Books

Available to borrow

  • By Penny Simkin

    Now fully revised in its 5th edition, The Birth Partner remains the definitive guide to helping a woman through labor and birth, and the essential manual to have at hand during the event. The Birth Partner includes thorough information on:

    • Preparing for labor and knowing when it has begun

    • Normal labor and how to help the woman every step of the way

    • Epidurals and other medications for labor

    • Pitocin and other means, including natural ones, to induce or speed up labor

    • Non-drug techniques for easing labor pain

    • Cesarean birth and complications that may require it

    • Breastfeeding and newborn care

    • and much more!

    For the partner who wishes to be truly helpful in the birthing room, this book is indispensable.

  • By Cynthia Gabriel

    Many mothers-to-be find themselves torn between the desire for a natural childbirth with minimal medical intervention and the peace of mind offered by instant access to life-saving technology that only a hospital can provide. In Natural Hospital Birth, doula Cynthia Gabriel asserts that there is no good reason that women should not be able to have both.

    Cynthia shows expectant mothers what they can do to avoid unnecessary medical interventions and how to take initiative and consciously prepare for the kind of birth they want to have. Also included are inspiring stories from other women who know firsthand that natural birth in the hospital is possible. With this book, mothers-to-be will be equipped with the knowledge they need to ensure a satisfying hospital birth that they will look back on with peace and joy.

  • By Whalley, Simkin, Keppler, & Durham

    A keep-it-simple, just-the-facts guide to pregnancy and childbirth for expectant parents who don’t want to be overwhelmed by too much information.

    This accessible, easy-to-read guide to pregnancy and childbirth is a simplified version of the best-selling “Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn” by the same authors, Janet Whalley, Penny Simkin and Ann Keppler. It is written for expectant parents who want basic, down-to-earth information on how to grow a baby, how to give birth to a baby and how to nourish and nurture a baby. The book includes all the important “do’s” and “don’ts” regarding pregnancy, childbirth and baby care presented in a straightforward and unintimidating way with easy-to-understand language and concepts. The book’s strength is in its readability for parents of all demographic and socio-economic backgrounds.

  • By Ina May Gaskin

    What you need to know to have the best birth experience for you. 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.

    Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:

    • Reducing the pain of labor without drugs--and the miraculous roles touch and massage play

    • What really happens during labor

    • Orgasmic birth & making birth pleasurable

    • Episiotomy--is it really necessary?

    • Common methods of inducing labor--and which to avoid at all costs

    • Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth

    • How to avoid postpartum bleeding--and depression

    • The risks of anesthesia and cesareans--what your doctor doesn’t necessarily tell you

    • The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers

    • How to create a safe, comfortable environment for birth in any setting, including a hospital

    • And much more!

    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.

  • By Genevieve Howland

    With 80 million views on her YouTube channel and even more on MamaNatural.com, Howland's (a.k.a. Mama Natural) funny but informational videos have empowered millions of women to embrace natural pregnancy and parenting. Now Howland is turning to the page, offering up the first week-by-week pregnancy & childbirth book from a natural perspective.

    For the last half-century, control over childbirth has been in favor of doctors. Many pregnancy guides are conventional, fear-based, or written by male physicians deeply entrenched in the medical model of birth.

    But change is underway. A groundswell of women are taking back their pregnancy and childbirth and embracing a natural way. Genevieve Howland, the woman behind the enormously popular Mama Natural website and YouTube channel, has created an inspiring, fun, and informative guide that demystifies natural pregnancy and walks mom through the process one week at a time.

    The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy & Childbirth is the modern (and yet ancient) approach to pregnancy and childbirth. "Natural" recognizes that pregnancy and birth are normal, and that having a baby is a wondrous biological process and rite of passage--not a medical condition. This book draws upon the latest research showing how beneficial and life-changing natural birth is for both babies and moms.

    Full of weekly advice and tips for a healthy pregnancy, Howland details vital nutrition to take, natural remedies for common and troublesome symptoms, as well as the appropriate (and inappropriate) use of interventions.

    Peppered throughout are positive birth and pregnancy stories from women of all backgrounds (and all stages of their natural journey) along with advice and insights from a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) plus a Registered Nurse (RN), doula, and lactation consultant. Encouraging, well-researched, and fun, The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy & Childbirth will be an essential companion for women everywhere to embrace natural pregnancy and reap all the benefits for both baby and mama.

  • By Pam England

    Here is a holistic approach to childbirth that examines this profound rite-of-passage not as a medical event but as an act of self-discovery. Exercises and activities such as journal writing, meditation, and painting will help mothers analyze their thoughts and face their fears during pregnancy. For use during birth, the book offers proven techniques for coping with labor pain without drugs, a discussion of the doctor or midwife’s role, and a look at the father’s responsibilities. Childbirth education should also include what to expect after the baby is born. Here are baby basics, such as how to bathe a newborn, how to get the little one to sleep, and tips for getting nursing off to a good start. Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum is a process of continuous learning and adjustment; Birthing From Within provides the necessary support and education to make each phase of birthing a rewarding experience.

