I'm not a birth professional, but Jean Hegland's The Life Within is one of my absolute favorites.

"The Life Within explores the astonishing miracle of human conception and gestation from three unique perspectives. Each of its nine chapters corresponds to a month in a typical pregnancy, and describes what is happening during that time from the perspective of the author's own experience as well as through the lenses of medical science, and the stories, customs, and beliefs that people around the world and throughout time have used to attempt to understand where babies come from and how they should be welcomed into the world."

http://www.jeanhegland.com/books/life-within/index.htm

 

subbing

 

ha, subbing because I was on my way here to post this EXACT question!

I'm also not a birth professional, but I'm currently really enjoying 'Brought to Bed'.

 

I'm reading The Doula Guide to Birth now and I'm enjoying it. It will be on my suggested reading list for clients as it's geared towards parents to be but it's an easy read. I really liked Baby Catcher and I read the first few chapters of Lady's Hands, Lyon's Heart last night and really enjoyed it too. Of course I have all the regular stuff to read from my required reading list for doula training, Pushed being my next purchase I think and then Heart and Hands (this doesn't come on Kindle, grrrr).

 

two of my favorites are "Prenatal Yoga & Natural Childbirth" by Jeannine Parvati Baker and "Artemis Speaks" by Nan Koehler. I also really enjoyed "Birth" by Tina Cassidy.

 

baby catcher is an amazing book

a few others

Spiritual Midwifery

the labour progress handbook

Evidence-based Care for Normal Labour and Birth: Skills and best practice for midwives

 

Not specifically pregnancy and birth related, but I just read A New View of a Woman's Body, and it's amazing. It can be a little hard to find, since the last edition was in 1992 I think, but it's well worth it. I am in the middle of Hearts and Hands, and loving that as well. As far as more clinical stuff, I'm reading Oxorn and Foote's Human Labor and Birth. It's really dry, very medical, but it is very in depth and has some good pictures.

 

My 2 favorites are 'The Baby Catcher' (i read it EVERY time i'm pregnant) and 'Pain Free Childbirth'. I also read 'The Red Tent' while pregnant with DS and it really helped me to feel centered to generations of women who had given birth 'at home' and pain free. While many can construe a religious tint to it, i didn't think so because it was about a variety of issues. But i clung to the births and the women giving birth as the tradition in their time on bricks and so on. It really resonated with me.

 

I agree with several of the already mentioned books
Here are some more though I don't know how many can be found for the kindle

A midwife's story Penny Armstrong
Listen to me good, the story of an Alabama midwife, Margret Charles Smith
Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife's Story, Onnie Lee Logan
Why Not Me, Gladys Milton
orlean puckett the life of a mountain midwife
the King's Midwife,
the midwife's tale: an oral history from handy woman to professional midwife by Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter. , this has a similar title to a more famous book so note the whole title, these gals went around and interviewed old midwives in England, I actually wish I could hear the interviews,

This book is old and is on line here and also may be part of google books too, it has some important historic info on how docs of the day ignored midwives better stats and continued to try and get rid of the midwife problem.

White House Conf. on Child Health & Prot Obstetric Education: Report of the Subcommittee on obstetric teaching & education c1932] NY Graphic Html Free CornellU
http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search010homeecoeducationa.asp

 

Thanks mwherbs, I just finished adding every one of those to my amazon wishlist. I'd been stumped on what to read for awhile, but it looks like I'll be busy now!

 

I'm going to add them to my wish list on Amazon too. Thanks. Our doula training group decided to read Birth as an American Rite of Passage now so that's what I got today. It's one of our required reads that no one had read yet.

 

Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper is a great one.

 

Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with Midwife in Mali

Birth As An American Rite of Passage

and one I haven't yet read, but has been on my Amazon wish list for a while:

Birth in Four Cultures: A Crosscultural Investigation of Childbirth in Yucatan, Sweden, Holland, and the United States

(can you tell I like ethnographies!)

 

Birth - The Surprising History of How We Are Born

She Births

Birth Day

Instinctive Birthing

 

Baby Catcher

A Midwife's Story

Giving Birth