Arms Wide Open: a Midwife’s Journey. Patricia Harman, $19.00

In this prequel to her popular book THE BLUE COTTON GOWN, Patricia Harman reaches back to her youthful experiments with a fully sustainable and natural life in the 1960s and’70s. Living in rural Minnesota, on a commune in Ohio, forming alliances with the antiwar counterculture, this self-taught midwife delivered babies in cabins and on farms — sometimes in harrowing conditions. 

This memoir is a riveting reminder of an era of activism and protest, and of the challenges of a passionate life.

At Work in the Field of Birth: Midwifery Narratives of Nature, Tradition, and Home. Margaret MacDonald, $32.95

At Work in the Field of Birth is an ethnographic study of midwifery in Canada in the wake of its historic transition from the margins as a grassroots social movement devoted to low-tech, woman-centered care to a regulated profession within the public health care system.

Through stories about becoming and being a midwife and stories about receiving midwifery care, MacDonald presents contemporary midwifery as a complex cultural system in which “nature” and “tradition” emerge as dynamic social categories of meaning and experience.

Birth and Breastfeeding: Rediscovering the Needs of Women During Pregnancy and Childbirth. Michel Odent, $29.95

Humanity, argues Michel Odent, stands at a crossroads in the history of childbirth — and the direction we choose to take will have critical consequences.

At a time when pleas for the 'humanization' of childbirth are fashionable, the author suggests, rather, that we should first accept our 'mammalian' condition and give priority to the woman's need for privacy and to feel secure. The activity of the intellect, the use of language, and many cultural beliefs and rituals — which are all special to humans — are handicaps in the period surrounding birth. Says Odent:

“To give birth to her baby, the mother needs privacy. She needs to feel unobserved. The newborn baby needs the skin of the mother, the smell of the mother, her breast. These are all needs that we hold in common with the other mammals, but which humans have learned to neglect, to ignore or even deny."

Expectant parents, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, those involved in public health, and all those interested in the future of humanity, will find this a provocative and visionary book.

Birth Crisis. Shelia Kitzinger, $36.95

One new mother in twenty is diagnosed with traumatic stress after childbirth. In Birth Crisis, Sheila Kitzinger explores the disempowerment and anxiety experienced by these women. Key topics discussed include:

• increasing intervention in pregnancy
• the shift in emphasis from relationships to technology in childbirth
• how family, friends and professional caregivers can reach out to traumatized mothers
• how women can work through stress to understand themselves more deeply and grow in emotional maturity
• how care and the medical system needs to be changed.

Birth Crisis draws on mothers' voices and real-life experiences to explore the suffering after childbirth which has traditionally been brushed under the carpet. It is a fascinating and useful resource for student and practicing midwives, all health professionals, and women and their families who want to learn how to overcome a traumatic birth.

Birth Models That Work. Robbie Davis-Floyd, Lesley Barclay, Betty-Anne Daviss & Jan Tritten, Editors, $39.95

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.

Birth & Sex: the Power and the Passion. Sheila Kitzinger, $19.95

Birth and sex are often talked about as if they were contrasting experiences. In fact, they each involve the same rush of hormones in an action drama in which mind and body work in harmony.  In this compelling and controversial new book Sheila Kitzinger explores the complexity and depth of female sexuality during pregnancy, birth, and after the baby comes. She shows what can be done to create an environment in which a woman is able to trust her instincts and be confident in her body. By rediscovering the power and passion in our bodies, we can reclaim the spontaneity and sexual ecstasy of childbirth.

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin & the Farm Midwives. A film by Sara Lamm & Mary Wigmore, $24.95 (Not available for classroom use or public viewing. For Home Use only.)

BIRTH STORY captures a spirited group of women who taught themselves how to deliver babies on a 1970s hippie commune, rescued modern midwifery from extinction, and changed the way a generation thought about childbirth. Today, these women labour on – fighting to preserve their knowledge, and pushing once again for the rebirth of birth.

Birth Territory and Midwifery Guardianship: Theory for Practice, Education and Research. Kathleen Fahy, Maralyn Foureur & Caroline Hastie, $43.95

Midwives and other healthcare providers are grappling with the issue of rising intervention rates in childbirth and trying to identify ways to reverse the trend. It is increasingly accepted that intervention in childbirth has long-term consequences for women and their children. Birth Territory provides practical, evidence-based ideas for restructuring the birth territory to facilitate normal birth.

