Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas. Lisa Doran & Lisa Caron, Editors, $19.95

Bearing Witness is an anthology written by doulas — women working with birthing families. These stories speak of the joy and also of the frustration that comes with the job. Sometimes funny, often difficult to hear, the tales told in Bearing Witness bring a new dimension to our understanding of modern birth practices.

• Men's Health
• Women's Health
• Becoming an Informed Patient
• Nutrition
• Fitness
• Medications/Herbs
• Personal Readiness

Better Breastfeeding: a Mother’s Guide to Feeding and Nutrition. Daina Kalnins, et al, $24.95

Despite a mother's best intentions, breastfeeding can prove to be challenging for both new and experienced mothers. In a friendly, informative and easy-to-read manner, Better Breastfeeding addresses the concerns, problems and issues breastfeeding mothers face and answers the most commonly asked questions. Some of the issues that are addressed include:

• Knowing if the baby is getting enough milk
• Plugged ducts and breast infection
• Nursing strike, thrush, and twins or multiples
• Challenges of latching
• Sore nipples and engorgement
• Going back to work.

The authors also provide 125 recipes for the breastfeeding mother that serve her unique needs and, ultimately, those of her baby.

Better Food for Pregnancy: Nutrition Guide Plus Over 125 Recipes for Healthy Pregnancy and Breastfeeding. Daina Kalnins & Joanne Saab, $27.95

Pregnancy is not a time for guesswork about nutrition. Expecting women have specific nutritional needs and will find it useful to have a sensible guide to this vital information.

Better Food for Pregnancy is that guide. Written by experts on staff at the renowned Hospital for Sick Children, this book is comprehensive and authoritative. The first half of the book addresses:

• nutritional needs before conception and during each trimester
• how a mother's diet affects growth of the fetus
• healthy weight gains through each trimester
• nutritional supplements including vitamins, minerals, and herbs
• effects of particular foods, such as coffee, un-pasteurized cheeses & alcohol
• increased nutrient requirements needed during lactation

The second half of the book features 125 recipes ideally suited to expectant mothers. Each recipe has a complete nutrient analysis plus there are handy meal plans and Snacks on the Go that help prevent nausea and vomiting. Every page of the nutrition section is packed with tips, sidebars, recommendations, and common-sense guidelines presented in easy-to-use tables and charts.

Big, Beautiful & Pregnant. Cornelia Van der Ziel & Jacqueline Tourville, $20.50

Expert advice and information for the plus-size woman on fertility, pregnancy, birth and early postpartum.

Birth Day: a Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History and the Wonder of Childbirth. Mark Sloan, $28.00

In Birth Day, pediatrician Mark Sloan weaves memoir, history, science, and culture into a fascinating — and often funny — tapestry of this fundamental human passage. Birth Day takes the reader on a remarkable journey, from the dawn of human history to the quiet efficiency of a modern operating room. Delightfully instructive and entertaining, Birth Day offers a fresh, sometimes irreverent take on a universally familiar topic — a meditation on the hiding-in-plain-sight marvels of human birth.

Birth Dialogue: a Documentary. Miri Urman & Amit Miller, $29.95 DVD 52 minutes

Birth Dialogue follows a couple living a non-traditional lifestyle, making uncommon choices as they navigate pregnancy and the homebirth of their first child. Filmed in Tel Aviv, the DVD is in Hebrew, with English subtitles.

The Birth House. Ami McKay, $29.95

The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of Rares. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing. Dora becomes Miss B’s apprentice, and together they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labours, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives. Filled with details as compelling as they are surprising, The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.

Birth Models That Work. Robbie Davis-Floyd, Lesley Barclay, Betty-Anne Daviss & Jan Tritten, Editors, $33.95

This groundbreaking book takes us around the world in search of birth models that work in order to improve the standard of care for mothers and families everywhere. The contributors describe examples of maternity services from both developing countries and wealthy industrialized societies that apply the latest scientific evidence to support and facilitate normal physiological birth; deal appropriately with complications; and generate excellent birth outcomes—including psychological satisfaction for the mother. The book concludes with a description of the ideology that underlies all these working models—known internationally as the midwifery model of care.

