books. This book she wanted back, the others, I was to keep. This book is here among my favorite books, the others are not! I did give it back to her, but not before I had my own copy!
Sarah Buckley has done an amazing job with this book, leaving you feeling empowered with knowledge and in touch with your intuition! It is the most well researched book I have seen yet on the many nuances of Western Medicine’s role in pregnancy and childbirth, and will help the reader to make informed choices on things such as ultrasound, testing for gestational diabetes, and painkillers during labor, while also following her/his intuition. David and I opted out of an ultra sound after reading more about it in this book, and I was very happy with this choice. Sarah is not only a medical doctor, but has also birthed four beautiful children at home. Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering is a wonderful mix of informational essays and Sarah’s personal birth stories, including one of my all time favorites “Jacob’s Placenta” Never again will I take my body’s wisdom for granted!
The Continuum Concept by Janet Leidloff
My mom came over for a visit one day shortly after we had told her about our growing baby and gave us this book. It was one of her favorites when her children were small and she told me it deeply affected how she raised us. Reflecting on this as an adult, I can see how much this book played a part in her philosophy of mothering, and thus also on my childhood!
This book is about natural parenting at its best and includes discussions on the importance of baby wearing, co-sleeping, and if I had to sum the whole book up in one word it would be “TRUST.” Trust is not always the easiest thing to come by as a mother with the responsibility of raising and looking after young ones, especially in a culture where un-seen dangers can seem to be lurking around all the time.
My neighbor at the moment is mother to two boys, age 8 and 1 1/2. She is an amazing example of what is possible when we trust our children and trust the world to treat them well. While it is always prudent to teach your children respect of possible risks, we can also trust that they are made to survive! Evolution has given us amazing survival skills, and when we are allowed to develop these skills as small children rather than being followed around and kept on a tight leash by our parents, we grow into independent, self-empowered adults. I watch my neighbor’s sons tussling, while she and I stand chatting, and notice how calm Ann-Kathrin remains as her 8 year old picks up her 1 1/2 year old and tosses him around over the pavement and muddy grass. They often come close to wipe outs and accidents, wobbling around as children often do, but she doesn’t stop them from their play. I think it is largely a result of their mother’s trust, not getting yelled at to “be careful!” or “watch out!” that these little boys move like little capoeira masters, have a striking self confidence, and that Juan, at age 1 1/2 can do a hand stand! All I can say is, read the book!!
Evie’s Kitchen: Raising an Ecstatic Child by Shazzie
Want to feel yummy about life? Get this book! Shazzie played a large part in my decision to eat differently and start living a more vibrant, life affirming lifestyle, and this book will show you why! If I had to choose only three books out of this pile here to take with me to that desert island we all might have to go to, I would choose this one! (The other two would be Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, and Spiritual Midwifery.)
While Evie’s Kitchen focuses mostly on nutrition and is packed with over 150 child friendly raw-vegan delights, Shazzie has also included information and personal stories on natural parenting, co-sleeping, baby wearing, vaccinations and more. Also included is information on nutrition for pregnancy and breastfeeding, very important when you are feeding an ecstatic fetus and then child! As always when you spend time with Shazzie, you will be left with an excitement about life that leaves you wanting to eat the best food ever so that you can be healthy and glow-y for all the magic!
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May
This book is a must read, written by one of the most experienced natural birth midwifes ever! “Ina May is one of the founders and the current president of the Midwives Alliance of North America. She is a powerful advocate for a woman’s right to give birth without excessive and unnecessary medical intervention. Her clinical midwifery skills have been developed entirely through independent study and apprenticeship with other midwives around the world. In addition to conducting regular midwifery workshops, she travels worldwide speaking on birth related issues.” I think one of my favorite chapters in this book is about sphincter law. To demonstrate sphincter law, Ina May would have all the men in her birthing classes try for a $50 prize by peeing into a jar in the middle of the room while everyone watched. In all her years of teaching classes, no one ever won the prize. Sphincters need privacy, trust, relaxation, and quietude to open and release their load. So, in a hospital where there is loud noise and bright lighting, strangers and time constraints, it is quite normal for the cervix aka the birthing sphincter, to have difficulty opening. This results in “failure to progress” in labor, which leads to all sorts of medical interventions. If you are thinking you’d like to give birth without medical interventions and want to learn how to best support your sphincter in its opening this is a book for you!
