Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience Book

I am not pregnant, but I got interested in this book after I saw Lake and Epstein's documentary "The Business of Being Born." The authors do not hide their bias for more woman-centered birth care (for healthy moms carrying normal pregnancies i.e. not breach, multiples, etc.), which almost universally comes from midwives. However, the authors' primary goal is to help each mom discover her best birth for her and how to get it. If that means traditional obstetric care and a hospital birth, they give you the tools to make the most of that experience. This book is exceptionally practical, offering lists of questions for women to ask care providers. It includes great info on the goals/strengths/limitations of different paths to having your kid, and explicitly lays out the cascading effects that can happen with the way most hospitals handle births. It neither deifies moms who choose home births attended by a midwife nor villifies women who choose to have a scheduled C-section in a hospital. If I had a pregnant daughter (or one who was contemplating pregnancy), I'd give this book to her. I can't recommend it highly enough. I hope this becomes the perinatal analog to "What to Expect When You're Expecting."