Barbara Harper - Gentle Birth Choices: A Comprehensive Book and Video Guide Making Informed Decisions About Birthing Centers, Birth Attendants, Water Birth, Home Birth, Hospital Birth

Pros: A great book for a natural birth pep talk
Cons: A bit too touchy feely and biased towards natural birth

By the time I was pregnant with my 3rd child, I already knew a lot about childbirth. But one day I was browsing the library shelves and looking over their pregnancy books, looking for something new to read that would start to put me in “birthing” mode. ...

Pros: comprehensive, lots of historical info
Cons: none found yet

This is a very comprehensive guide to making informed decisions about birthing centers, birth attendants, water birth, home birth or hospital birth.

The introduction tells the story of how the birth experiences of the author inspired her to...

Pros: Offers information on choices that other childbirth books don't usually cover
Cons: Some information is dated, such as state information about midwifery

One of my often-told childbirth ditties is something that Erma Bombeck wrote about in one of her books. Erma Bombeck related the experience of subjecting herself to numerous vaginal exams during the birth of her baby at a hospital. All day long, it was...

Pros: Opens the windows of possibilities regarding birthing
Cons: No cons

There is no book that I recommend more regularly to pregnant women than "Gentle Birth Choices". There is also a video by the same name which is fabulous. I recommend viewing the video first and then following it up with the book, which...