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May
Classic!This book has probably inspired more women towards natural home birth than any other. It has been in my life as long as I can remember, and I used to love pulling it off my mom’s bookshelf and reading the birthing stories and looking at all the pictures of the peaceful parents and beautiful babies. As someone who loves to read and hear about birth, I adore this book because it is jam packed with birthing stories from lots of different parents. Now in it’s 4th edition, Spiritual Midwifery also includes information on the safety of home birth, nutrition for pregnancy, the practicalities of midwifery, and lots of good vibes!
Active Birth by Janet Balaskas
Gone are the days of giving birth laying on your back, labor is something to be danced through! Janet Balaskas is speaking to those women who want to grow in self-awareness and to use their bodies actively in labor. In her childbirth classes, Janet Balaskas stands for activity rather than passivity, for movement rather than immobilization, and for a woman’s right to choose whatever position she finds comfortable throughout labor and delivery. Full of suggestions on positions and movements to engage in during pregnancy and in preparation for labor, Active Birth is an excellent choice for your shelf. Get that body moving, squating, cat/cowing, and don’t forget to spiral those hips!
Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives by Deepak Chopra
This book’s ideas derive from two sources: the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, with its emphasis on body, mind, and spirit, and the latest Western scientific prenatal research. By integrating the best information from these two very different perspectives, this book gives readers the tools to ensure that our children are nourished by thoughts, words, and actions from the very moment of conception. Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives is rich in practical information, including strategies to help enliven the body intelligence of unborn babies by nourishing each of their five senses, as well as through Ayurvedically balanced nutrition and eating with awareness. Specific yoga poses and meditation techniques reduce the mother’s stress and improve the infant’s emotional environment, as do tips for conscious communication with a partner. Exercises prepare parents for the experience of childbirth itself, followed by natural approaches to dealing with the first weeks of parenting, from healing herbs to enhancing your milk supply to coping with postpartum depression. Inspiring, expansive, and remarkably informative, this unique book from acclaimed experts in mind-body medicine will profoundly enhance the experience of pregnancy and birth for both parents and baby.
A Child Is Born by Linnart Nilsson
An amazing book of photographs taken inside the womb chronicling the growth of a baby from conception to birth. I loved being able to look at photos of how my 24 week old baby’s hands were developing, how her eyes grew, and having some insight into the secret, inner world of our first home on earth: the womb. I have been captivated by these stunning images as long as I can remember. Knowing that the photographs were capturing just a fraction of the magic, I couldn’t wait to have my own baby even when I was just 6 years old!
Wise Woman Herbal for The Childbearing Year by Susun S.Weed
The title says it all: after you read this book you will be a wise woman who knows how to use the magic of herbs for the childbearing year. I would love to run into Susun out in the woods one day over the nettle patch, but for now I enjoy her teachings from her books. This was her first book, and is now it its 29th edition! In Susun’s Own Words:
Dedicated to the Wise Woman tradition, I help women to learn the oldest ways of healing – together we are rediscovering the green witch/healer in each of us.
My goal is to change how we think about health and healing. May we all reclaim herbal medicine as the simple, safe primary care it is; a gift of health from the green nations.
My primary ally, my teacher in all things is Nature: the Earth and her many companions. I live with the plants, and the weather, and my goats.
I want my students to learn as I learned, not what I learned. I want them to find their own way and to trust their own intuition. This is the goal in my books, too. I am not telling women how to do it right — because there is no one right way — I am sharing all the ways there are to do it, so they can choose, so they have their own power.
