Soliciting advice: childbirth educational resources

[kate_nepveu]

It seems like time to start educating myself about childbirth in more depth. Since I will not be taking classes, I am now soliciting recommendations for books, videos, web sites, or similar self-study educational resources about childbirth.

I already own The Pregnancy Book by Sears & Sears and have a recommendation for Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn by Simkin.

IMPORTANT: I remain an unsolicited-advice free zone. Therefore, if you find yourself about to give advice that does not consist of a recommendation for a book, video, web site, or similar self-study educational resource, stop and look up "helpiness." If you continue, realize that you are branding yourself as someone who is deficient in either reading comprehension or basic courtesy. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Comments

[montoya.livejournal.com]

You make things very very hard on people who have natural inclinations to contrariness, you know.

[kate_nepveu]

. . . somehow I didn't imagine this would stop *you*.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I know I already gave you the Simkin title, but I wanted to also say that there's a fantastic companion book for Chad called The Birth Partner.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Comment deleted because it was probably over the line.

[kate_nepveu]

Eh, I didn't think so. But thanks for thinking about it.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine who planned to have a natural childbirth with me present had me read Ina Mae's Guide to Natural Childbirth. My memory is that it was a little bit hippie granola, but not as much as I'd feared, and did a good job of demystifying the process without a bunch of scare stories. It also had a lot of personal accounts. It might be worth a look regardless of what sort of birth you're planning. (Please don't take the rec as advice to go natural.)

For the same purpose, I also read Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent, a widwife's memoir. I recall that it was entertaining, had lots of birth details, and was generally uplifting and positive without being sappy.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks.

[cvantien.livejournal.com]

My anti-recommendation is What To Expect When You're Expecting (http://www.amazon.com/What-Expect-When-Youre-Expecting/dp/0761148574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210728884&sr=8-1) which should be known as "What Can Go Wrong If You Don't Eat Properly". I've heard good things about The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy (http://www.amazon.com/Girlfriends-Guide-Pregnancy-Vicki-Iovine/dp/B000WMKJYS/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210728944&sr=1-1) but not read it myself. Mostly I spent time on misc.kids.pregnancy but that has been taken over by trolls and spammers unfortunately. If you're interested in reading other people's birth stories and/or seeing birth photos then Birth Diaries (http://www.birthdiaries.com/) is a very interesting website.

[kate_nepveu]

Heh. Rivka anti-recommended that to me when I asked, before I was even pregnant! I've never even opened it.

[kate_nepveu]

How is Birth Diaries on the horror story meter?

[cvantien.livejournal.com]

Tends to portray birth positively and you can choose your own level of comfort in terms of graphic photos. I wouldn't point you towards horror stories because you would have heard plenty already I'm sure.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks.

[jimhenley.livejournal.com]

My wife really liked Vicki Iovine's The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. I don't think she was as hot on the sequels, but she really liked the first one.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I recommend lots of ice cream! And chocolate (now with scientific backup!)! And goofing off as furiously as possible!

And I have no books at all to recommend, except possibly a rousing romance novel in which the heroine gets pregnant, never becomes ill, and finds that the chief side effect of her condition is an increased desire for the activity that got her that way. Bonus points for smoldering eyeballs!

[kate_nepveu]

smoldering eyeballs

Ewww!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

_Your Body, Your Baby, Your Life_, the book I couldn't have managed without.

Also on people's "anti-recommendation" of "What to Expect...". I've never read it, but I see that book in every single second hand bookshop I go into, which is not the sign of a good baby book!

[kate_nepveu]

That one may be hard to come by here, but I'll keep it in mind.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

ignore all material on childbirth. then have the epidural. (I did it 3 times!)

wait, are you doing this naturally?

[kate_nepveu]

Did you not read the paragraph that starts, "IMPORTANT:"?

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

oh, picky picky picky.

My advice on books, videos, and websites was on topic. I didn't talk about horses, did I?

[ejmam.livejournal.com]

I liked _Active Birth_ by Janet Balaskas. It's natural childbirth oriented, so your miles may vary. (I have a huge aversion to needles, which I was mostly able to accomodate.)

I remember that Balaskas described things well enough that I could recognize them at the time (things like transition, aka, the realization that you cannot possibly do this). I don't remember it as an anti-epidural creed, but since my mind was made up already I tended to ignore advice either way on that. I reread it before my sister's labor, and it again helped in recognizing what was going on so that we arrived at the hospital on time. I think a big thing I got out of it was that all labors are different as they go through the same basic stages, which I knew but this book made that seem concrete, maybe with examples. (My kids are 9 and 7, so my memory is a bit vague.) I think it has some pre-birth yoga exercises in the back as well. I gave my copy to someone I liked who was pregnant.

Good luck! (or does that count as unsolicited advice? if so, sorry)

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks--my library doesn't have that one in-system, but if I feel the need for additional resources after the others, I'll keep it in mind.