Hot off the press: Babies Are Not Pizzas: They’re Born, Not Delivered! Rebecca Dekker, Ph.D, RN
This book is a memoir by the nurse-researcher who founded Evidence Based Birth. She gave birth to her first baby in a university hospital. Like my first experience giving birth in a teaching hospital, she experienced the cascade of routine obstetric interventions, including continuous electronic fetal monitoring, Pitocin augmentation, confinement to bed, pushing on her back, and separation from her baby after birth. After her birth she questioned whether she had received evidence based maternity care. Through her research she discovered that many routine procedures implemented in hospitals are not based on scientific evidence and may actually cause harm to mothers and babies. She has committed herself to spreading the word about evidence based maternity care and reducing the prevalence of traumatic birth experiences. I highly recommend this book.
Other great books I recommend:
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (Ina May Gaskin)
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering (Sarah J. Buckley)
Mindful Birthing (Nancy Bardacke)
Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn (Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, Ann Keppler, Janelle Durham, April Bolding)
Ancient Map for Modern Birth (Pam England)