Birthing Fathers: the Transformation of Men in American Rites of Birth. Richard Reed, $25.95

Anthropologist Richard Reed takes a fascinating look at men’s roles in childbirth and the ways in which the birth of a child transforms a man’s identity and his relations with his partner, his new baby and society. Drawing on the feminist critique of the medicalization of birth, he argues that the clinical nature of medical interventions and a medical model of childbirth distances fathers from the birth — despite the fact that fathers are welcomed into the birthing unit.

Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers. Nancy Mohrbacher & Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, $21.95

Two breastfeeding specialists team up to provide expectant and new mothers with a set of seven basic principles that they need to breastfeed successfully. Breastfeeding Made Simple offers straightforward advice, effective and common-sense techniques and wonderful insights into the baby's needs.

Brought to Earth by Birth. Harriette Hartigan, $35.50

This stunning collection of black and white photographs by one of the world’s master birth photographers celebrates giving birth and being born.

Canada’s Pregnancy Care Book. Mount Sinai Hospital Toronto, Michèle Farrugia, Jacqueline Thomas & Paul Bernstein, $34.95

Written by three leading obstetricians and researchers, this balanced, practical and informative  guide to everything related to pregnancy takes readers from preconception through to the birth of their newborn.

The Community-Based Doula: Supporting Families Before, During, and After Childbirth. Rachel Abramson, Ginger Breedlove, & Beth Isaacs. $25.95

In The Community-Based Doula, the authors highlight how Chicago Health Connection’s community-based doula model extends this role into a long-term relationship, providing support during pregnancy, birth, and the early months of parenting. This book provides research-based evidence of the profound effects doulas can have in the lives of mothers, newborns, their families, and their communities. It also serves as a call to action. The Community-Based Doula provides information and analysis to help social support, home-visiting, and medical and nursing care programs to find new ways to address the needs of birthing families and to relate to the culture, values, and language of young mothers who face difficult challenges.

The Complete Guide to Everyday Risks in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding: Answers to Your Questions about Morning Sickness, Medications, Herbs, Diseases, Chemical Exposures & More. Dr. Gideon Koren & the Motherisk Program at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. $24.95

Recognized throughout the world, the Motherisk program at the Hospital for Sick Children provides counseling based on the most up-to-date information on substances or environmental factors that can cause birth defects. It's the largest program of its kind worldwide and has counseled over half a million women and their families and health professionals. Now this information has been compiled in a single, easy-to-understand volume that offers authoritative descriptions of the risks during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It is an invaluable and comprehensive reference for expecting and lactating mothers and their health care providers.

A Deeper Shade of Blue: a Woman's Guide to Recognizing and Treating Depression in Her Childbearing Years. Ruta Nonacs, $17.50

Depression affects women almost twice as often as men and while depression may strike at any time, studies show that women are particularly vulnerable during their childbearing years. Dr. Ruta Nonacs, a senior member of the Center for Women's Mental Health at Massachusetts General Hospital and mother of two children herself, confronts the issues of pregnancy-related depression, including:

• Becoming pregnant while being treated for depression and depression during pregnancy
• Pregnancy loss
• Infertility-related depression and the effects of fertility treatments
• Understanding the effects of maternal depression on spouses and family
• Postpartum depression and anxiety

Dr. Nonacs also looks at many of the complicating factors that occur during the span of a woman’s childbearing years including education, career, marriage, and child rearing and discusses how depression often takes hold during potentially stressful times. Honest and compassionate, A Deeper Shade of Blue gives women who are experiencing a pregnancy-related depression the information and support they need to realize the best possible outcome.

