I thought I would share a list of resources I found helpful during my pregnancy and while planning a natural home birth. I hope these help!
Blogs:
I subscribe to all of the natural-birth blogs I can find. Below are my favorites.
My Best Birth-Some of the writing in this sight can be a bit “meh”, but if you liked the multi-writer format of sites like Weddingbee you’ll probably enjoy the real woman perspective of this site with a variety of viewpoints. It’s created by Ricki and Abby, the producer and director ofThe Business of Being Born.
My OB Said What?!?-That Husband frequently has to tell me to stop reading this site because I get really worked up over the ridiculous statements. According to the site description: The purpose of this site is to capture the crazy but true comments said to birthing women by doctors, midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and childbirth educators when they are having their babies!
Public Health Doula-A doula that’s working toward earning a master’s in public health.
Reality Rounds-Written by a nurse, this is a great read for those who want to learn about the current birth culture from someone inside the medical world.
Science & Sensibility-From Lamaze International, my favorite resource for studies and other scientific info.
Stand and Deliver-I believe this writer is LDS, she writes a mix of personal and birth education posts.
The Well-Rounded Mama-A woman who writes about issues that relate specifically to women of size.
Woman to Woman Childbirth Education-Kathy’s posts are my very favorite of all the birth/pregnancy/labor blogs I read. She taught me aboutthis Monty Python skit.
The Unnecesarean-My second favorite. A blog leader in the fight against unnecessary c-sections.
Top 100 Natural Birthing Blogs-If these blogs aren’t enough for you, browse this extensive list (I found most of my favorite birth blogs through this list).
Films:
The Business of Being Born-The most popular and well made film so far that explores the culture of birth in America. Definitely biased, but I still enjoyed it.
Orgasmic Birth-Super touch-feely and lots of talk about the beauty of birth and how wonderful it can be.
Pregnant in America-I didn’t learn anything new, but if you have Netflix on Demand it’s currently available on instant so it might be worth a look.
Being Dad: Inspiration and Information for Dads-to-Be-That Husband is way behind me in terms of birth research, and I had high hopes that this DVD would be something he would be interested in sitting down to watch.
10 Minute Solution: Prenatal Pilates- Not really an educational resource but I thought I’d include it here since it’s been my favorite pregnancy workout DVD by far. I like that I can string together different 10 minute options to create something that feels personalized for the day.
Books:
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth-The first book I finished in my pregnancy and I LOVED it. Really set the stage for the path I’m taking in my pregnancy.
HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method-I still haven’t finished this one, but I think I started too early in my pregnancy, when labor pain management wasn’t at the front of my mind yet.
Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods-I obviously like this one as I’ve been writing a series of posts on how I’ve introduced Nina’s philosophies on nutrition into my diet. I plan on re-reading the nursing/baby’s first foods sections in the next month or so.
The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be, Second Edition-Loaned to me by a friend, I tried to read this one when TH was around so I could yell out relevant things to him, in the hope that he would absorb some of the things I was telling him.
The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night-Read almost all of it in one sitting, and I plan on mixing the methods she suggests with my next read, The Happiest Baby on the Block
Your Pregnancy Week By Week-Picked this one up at a used book store for like $5 and I really like picking it up every once in awhile and reading where the baby is and the different milestones. I disagree with the things it says pretty frequently so I move on or do some research to figure out where I stand on the issue.
Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities: A Guide to the Medical Literature-Costs as much as a few of my college textbooks but so chock full of information I could read it several times in a row without getting bored. If you really want to learn about the medical/scientific research and analyses behind birth I would recommend buying it, otherwise check it out from the library if you can find it. Of course if you’re looking for “The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy” or whatever that popular book is, this is NOT it.
Misc:
Pregtastic-Though the website hasn’t been updated for a month (I even emailed them to ask if the show wasn’t being produced anymore!), the past episodes are a phenomenal resource, in my opinion. I wrote about my favorite episodes here.
Google-Research everything. Everything your doctor suggests, everything you hear. When trying to decide if you trust the information look for articles written for large news outlets, links to studies, and other credible sources. Usually forums and message boards are not the best source of factual information.
