Tree of Life Midwifery

Here are some of my favorites. I’ll be adding new book reviews in the future so check back soon.

Pregnancy and Childbirth
* Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth Ina May Gaskin. 2003.
* Special Delivery Rahima Baldwin. 1991.
* Immaculate Deception II: Myth, Magic & Birth Suzanne Arms. 1994.
* Transformation Through Birth Claudia Panuthos. 1984.
* Birth As An American Rite of Passage Robbie E. Davis-Floyd. 1993.
* The Thinking Woman’s Guide to A Better Birth Henci Goer. 1999.
* Your Baby, Your Way: Making Pregnancy Decisions and Birth Plans (1987) and Rediscovering Birth (2001) Sheila Kitzinger.

How Birth Affects Babies
* Birth Without Violence Frederick LeBoyer. Revised 2nd Edition, 2002.
* Ghosts From the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence Robin Karr-Morse, S. Wiley, T. Berry Braselton. 1999.
* Your Amazing Newborn Marshall Klaus and Phyllis Klaus. 2000.

Exercise and Diet
* Prenatal Yoga and Natural Birth Jeanine Parvati-Baker.

Breastfeeding
* Babies, Breastfeeding and Bonding Ina May Gaskin. 2000.
* Bestfeeding: Getting Breastfeeding Right for You Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher, Suzanne Arms. 2000.
* The Nursing Mother’s Companion Kathleen Huggins, Harriet Hartigan. 1999.

Herbals
* Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year Susun S. Weed. 1985.
* Herbal Healing for Women Rosemary Gladstar. 1993.

Fertility and Family Planning
* Your Fertility Signals: Using Them to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy Naturally. Merryl Weinstein. 1991.

Pregnancy and childbirth are normal life events, not medical conditions.

A woman’s body is perfectly designed to give birth. This process works best when interference is kept to a minimum. It is our cultural conditioning, fear, poor health habits and intervention in normal birth that make birth difficult often requiring more intervention, including surgery.

Perfect health is our natural state of being. When we work to align ourselves with natural laws, we regain our health and ALL functions of our bodies begin to work normally. This is a holistic, preventative approach to healing. This is the midwifery approach to childbirth.

There are many wonderful authors who have done exhaustive research to explain the differences between the midwifery model of care and the medical model. Suzanne Arms, Henci Goer, Ina May Gaskin, Sheila Kitzinger are a few of my favorites. I strongly urge you to read their books.

For a list of these and other great books, see Tree of Life Midwifery: Recommended Books.