Birthing From Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz
Very thorough and loving book full of beautiful suggestions on how to prepare for a natural birth. While it is so true that NOTHING will prepare you for the pure intensity of birth, it is also true that education and some understanding of what to expect makes a big difference. I was just re-reading:
Fear of Dying in Labor
Every time one of my babies was about to be born, I’d think to myself, “You’re going to die! This time you’re going to die!” Then it’d come out. Somehow- I don’t know how to explain it- but somehow it was like I had been born again.:
~In the words of an Italian peasant
I can remember reading this while I was pregnant and thinking “I’m not going to be afraid of dying! I know that I won’t die!” And yet this is exactly what happened to me in the throws of labor, I was so far outside of my rational mind and I just knew I was going to die. And then, it all shifted again, and like so many other women before me I had the radical experience of my own re-birth along with the birth of my daughter. Nothing can prepare you for that, not even reading this, but you will look back and read things like this and shake your head in beautiful knowing, yes, it is magical!
Birthing From Within is loaded with lovely projects to do while pregnant, words of support, wisdom, and stories. I’d read it if I was you.
The Yummy Mummy Manifesto by Anna Johnson
Through her book, Anna Johnson was like an incredibly supportive friend to me on several occasions: The first time was when I started to feel “fat” during pregnancy. Anna reminded me of the beauty that was going INSIDE and to focus there rather than on outside dimensions. The second time was one day when I was feeling utterly overwhelmed and exhausted during the first weeks of Sophia’s life and I sat there feeling like a tsunami had hit me and wondered what was wrong with me, I was supposed to be in constant baby bliss wasn’t I? I happily commiserated with Anna through her stories of the first six weeks, and I realized I wasn’t alone, and that it was most certainly going to get better, and that more sleep was coming! A very personal book full of stories to remind you to how to feel yummy and not alone.
Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene by Ingrid Bauer
Written by a long time family friend of mine, Diaper Free is the book on Elimination Communication!
Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful by Gurmukh
Gurmukh, ‘Guru to the Stars,’ is devoted to her work with pregnant couples. This book provides a blueprint for emotional, physical, and spiritual health for the nine months of pregnancy, delivery, and life with the baby. Every page offers supportive anecdotes, inspirational ad-vice and information about motherhood. Suggested medita-tions and exercises answer the various needs of expectant and new mothers dealing with dramatic body changes. Gurmukh offers tools to explore, and if necessary, heal a reader’s history and unconscious attitudes about pregnancy, birth, and parenting. Gurmukh’s wise, gentle, and comforting voice infuses every page of this beautifully illustrated book, a perfect gift for every woman who is pregnant or planning to be.
EAT/DRINK BOOKS
I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude one of my favorite recipe books, simple but devastatingly delicious.
Green For Life by Victoria Boutenko the book about my favorite food group, greens!
The Complete Book Of Raw Food a collection of over 400 raw food recipes from all the top raw foodies, it is a “must-have” for anyone who enjoys vegetarian cuisine.
Evie’s Kitchen by Shazzie I’ve already said it, I’ll say it again, “this is one of my favorite books!“
Eating Without Heating by Sergei and Valya Boutenko Yummy, simple, easy recipes to make and as easy to love as the Boutenkos themselves!
Naked Chocolate by David Wolfe and Shazzie watch out, full of chocolate as it was meant to be, raw and free of additives, sugars, waxes and yuckies.
Raw Food, Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow Exotic, rich, and complex, these recipes are for the dedicated kitchen dweller, or the gorgeous raw food photograph lover (full of full color photographs!)
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz I can’t tell you much better my life is with pro-biotics. Find out how simple it is to culture your foods with Sandor Katz.
Water For Health, For Healing, For Life by F. Batmanghelidj something so simple shouldn’t need a book written about it, but it just goes to show that many of us don’t drink enough water. A book has been written about it because it is so important, so drink your water!
A Juice Feaster’s Handbook by Angela Stokes you probably know by now how much I loved Juice Feasting and drinking daily fresh juices. If you are thinking of learning more about it this is a great little book. Also be sure to check out www.JuiceFeasting.com!
INTEGRAL LIFE BOOKS
A Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber this book took my head off, rattled my brain around, and then screwed it back on in much better shape than it was to begin with. Read it read it read it!
January 27, 2010 at 5:06 am
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