The Blue Cotton Gown: a Midwife’s Memoir. Patricia Harman, $19.00

Nurse-midwife Patsy Harman tells intimate stories, both heartbreaking and uplifting, that are compassionate reflections of her life as a midwife and the lives of the women she has worked with.

BLINDSPOT: Hidden Biases of Good People. Mahzarin Banaji & Anthony Greenwald, $32.00

I know my own mind.
I am able to assess others in a fair and accurate way.

These self-perceptions are challenged by leading psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald as they explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality.

“Blindspot” is the authors’ metaphor for the portion of the mind that houses hidden biases. Writing with simplicity and verve, Banaji and Greenwald question the extent to which our perceptions of social groups — without our awareness or conscious control — shape our likes and dislikes and our judgments about people’s character, abilities, and potential.

In BLINDSPOT, the authors reveal hidden biases based on their experience with the Implicit Association Test, a method that has revolutionized the way scientists learn about the human mind and that gives us a glimpse into what lies within the metaphoric "Blindspot". The title’s “good people” are those of us who strive to align our behavior with our intentions. The aim of BLINDSPOT  is to explain the science in plain enough language to help well-intentioned people achieve that alignment. By gaining awareness, we can adapt beliefs and behavior and “outsmart the machine” in our heads so we can be fairer to those around us. Venturing into this book is an invitation to understand our own minds. Brilliant, authoritative, and utterly accessible, BLINDSPOT is a book that will challenge and change readers for years to come.

The Business of Baby. Jennifer Margulia, $29.99

What doctors don’t tell you, what corporations try to sell you, and how to put your pregnancy, childbirth, and baby before the bottom line.

Caregiving on the Periphery: Historical Perspectives on Nursing and Midwifery in Canada. Edited by Myra Rutherdale, $34.95

An informative collection of fascinating works, Caregiving on the Periphery provides insight into the history of medicine in Canada and the long-established importance of women for the country's wellbeing.

Childbirth in the Age of Plastics. Michel Odent, $21.95

The development of plastics has been a primary factor influencing the course of modern medicine. Where obstetrics is concerned, a typical modern woman in labour is visualized as having one of her arms connected to a plastic bag through a plastic tube, while a plastic catheter is inserted in the epidural space in her spine. The development of plastics has not only transformed most medical disciplines; it has also made possible the emergence of new medical concepts such as intensive care units, and new disciplines such as neonatology.

Focusing on obstetrics, this first book about the history of medicine in relation to the plastic revolution asks vital questions about childbirth today—and tomorrow.

Childbirth and the Future of Homo Sapiens. Michel Odent, $16.95

In discussions of the future, the emphasis is usually on the effects of myriad new technologies on our lives. However, former obstetrician and revolutionary childbirth pioneer Michel Odent argues that the aspect of human lifestyle that has been most profoundly changed in recent decades is the period of time surrounding the birth of a child. Since this formative time is considered critical in defining our species, Homo sapiens, fundamental changes in this area should herald significant evolution in regard to how babies are born. This, surely, should be at the heart of our discussions of the future, even above considerations of how humanity and planet earth interact.

This book has been written as an exploration of the topic for all those interested in the evolution of human beings and the future of humanity, but comes with a caveat from its author, who says it is ‘for everyone except pregnant women... whose time is precious. They should be watching the moon, singing to their unborn babies in the womb and nurturing the life within them.’

Childbirth Without Fear, 2013 Edition. Grantly Dick-Read, Foreword by Ina May Gaskin

In an age when normal birth can still be overtaken by obstetrics, Grantly Dick-Read's philosophy is still as fresh and relevant as it was when he originally wrote this book. He unpicks the root causes of women's fears and anxiety about pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding with overwhelming heart and empathy. As one of the most influential birthing books of all time, Childbirth Without Fear is essential reading for all parents-to-be, childbirth educators, midwives and obstetricians!

This definitive reissue includes the full text of the fourth edition, the last completed by Grantly Dick-Read before his death in 1959, and The Autobiography of Grantly Dick-Read, compiled from his writings.