The Disabled Woman's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth. Judith Rogers, $38.95

This comprehensive and useful guide is based on the experiences of ninety women with disabilities who chose to have children. In order to bring an intimate focus and understanding to the issues involved in being pregnant and disabled, author Judith Rodgers conducted in-depth interviews with women with 22 different types of disabilities and with a total of 143 pregnancies. Thoroughly researched and informative, this book is a practical guide both for disabled women planning for pregnancy and the health professionals who work with them.

The Disabled Woman's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth supports the right of all women to choose motherhood, and will be useful for any disabled woman who desires to have a child. Empathetic, balanced, comprehensive, and practical, this guide provides all the facts needed by disabled women and their families. It stresses the importance of informed communication among the pregnant woman, her family members, and health care professionals. It is the only book that answers critical questions and provides guidance for the woman with a disability facing one of the biggest challenges of her life.

Author Judith Rogers, who is disabled and has two children, is the pregnancy and parenting specialist at Through the Looking Glass, a National Resource Center located in Berkeley, California.

Doulas’ Guide to Birthing Your Way. Jan Mallak & Teresa Bailey, $24.95

Knowing what to anticipate and having a birth vision will help you take control of your birth and make educated decisions should the need arise. Doulas’ Guide to Birthing Your Way leads you step-by-step through the birth process so you’ll know what to expect.

The Everything® Father-to-Be Book: a Survival Guide for Men, 2nd Edition. Kevin Nelson, $18.50

Advice and tips from dads who’ve been there — this useful guide gives you everything you need to be a perfect partner and super dad.

Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: a Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Practices. Sarah Buckley, $19.95

Sarah Buckley might be called a third-wave natural birth advocate. A doctor and a mother, she approaches the question of how a woman and baby might have the most fulfilling birth experience with respect for the wisdom of both medical science and the human body. Using current medical and epidemiological research plus women's experiences, she demonstrates that what she calls "undisturbed birth" is almost always healthier and safer than high-technology approaches to birth. Her wise counsel on issues like breastfeeding and sleeping during postpartum helps extend the gentle birth experience into a gentle parenting relationship.

Gestational Diabetes: What to Expect, 5th edition. American Diabetes Association, $12.95

This newly revised and comprehensive guide for women with gestational diabetes explains what it is and how it might affect the baby, mother and the birth. This new edition includes numerous sample meal plans as well as information on exercise, insulin therapy and on monitoring blood glucose levels.

Developed for both families and health care professionals, this inspiring video tells the stories of four couples and their postpartum experiences. In a compassionate and practical manner, this video discusses the signs and symptoms of PDD; everyday coping skills; breastfeeding while on medication; the importance of support for mothers; cultural expectations and the knowledge that postpartum mood disorders do subside.

Homebirth in the Hospital: Integrating Natural Childbirth with Modern Medicine. Stacey Marie Kerr, $17.95

Homebirth in the Hospital is a wonderful blend of birth-stories, compassionate and inspiring ideas and woman-centered care. This book demonstrates what is possible when caregivers and clients work together to honour the birthing process.

Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding, 2nd Edition. Linda Smith, $54.95

Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding examines the research and evidence connecting birth practices to breastfeeding outcomes.  It takes an in-depth look at the post-birth experiences of the mother and baby, using the baby’s ability to breastfeed as the vehicle, the mother’s lactation capacity as a factor, and the intact mother-baby dyad as the model to address birth practices that affect breastfeeding.  

The 2nd Edition has been completely revised to include new information on infant outcomes, including epidural anesthesia and Cesarean surgery, clinical strategies for helping the mother and baby recover from birth injuries, medications and complications, and information on the World Health Organization’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative with its Mother-Friendly Childbirth Module.

It’s My Body, My Baby, My Birth: a Film about Natural Childbirth. Wisewoman Childbirth Traditions, $12.50 (DVD format, 27 minutes)

An educational birth film that tells the story of seven mothers and their emotional journeys to natural childbirth. Beautifully filmed, the DVD presents the views and experiences of mothers, their partners (including one lesbian couple), midwives, an obstetrician and a childbirth educator. Each woman’s story is unique and powerful. Pain, safety and fear are all addressed in this compelling film.

