Resources for a Natural Pregnancy

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Educate yourself before you give birth! Here are the best books and documentaries to prepare for a natural pregnancy and birth!

Today, I’m so excited to share with you some of my favorite resources for preparing for a natural birth! To be honest, I barely prepared for labor during my first pregnancy. I grew up hearing stories of my mother’s three quick and easy labors, and I just assumed I’d be the same way.

Boy, was I ever wrong! After a 16 1/2-hour, pitocin-augmented, catheter-in-place, medicine-induced hallucinations, 4th-degree-tear labor, my precious baby was born!

I love her birth story. It’s a story all right (and there’s lots more to it than the previous sentence!), but I learned so much through it that really prepared me for how I wanted things to go the second time around.

Reading good books was key. My husband and I didn’t take any childbirth classes (we couldn’t afford them!). I basically self-educated before my second labor, and doing so prepared me for a natural hospital birth.

Without further ado, these are the resources I found most valuable:

1. The Birth Book

Hands down, this is my absolute favorite book to prepare for birth! I find the Sears family very balanced in their thinking. This book is especially helpful for women who desire a natural birth in a hospital setting.

2. Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth

OK, some people will crawl my case when I say this, but there were some parts of this book that I found a little strange. Nevertheless, Ina May is known as the modern midwife icon. Any woman desiring a natural labor should at least skim this book.

3. Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

I’ve had several friends take the widely-known Bradley Method natural childbirth classes. My hubby and I just couldn’t afford them, but the book is chock full of great info–at a fraction of the cost of the classes.

4. The Business of Being Born

A documentary by former talk show host Ricki Lake, this film will make you re-think everything you’ve been taught about the way birth works in the United States. Now, I will say there is leaning towards home births in this video, but my takeaway from it was that I just needed to be very prepared for a hospital birth. I’m not sure if it still is, but when I was pregnant with my toddler this was on Netflix!

5. Orgasmic Birth

I know, I know–the name! Yes, I don’t even like to say it (blush). But this documentary was super helpful when I watched it within days of giving birth to my second child. Now, I won’t say that my birth was all that this dvd portrays it can be, but I utilized many of the breathing and relaxing exercises that I saw the women in this video use. Be warned that this video does contain some nudity!