Deliver Me from Pain: Anesthesia & Birth in America. Jacqueline Wolf, $32.50

Rather than embrace the natural childbirth methods promoted in the 1970s, most North American women today welcome epidural anesthesia. In DELIVER ME FROM PAIN, Jacqueline Wolf asks how a treatment such as obstetric anesthesia — even when it historically posed serious risk to mothers and newborns — paradoxically came to assuage women's anxiety about birth.

Each chapter begins with the story of a birth, dramatically illustrating the unique practices of the era being examined. DELIVER ME FROM PAIN covers the development and use of anesthesia from ether and chloroform in the mid-nineteenth century; to amnesiacs, barbiturates, narcotics, opioids, tranquilizers, saddle blocks, spinals, and gas during the mid-twentieth century; to epidural anesthesia today.

As American women make decisions about anesthesia today, DELIVER ME FROM PAIN offers them insight into how women made this choice in the past and why each generation of mothers has made dramatically different decisions.

The Heart and Soul of Midwifery: Understanding the Normal Physiological Process of Childbirth and Reducing Medical Intervention. Irene Chain-Kalinowski, $19.50

Midwife Iren Chain-Kalinowski shares her experiences working in both hospital and community settings, in a variety of multicultural environments. Protective of women's rights, she shares her ambition and passion for women to regain faith in childbirth — and reduce the unnecessary medical interventions that put woman and baby at risk.

Home Birth: the Politics of Difficult Choices. Mary Nolan, $43.95

The rhetoric of choice is much used in health policy and home birth is one of the options that women are entitled to choose between when deciding where to have their baby. However, many women making this choice run into considerable opposition.

Using ten women's narratives, Home Birth: the Politics of Difficult Choices explores why women might want to give birth at home and considers ideas of risk and informed choice in pregnancy and birth. The book includes chapters on communication and language; fear and stress; advocacy and autonomy; fathers' experience of contested place of birth and free birthing. Pointers to best practice are presented whilst the text incorporates women's narratives throughout, making this a practical and relevant read for midwifery students as well as practicing midwives and childbirth educators, all of whom have a duty to make home birth a real option for women.

A Hospital Handbook on Multiculturalism and Religion: Practical Guidelines for Healthcare Workers, Revised Edition. Neville Kirkwood, $11.50

In our religiously pluralistic society, clergy, medical, and nursing staffs in modern hospitals are confronted with caring for people with varied beliefs and customs. Since the overall care of a patient, and not just the surgeries performed or medicines given, affect an individual's recovery, it is vitally important to be familiar with cultural and religious understandings and expectations around hygiene, pastoral care, autopsies, transfusions, and even the practices associated with death itself. A Hospital Handbook for Multiculturalism and Religion is a succinct guide to the care of patients from a variety of faiths … Each chapter examines not only the customs of adherents to various faith perspectives but also the significance of certain rites and attitudes, supplying health-care workers and chaplains with the information they need to provide the best care possible.

Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding, 2nd Edition. Linda Smith, $81.95

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 Second 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.

Joyous Childbirth Changes the World. Tadashi Yoshimura, $16.95

The truth and power of birth is the subject of Dr. Yoshimura’s first book published in North America. Yoshimura describes babies born directly into the arms of their mothers, and women so transformed with pride and passion in their ability that they are joyous and forever changed. Instead of a medical emergency, Yoshimura describes birth as a transcendent and natural process that cannot be perfected, and that, when performed through the innate power of women, reveals what he calls a “mystic beauty.” Full of delightful stories of birthing women and peaceful smiling infants, and helpful tips from his childbirth preparation program, Joyous Childbirth Changes the World is a must-read for all expectant parents and those who care for them. Yoshimura’s clinic serves as a testament to the kind of compassionate birth culture that is possible if we prioritize the health and experience of women and babies. 

Laboring On: Birth in Transition in the United States. Wendy Simonds, Barbara Katz Rothman & bari Meltzer Norman, $40.95

Facing the polar forces of an epidemic of Cesarean sections and epidurals and home-like labor rooms, American birth is in transition. Laboring On offers the voices of practitioners, of women trying to help women, as they struggle with this increasingly split vision of birth.