Kangaroo Babies: a Different Way of Mothering. Nathalie Charpak, $29.95

Providing a history and a beautifully illustrated practical guide to kangaroo mothering, this book explains the approach that is changing the way mothers relate to newborn babies and improving the way hospitals treat premature babies and their parents.

The Mama Bamba Way: the Power and Pleasure of Natural Childbirth. Robyn Sheldon, $21.95

The core tools offered in this peaceful book are meditative awareness, relaxation and deep exploration of the unconscious mind — so that no matter what unfolds birth is a satisfying experience.

Maternity Rolls: Pregnancy, Childbirth and Disability. Heather Kuttai, $18.95

Heather Kuttai, a spinal cord injured mother of two, has written a beautiful, poignant and insightful book that will challenge readers to rethink their preconceived and socially accepted notion of what it means to live with a disability — and what it means to become a mother.

My Pregnancy Journal. $25.95

A beautiful keepsake book for recording a mother’s thoughts, experiences and plans during pregnancy.

The One Best Way? Breastfeeding History, Politics and Policy in Canada. Tasnim Nathoo & Aleck Ostry, $24.95

In recent years, breastfeeding has been prominently in the public eye in relation to debates on issues ranging from parental leave policies, work/family balance, public decency, the safety of our food supply, and public health concerns such as health care costs and the obesity “epidemic.”

Breastfeeding has officially been considered “the one best way” for feeding infants for the past 150 years of Canadian history. This book examines the history and evolution of breastfeeding policies and practices in Canada from the end of the nineteenth century to the turn of the twenty-first. The authors’ historical approach allows current debates to be situated within a broader social, political, cultural, and economic context. Drawing upon government reports, academic journals, archival sources, and interviews with policy-makers and breastfeeding advocates, the authors trace trends, patterns, ideologies, and policies of breastfeeding in Canada.

Whether you have type 1, type 2 or develop gestational diabetes, 101 Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy with Diabetes is a comprehensive and practical guide to pre-conception care, pregnancy, nutrition, medications, diabetes care, labour, postpartum and much more. 101 Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy with Diabetes answers your questions so you and your baby can be healthy throughout the pregnancy.

The Penguin Book of Baby Names for Canadians. $16.00

The Penguin Book of Baby Names for Canadians guides you through the process of choosing a name for your newborn with helpful naming hints, advice on name pronunciation and origins, and culturally diverse names. It's also full of useful lists, including the most popular names in Canada by province; names of famous Canadians — and what famous Canadians are naming their children.

Planning to get pregnant or having difficulty conceiving? This ten-step guide gives research-based information and guidance on everything for foods that boost fertility to IVF options.

Pregnancy Blues: What Every Woman Needs to Know about Depression During Pregnancy. Shaila Kulkarni Misri, $21.00

The numbers are surprising: up to 70 percent of pregnant women experience some degree of depressive symptoms and of those, 12 percent meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression. Although it is at least as common as postpartum depression, which occurs after a child's birth, pregnancy-related depression is often cloaked in silence, shame, and denial. Pregnancy Blues lifts the veil on this heartbreaking and very treatable illness, examining the key social and biological factors that can come together during pregnancy to create a climate in which depression thrives, as well as offering the many effective treatments that are available.

Pregnancy and Childbirth: a Holistic Approach to Massage and Bodywork. Suzanne Yates, $63.95

Western and eastern approaches to perinatal care are brought together to provide a solid base of theoretical and practical information for bodywork practitioners. Pregnancy and Childbirth: a Holistic Approach to Massage and Bodywork describes in detail the application of massage and shiatsu from early pregnancy, through labour and up to the end of the mother’s first postnatal year.

Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn: the Complete Guide, 4th Edition. Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, Ann Keppler, Janelle Durham & April Bolding, $19.95

This highly accessible and authoritative new edition of Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn presents research-based information on all aspects of childbearing – from conception through early infancy. Well organized, it includes engaging photos, illustrations and boxed features that highlight important information and advice to help you make informed decisions about your care. With appendices that include footnotes and research references as well as a glossary and summaries of pain relief methods for labour, this is tremendously complete resource for expectant and new parents.

Push! The Struggle for Midwifery in Ontario. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, $29.95

In the 1980s there were few midwives in Canada and their practice was neither legal nor officially recognized. Ontario midwives and their supporters pushed to integrate midwifery into provincial health care systems and by 1993 had established an internationally renowned model. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault analyses the struggle to professionalize midwifery in the context of the negotiations between women, as both consumers and providers of health care, and the state.

Push! offers a historical account of the forces behind the integration of midwifery in Ontario, including public interest in funding midwifery services and the impact of political lobbying. Bourgeault also explores the specific features of Ontario's respected model, including the use of independent practitioners, funding for a self-regulatory college, a university-based education program, and the provision of midwifery care in both home and hospital settings.

Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby's First Foods. Nina Planck, $18.50

Food activist Nina Planck has never been one to blindly accept common wisdom, so when she became pregnant, she decided to look at the nutritional advice recommended for pregnancy. What she found was surprising: advice that is occasionally inaccurate and often impossible. In Real Food for Mother and Baby Nina explains why commonly held ideas about pregnancy and infant nutrition are misguided and how real food is good for growing minds and bodies. The general rules aren't surprising but some of the details might be.

Filled with reassuring advice for parents who want to grow their children on a diet of whole and natural foods, Real Food for Mother and Baby is a must-have.

The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians: How to Stay Sane and Care for Yourself from Preconception through Birth. Rachel Pepper, $22.95

The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians will guide you every step of the way, from your first ovulation kit right up through the first weeks after your baby's birth. This lively, easy-to-read guide is the first place to go for up-to-date information and sage advice on everything you need to know. New topics in this revised edition include:

• Preconception planning for both singles and couples
• Latest information on fertility drugs
• Sex, desire, and self-esteem during pregnancy
• Protecting your legal rights as a lesbian family
• Negotiating family roles

Lucy Puryear is a practicing psychiatrist and a pioneering expert in women's reproductive mental health. Through engaging personal stories reflecting her own practice, she illuminates the little-discussed feelings that are virtually universal for pregnant women and explains exactly what is happening to your hormonal system. Understanding Your Moods When You're Expecting gives readers the knowledge they need during this emotionally demanding time in their lives.

When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy. Barbara Luke & Tamara Eberlein, $25.99

This practical, nutrition-based program has been used to lower the common complications of a multiple pregnancy, resulting in healthier babies.

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (Second Edition). Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English, $10.95

Witches, Midwives & Nurses, first published by the Feminist Press in 1973, is an essential book about the corruption of the medical establishment and its historic roots in witch-hunts. In this new edition, Ehrenreich and English add an entirely new section delving into the current fascination with and controversies about witches, exposing our fears and fantasies. They build on their classic exposé of the demonization of women healers, and the political and economic monopolization of medicine.

Your Best Birth. Ricki Lake & Abby Epstein, $25.99

Expectant and birthing mothers are often left feeling powerless, as their instincts are replaced by drugs and routine medical procedures. In Your Best Birth, advocates of informed choice Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein inspire women to take back the birth experience. You have a choice, and you have the power to plan the kind of birth that's right for you — whether it is at a birth center, a hospital, or at home.

The book includes inspiring birth stories and is packed with crucial advice from childbirth professionals, all delivered in a down-to-earth, engaging voice. Your Best Birth is sure to renew your confidence and put the control back where it belongs: with you!

Also Available: The Business of Being Born. Ricki Lake & Abby Epstein, $24.95 DVD (84 minutes)

Entertaining and hugely informative, The Business of Being Born offers insight into childbirth in North America today and what women really need to know about in order to make informed decisions about their pregnancy, labour and delivery.