Books and Resources I Love!

I believe that one of the main keys to understanding and/or having a positive birth experience is educating oneself.  Because of the paradigms we grow up with in our society, most of us had a skewed perception about what birth is all about to start with.  The dramatized depictions of childbirth in the movies and the emphasis on the management of pain has caused most women to see childbirth as a fearful event.  When I started reading, I could not put the books down and I was opened up to a whole new world of possibilities.  These are my top picks and resources that I would recommend as worthwhile:

• Here's an easy and great one to start with...a documentary called The Business of Being Born. And it's on Netflix!
• Birthing From Within by Pam England.  While a lot of pregnancy material you get talks about the physiological aspects of giving birth, this book addressed the emotional and psychological aspect for me.  Biggest influence in my second birth!
• The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer.  Every topic you want to know about is very well laid out in this book.  Very informative.
• Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin.  Ina May...though very much a hippy (just makes you have to smile), is a modern pioneer of natural childbirth.  What an amazing woman full of knowledge and trust in women's bodies.  
• The Gift of Giving Life - Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth - This is a book compiled by several LDS women (one of them whom lives in Pocatello and I have become acquainted with) that contains birth stories from LDS women as well as essays on many birthing topics from a spiritual perspective.  As LDS women who believe in having children, of course we would want to gain insight on the spiritual nature of pregnancy and birth!  They also have a website and blog:  thegiftofgivinglife.com, which has some resources and excerpts from the book that you can read.