  • By Mohrbacher & Kendall-Tackett

    Breastfeeding may be natural, but it may also be more challenging than you expect. Some mothers encounter doubts and difficulties, from struggling with the first few feedings to finding a gentle and loving way to comfortably wean from the breast.

    This second edition of Breastfeeding Made Simple is an essential guide to breastfeeding that every new and expectant mom should own-a comprehensive resource that takes the mystery out of basic breastfeeding dynamics. Understanding the seven natural laws of breastfeeding will help you avoid and overcome challenges such as low milk production, breast refusal, weaning difficulties, and every other obstacle that can keep you from enjoying breastfeeding your baby.

    Breastfeeding Made Simple will help you to:

    • Find comfortable, relaxing breastfeeding positions

    • Establish ample milk production and a satisfying breastfeeding rhythm with your baby

    • Overcome discomfort and mastitis

    • Use a breast pump to express and store milk

    • Easily transition to solid foods

  • By Klaus, Kennell, & Klaus

    More and more parents-to-be all over the world are choosing the comfort and reassuring support of birth with a trained labor companion called a "doula." This warm, authoritative, and irreplaceable guide completely updates the authors' earlier book, Mothering the Mother, and adds much new and important research. In addition to basic advice on finding and working with a doula, the authors show how a doula reduces the need for cesarean section, shortens the length of labor, decreases the pain medication required, and enhances bonding and breast feeding. The authors, world-renowned authorities on childbirth with combined experience of over 100 years working with laboring women, have made their book indispensable to every woman who wants the healthiest, safest, and most joyful possible birth experience.

  • By: Jenny McCarthy

    Revealing the naked truth about the tremendous joys, the excruciating pains, and the inevitable disfigurement that go along with pregnancy, Jenny McCarthy tells you what you can really expect when you're expecting! From morning sickness and hormonal rage, to hemorrhoids, granny panties, pregnant sex, and the torture and sweet relief that is delivery, Belly Laughs is must-read comic relief for anyone who is pregnant, has ever been pregnant, is trying to get pregnant, or, indeed, has ever been born!

  • by Robert Bucknam M.D. & Gary Ezzo

    Early chapters start with explorations of everyday aspects of infant management such as the three basic elements of daytime activities for newborns: feeding time, waketime, and naptime.

    Practical discussions then focus on broad and niche topics including feeding philosophies, baby sleep problems, baby scheduling challenges, nap routines, sleep training multiples, baby sleeping props, Colic and Reflux and many other dimensions which impact breast feeding schedules, bottle feeding tips and baby sleep training.

    Five resource Appendixes provide additional reference material:

    1) Taking care of baby and mom

    2) A timeline of what to expect and when

    3) Baby Sleep Training Problems and Solutions

    4) Monitoring Your Baby's Growth

    5) Healthy Baby Growth Charts

  • By Patrisia Gonzales

    Patrisia Gonzales addresses "Red Medicine" as a system of healing that includes birthing practices, dreaming, and purification rites to re-establish personal and social equilibrium. The book explores Indigenous medicine across North America, with a special emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales combines her lived experience in Red Medicine as an herbalist and traditional birth attendant with in-depth research into oral traditions, storytelling, and the meanings of symbols to uncover how Indigenous knowledge endures over time. And she shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples.

    For Gonzales, a central guiding force in Red Medicine is the principal of regeneration as it is manifested in Spiderwoman. Dating to Pre-Columbian times, the Mesoamerican Weaver/Spiderwoman—the guardian of birth, medicine, and purification rites such as the Nahua sweat bath—exemplifies the interconnected process of rebalancing that transpires throughout life in mental, spiritual and physical manifestations. Gonzales also explains how dreaming is a form of diagnosing in traditional Indigenous medicine and how Indigenous concepts of the body provide insight into healing various kinds of trauma.

    Gonzales links pre-Columbian thought to contemporary healing practices by examining ancient symbols and their relation to current curative knowledges among Indigenous peoples. Red Medicine suggests that Indigenous healing systems can usefully point contemporary people back to ancestral teachings and help them reconnect to the dynamics of the natural world.

  • By Lily Nichols

    Prenatal nutrition can be confusing. A lot of the advice you have been given about what to eat (or what not to eat) is well-meaning, but frankly, outdated or not evidenced-based. In Real Food for Pregnancy, you will get clear answers on what to eat and why, with research to back up every recommendation. Author and specialist in prenatal nutrition, Lily Nichols, RDN, CDE, has taken a long and hard look at the science and discovered a wide gap between current prenatal nutrition recommendations and what foods are required for optimal health in pregnancy and for your baby's development. There has never been a more comprehensive and well-referenced resource on prenatal nutrition. With Real Food for Pregnancy as your guide, you can be confident that your food and lifestyle choices support a smooth, healthy pregnancy.

  • By: Simkin & Ancheta

    The Labor Progress Handbook: Early Interventions to Prevent and Treat Dystocia is an unparalleled resource on simple, non-invasive interventions to prevent or treat difficult or prolonged labor. Thoroughly updated and highly illustrated, the book shows how to tailor one’s care to the suspected etiology of the problem, using the least complex interventions first, followed by more complex interventions if necessary.