Updating Barbara Katz Rothman's now-classic In Labor, the first feminist sociological analysis of birth in the United States, Laboring On gives a comprehensive picture of the ever-changing American birth practices and often conflicting visions of birth practitioners. The authors deftly weave compelling accounts of birth work, by midwives, doulas, obstetricians, and nurses, into the larger socio-historical context of health care practices and activism and offer provocative arguments about the current state of affairs and the future of birth in America.

Laboring Under an Illusion: Mass Media Childbirth vs. the Real Thing.  Vicki Elson, $32.95 DVD format, 50 minutes

Anthropologist Vicki Elson explores media-generated myths about childbirth and how our culture influences our birth experiences. Using over 100 video clips from television and film, Elson contrasts fiction with reality and the result is hilarious, engaging and enlightening.

Life Stages and Native Women: Memory, Teachings, and Story Medicine. Kim Anderson, $27.95

A rare and inspiring guide to the health and well-being of Aboriginal women and their communities.

The process of “digging up medicines” — of rediscovering the stories of the past — serves as a powerful healing force in the decolonization and recovery of Aboriginal communities. In Life Stages and Native Women, Kim Anderson shares the teachings of fourteen elders from the Canadian prairies and Ontario to illustrate how different life stages were experienced by Métis, Cree, and Anishinaabe girls and women during the mid-twentieth century. These elders relate stories about their own lives, the experiences of girls and women of their childhood communities, and customs related to pregnancy, birth, post-natal care, infant and child care, puberty rites, gender and age-specific work roles, the distinct roles of post-menopausal women, and women’s roles in managing death. Through these teachings, we learn how evolving responsibilities from infancy to adulthood shaped women’s identities and place within Indigenous society, and were integral to the health and well-being of their communities.

By understanding how healthy communities were created in the past, Anderson explains how this traditional knowledge can be applied toward rebuilding healthy Indigenous communities today.

Midwifery Continuity of Care: a Practical Guide. Caroline Homer, Pat Brodie & Nicky Leap, $49.95

The many pressures on maternity services such as escalating intervention rates, rising costs, and midwife and doctor shortages has resulted in a growing interest in how midwifery continuity of care can be provided. Midwifery Continuity of Care provides a robust and well structured how to guide to this topic by discussing the development, implementation and evaluation of differing ways of providing continuity.

Written by an international team of contributors, Midwifery Continuity of Care highlights the lessons learned by others to help develop new ways of thinking and practicing. It will be an invaluable practical guide to all midwives, midwifery managers, student midwives and educators, and will also be of interest to policy makers and health service executives.

Midwifery — Freedom to Practice? An International Exploration of Midwifery Practice. Lindsay Reid, editor, $55.95

Do midwives have the freedom to practice? This central theme is explored by looking at how midwifery practice varies around the world. From private practice to doctor’s aides and the continuum in between, this book looks at how best practice can differ according to circumstance and location. Though the issues are diverse, the underlying principles of midwifery care remain universal.

Midwifery and Public Health: Future Directions and New Opportunities. Edited by Pádraig Ó Lúanaigh & Cindy Carlson, $86.95

This book examines the midwife’s role in maintaining and improving public health from a more global and population-based perspective. MIDWIFERY AND PUBLIC HEALTH provides clear guidance on identifying health needs and offers a sound knowledge base from which midwives can develop and demonstrate their significant contribution to public health provision.

Mothers of the Nations: Indigenous Mothering as Global Resistance. Edited by Kim Anderson, D. Memee Lavell-Harvard, $39.95

The voices of Indigenous women world-wide have long been silenced by colonial oppression and institutions of patriarchal dominance. Recent generations of powerful Indigenous women have begun speaking out so that their positions of respect within their families and communities might be reclaimed.

This volume explores issues surrounding and impacting Indigenous mothering, family and community in a variety of contexts inter­nationally. It addresses diverse subjects, including child welfare, employing Indigenous mothering curriculum for healing, mothers and traditional foods, intergenerational mothering in the wake of residential schooling, mothering and HIV, urban Indigenous mothering, mothering adopted children, two spirited mothering, Indigenous midwifery, and more.

