My favourite pregnancy/birth books

During my three pregnancies I've read a lot of pregnancy books (yes, even re reading in subsequent pregnancies - you forget so much!) I wanted to share my top three.

 How to Grow A Baby by Natalie Meddings - my lovely hypnobirthing teacher Sarah passed this on to me as part of her course and I am SO pleased to have read it before I birth this baby. There are so many labouring scenarios I relate to in this book and wonder if I'd read it last time if I'd have responded differently. While it addresses birth scenarios and interventions I'd say it's still leaning on the holistic side so it's maybe one to skip if you know from the get go you'll be having an elective. Highlights include the concept of "the two rooms" of birth (aka. not jumping the gun and how to relax and take your time at the start of a very long labour), statistic based discussion on birth choices and coping mechanisms, and the importance of cake (seriously!)

 The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hills - this is the book I'd recommend everybody reads as it's going to appeal to the most people - it walks you through what labour "feels like" including lots of accounts from different birth givers, talks about different outcomes, and again gives you the tools you would need to make a positive birth far more likely. Knowledge is power and this really covers scenarios that may crop up while giving birth. For me the two above books work fantastically in conjunction with each other: one offering a no nonsense insight to birth, and How To Grow A Baby for a fresh point of view and plenty of relaxing and empowering choices, the two having a joint motive to make your birth sail as smoothly as possible.

 The Kind Mama by Alicia Silverstone - This one is for the crunchy, earth conscious hippie mama who wants to grow her baby on a plant based diet. Although there is a labour and birth section, I found the pregnancy and postnatal parts of the book most informative and empowering. Straight up, this book is not for everybody - it's very health focused and I GET it if you don't want somebody telling you to deep dive into the sugar cravings. Personally I found this empowering and motivating to get past my beige food stage (still acknowledged during this book!) and I've gone back to it with each pregnancy. It's not an essential but when I was pregnant for the first time and a little anxious about there being NO vegan pregnancy resources available in the UK, this gave me the confidence to grow my beautiful baby on plants (and to do so again another two times!) Highlights include her section on placenta capsules (doooo it) and the excellent nutritional information and inspiration.

Have you read any of these books? How do you like to get informed about pregnancy and birth?