Let’s start with the assumption that pregnancy is amazing. If you are pregnant right now and you haven’t taken time yet today to remember that, just pause. Close your eyes and breathe. Feel your belly and your baby and remind yourself how amazing pregnancy is.
As told to me by a midwife I knew well during my pregnancy, Jeannine Parvati Baker, “Most women stop giving birth just when they get good at it.”
Love every minute you can, and surround yourself with those who will remind you live in the moment because this phase of your life passes very quickly.
You don’t need yet another mainstream voice telling you that pregnancy is anything but amazing. The fact that your body is building a human being outweighs the petty discomforts of pregnancy—most of the time. Yes, take care of yourself. Better yet, get your partner to take care of you. You deserve all of the pampering you can get right now. So, support your belly, moisturize your skin as it stretches, and grab a cup of nutritious tea because I want you to sit down with those comforting voices that will remind you to enjoy your pregnancy.
These are a few books you can count on to trust and empower you as a pregnant woman.
Sacred Pregnancy
Annie Daulter
Sacred Pregnancy by Anni Daulter offers mothers-to-be the kind of spiritual, emotional guidebook they have hoped for in their special journey of pregnancy. With generous journaling space, key practical advice, inspiring photography and thoughtful contributions from leaders in midwifery and childbirth such as Ina May Gaskin and Anna Getty, this book touches on every personal milestone of the full gestation period of a pregnancy.
Each week the mother-to-be is given specific, helpful information on her baby, her body, and her spirit, and is asked to reflect on these via the topic of the week, which touches on such issues as sexuality, fears about labour, becoming a mother, courage, rite of passage, adornment, body image, meditation, and sisterhood, to name a few. Sacred Pregnancy is not only a grounding companion through the pregnancy and childbirth process, but can be a precious and beautiful keepsake for a mother’s unique birth story, a gift to share down the road. Sacred Pregnancy includes a large resource section on various birthing options and support for pregnancy women.
Review by Ricki Lake, actress, and Abby Epstein, filmmaker, The Business of Being Born: “Pregnancy is such an amazing time in a woman’s life and should be honoured and valued. Sacred Pregnancy helps empower women and encourages them to personall reflect on their internal process before having children. This is a beautiful gift to all pregnant women!”
Review by Mayim Bialik, actress and author of Beyond the Sling:
“I wish I had read Sacred Pregnancy when I was pregnant instead of the dozen books I had to piece together to try to make sense of it all. Anni Daulter has created what should be the new standard for today’s mom: birth journals, labour workbooks, pregnancy memoirs, and holistic wisdom. It is gentle and enlightening, and lays the foundation for what we know helps women have the labour and birth they want and deserve: support, self-knowledge, and empowerment.”
The Birth Book by Dr. Sears
William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N.
The Birth Book by Dr. Sears is a comprehensive, reassuring, and authoritative guide to childbirth. It is rich in information as well as inspiration that enables you to plan and create the birth you want.
Since women enjoy more birthing options today than ever before, the path toward a safe and satisfying birth can be fraught with important decisions. Planning, understanding the resources available to you, as well as developing your own birthing philosophy can make all the difference. This book explores the abundant choices couples face when anticipating the birth of their child.
Review from NOM, a bynature.ca customer:
“I was scared of birth, so I wanted a book that was not going to terrify me with horror stories (like “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”). This book was amazing. I learned a lot of essential things, and the language used was positive and reassuring. The authors definitely have the mentality that birth is an amazing experience that every woman CAN do WITHOUT interventions. I loved that.”
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
Ina May Gaskin
Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.
Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention.
We know we can’t compete with megabookstores at bynature.ca, and we don’t try. What we do is choose carefully the few books that we offer, so you know that our books will support you in your desire to parent naturally.
