Hey, mamas (first-timers especially). What are you reading and how do you like it? What are you planning to read?
I just got a basic "starter pack" of books--Sears' Pregnancy and Birth books, Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery, and Birthing from Within. (It occurs to be that what most people would call a "basic starter pack" of books is What to Expect When You're Expecting and an Enfamil pamphlet).
I read the Sears Pregnancy Book through month 3, and actually found him a little disappointingly mainstream for me (you know you've been spending too much time at MDC when...). But Ina May's Guide to Childbirth is wonderful! I especially like her comparison of a standard hospital birth to trying to poop in a brightly lit room, surrounded by strangers shouting at you about how to do it.
I'm also planning on reading Henci Goer's Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way--though that one is more for dh. Our mw also recommend a birth partner book that he's going to read, although I can't remember the name off the top of my head.
So...what's on your bookshelf?
I just got a basic "starter pack" of books--Sears' Pregnancy and Birth books, Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery, and Birthing from Within. (It occurs to be that what most people would call a "basic starter pack" of books is What to Expect When You're Expecting and an Enfamil pamphlet).
I read the Sears Pregnancy Book through month 3, and actually found him a little disappointingly mainstream for me (you know you've been spending too much time at MDC when...). But Ina May's Guide to Childbirth is wonderful! I especially like her comparison of a standard hospital birth to trying to poop in a brightly lit room, surrounded by strangers shouting at you about how to do it.

I'm also planning on reading Henci Goer's Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way--though that one is more for dh. Our mw also recommend a birth partner book that he's going to read, although I can't remember the name off the top of my head.
So...what's on your bookshelf?