Obstructed Labour: Race and Gender in the Re-Emergence of Midwifery. Sheryl Nestel, $34.95

Obstructed Labour analyzes how the movement to legalize midwifery in Ontario reproduced racial inequality by excluding from practice hundreds of professional midwives from the global south. Global macro-processes of power, institutional forms of exclusion, and interpersonal expressions of racism all play a part. Sheryl Nestel shows that unequal relations between women underlie the successful challenge to patriarchal medical authority mounted by provincial midwifery activists. This is a disquieting but fascinating counter-history of the re-emergence of midwifery.

Optimal Care in Childbirth: the Case for a Physiologic Approach. Henci Goer & Amy Romano, $74.95

Meticulously documented, OPTIMAL CARE IN CHILDBIRTH pulls back the curtain on medical-model management of childbirth. Written for those who want to practice according to the best evidence, assist women in making informed decisions, or advocate for maternity care reforms, this book provides an in-depth analysis of the evidence basis for physiologic care as the standard of care. The book examines:

• Why the research shows so little benefit for physiologic care and so little harm from medical-model management
• What’s behind the cesarean epidemic
• What the research establishes as optimal care for initiating labour, facilitating labour progress, guarding maternal and fetal safety, birthing the baby, and promoting safety for mother and baby after the birth
• The true, quantified risks of primary cesarean section, planned VBAC versus elective repeat cesarean, instrumental vaginal delivery, and regional analgesia
• How the organization of maternity care systems adversely impacts care outcomes

Professional Ethics in Midwifery Practice. Illysa Foster & Jon Lasser, $57.50

Professional Ethics in Midwifery Practice is an applied ethics book designed for both students and practicing midwives to build ethical thinking in the context of daily practice.  This unique text uses an accessible writing style and includes chapters on diversity and justice, informed consent, multiple relationships, confidentiality and privacy, scope of practice, and others. Realistic case examples throughout the text encourage critical thinking in applied ethics. The authors present a unique model for midwives’ ethical thinking and appendices include widely used codes of ethics in the field.  

Reconceiving Midwifery. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Cecilia Benoit & Robbie Davis-Floyd, $29.95

A critical examination of the re-emergence of midwifery and a timely reflection on the issues faced by the midwifery profession throughout Canada. The authors — social scientists and midwifery practitioners — reflect on regional differences in the emerging profession, providing a systematic account of its historical, local, and international roots, its evolving regulatory status, and the degree to which it has been integrated into several mainstream provincial health care systems. They also examine the nature of midwifery training, accessibility, and effectiveness across diverse ethnic and socio-economic groups, highlighting the key issues facing the profession before, during, and in the immediate post-integration era in each province.

Rediscovering Birth. Sheila Kitzinger, $17.95

In this revised edition of her classic anthropological look at birth; Kitzinger explores the universal experience of pregnancy and birth. Drawing on the rich traditions of birth around the world and through history, REDISCOVERING BIRTH is a contemporary look at a timeless experience.

The Social Context of Birth. Edited by Caroline Squire, $58.95

All babies are born into a social context and all women give birth within a social context. This is often neglected in the relentlessly technocratic modern culture of childbirth. This book provides many valuable insights for midwives, nurses, obstetricians and health visitors into the many different lives, experiences and expectations of women in their childbearing years.

This comprehensive guide provides an understanding of the impact of social circumstances on women giving birth, their babies, and families in the 21st century. Overall, it provides an essential understanding of how social issues can affect the birth process.

Woman-Centered Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth. Edited by Sara Shields & Lucy Candib, $86.95

A woman-centered approach to pregnancy must be flexible enough to address the variety of women’s experiences around the world, encompassing a variety of medical conditions, cultures and family structures. It must also include women who choose not to carry a pregnancy or experience a miscarriage.

This unique woman-centered text explores all these issues and more, providing a vital resource for primary care maternity clinicians and trainees including family physicians, nurse practitioners, women's health clinicians, midwives, obstetrical nurses and obstetricians. It applies the powerful, proven model of patient-centered care to pregnancy and birth - an expansion beyond previous applications to various chronic illnesses. Women-Centered Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth incorporates dozens of vignettes describing clinicians' approaches to woman-centered maternity care with women and families from a variety of social, cultural, and economic situations facing common or problematic challenges over the course of prenatal care, birth and the postpartum period.