DONA Doula Book List

by | Oct 12, 2020 | Blog, Doula Training

Calling all newly trained and certified doulas! Here is the current DONA book list for birth doulas. This list offers extensive reading in the field of birth, birth justice, caring for families, and running your doula business. It has been updated in recent years to incorporate issues and topics relevant to the current state of obstetric care in the United States. Even if you already have your certification it’s a great list to reference if you are looking to expand your knowledge and do some self-study in order to become an even better and more well rounded doula and advocate! Learn more about the certification process online.

Group 1 – Read at least ONE of the following:

First off, this seems like an incredible book, but it is not in stock in any bookstores and on Amazon, it is $1,000! So it is highly likely you will not be reading this. 

Bearing Witness is an anthology of 50 stories about doulas working with birthing families. Stories of joy, awe, miracles. Stories that are gut-wrenchingly funny and stories that are sad and difficult to hear. The contributors to Bearing Witness are women who have made a lifestyle out of rising from their warm beds in the middle of the night to answer pages from their clients, of leaving their home and families sometimes for days on end. We do this because most doulas want to help change our birth customs. This book would be perfect for new and aspiring doulas that are interested in working closely with families.  

Birth Ambassadors documents the social history of the emergence of doula care in the United States. What are doulas and where did they come from? Why do women become doulas? What does it mean to be a doula? Birth Ambassadors is the only book to fully answer these questions by connecting narrative accounts with critical sociological analysis of the dilemmas and issues embodied in doula history and practice. Birth Ambassadors explores how this constellation of beliefs within doula practice represents an innovative yet problematic response within the maternity reform movement to empower women during and after childbirth. This book is great if you are interested in the history, origin, and research surrounding doula work. 

Gentle Birth Companions captures the heart, passion, and sacred path that doulas hold in supporting families throughout time. This book is essential to help you reconnect the circle of support in childbirth that provides an essential ingredient for a safe, fulfilling birth experience. This book is geared towards doulas who have an interest in how doula work plays an intersectional role in childbirth.

In addition to basic advice on finding and working with a doula, the authors show how a doula reduces the need for cesarean section, shortens the length of labor, decreases the pain medication required, and enhances bonding and breastfeeding. The authors, world-renowned authorities on childbirth with combined experience of over 100 years working with laboring women, have made their book indispensable to every woman who wants the healthiest, safest, and most joyful possible birth experience. This is a great book to read if you would like to know more about how doulas support birth givers and the impact they make.

In The Doula Guide to Birth, senior-level doula Ananda Lowe and award-winning health reporter Rachel Zimmerman have written a most comprehensive book that draws on the wisdom of these skilled experts, whose experience with doctors, midwives, nurses, and hospitals makes them invaluable advocates before, during, and after birth. Combining science, wit, warmth, and support, as well as the inspirational stories of dozens of mothers and their partners, you’ll find the “doula viewpoint” on every major pregnancy and delivery issue. This book is great for doulas looking for insight into why pregnant people want doulas and the impact they have on them.

Group 2 – Read at least ONE of the following:

Nurture is the only all-in-one pregnancy and birthing book for modern mothers-to-be and their partners who want a more integrative approach. Nurture covers everything from the beginning months of pregnancy to the baby’s first weeks. It includes supportive self-care and mindfulness exercises, trimester-specific holistic remedies, nourishing foods and recipes for every month of pregnancy, and expert tips for every birth environment. Nurture also covers dozens of important topics that every modern mom needs to know including fetal development, making choices for a hospital, home, or birth center birth, the basics of breastfeeding, tips on what to expect postpartum, and more. This choice is for you if you are looking for an empowering book!

If you’re looking for the inside scoop on what it’s really like to have a baby, you’ve come to the right place. Based on the best advice from over 100 Canadian parents and panel of experts, this information is served up with a uniquely Canadian spin. The Mother of All Pregnancy Books is funny, entertaining, and packed with tons of nuts-and-bolts information and presents expectant parents with all the facts on such perennial hot topics as pain relief during labor, episiotomy, and circumcision, empowering them to make informed personal choices. This book includes many helpful tools such as charts, tables, lists, and a glossary of terms. If you are interested in learning about pregnancy in a different culture to compare, contrast, or as an overall interest this book will be beneficial.

A keep-it-simple, just-the-facts guide to pregnancy and childbirth for expectant parents who don’t want to be overwhelmed by too much information. This accessible, easy-to-read guide to pregnancy and childbirth is a simplified version of the best-selling “Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn” by the same authors, Janet Whalley, Penny Simkin and Ann Keppler. It is written for expectant parents who want basic, down-to-earth information on how to grow a baby, how to give birth to a baby and how to nourish and nurture a baby. The book includes all the important “do’s” and “don’ts” regarding pregnancy, childbirth and baby care presented in a straightforward and intimidating way with easy-to-understand language and concepts. The book’s strength is in its readability for parents of all demographic and socio-economic backgrounds. This will be a great book if you are looking for something to the point and easy to digest.

A classic for all new parents, this book inspires, informs, and reassures. From conception through to birth, Sheila Kitzinger describes what to expect and prepares parents-to-be for the physical changes ahead. Now it includes information on Caesarean births, the birthing sling, sex during pregnancy, and nutrition. It encourages expectant parents to be actively involved in decisions about their antenatal care and birth method. This is another book that is based from a different culture. It explores the narrative of pregnancy within the U.K. while also receiving research and tips from Kitzinger who is a social anthropologist.

Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide is already one of the bestselling pregnancy books on the market, with more than one million copies in print! Now newly revised and redesigned, it provides expectant couples with abundant, valuable information about pregnancy, labor, birth, the postpartum period, and newborn care. This award-winning book presents the latest research-based information on pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood, including new information on complementary-medicine approaches such as acupuncture, updated information on interventions during childbirth, revised statistics and discussions on cesarean birth and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), and new advice on informed decision-making, one of the hottest topics in maternity care today. If you are looking for an easy to follow and information-packed reading, this is for you!

African-American women face unique challenges during pregnancy. Here, they can turn to for medical information, health advice, and emotional support during this exhilarating, and sometimes anxious, time. Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, an esteemed Ob-Gyn, explains all the bodily changes, feelings, and medical procedures you may encounter when pregnant. From planning a pregnancy to caring for your newborn, Dr. Hutcherson provides comforting wisdom from her years of experience as a doctor and mother of four. Most important, she addresses such potential risks as fibroid, diabetes, lupus, high blood pressure, and skin conditions. This book contains details that resonate with black and African-American birth givers. This book can be read if you are interested in learning more about this and how needs differ.

Group 3 – Read at least ONE of the following:

Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most pro­found, meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. Pregnant women are told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee without ever being told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are similarly unexplained. Moms-to-be desperately want a resource that empowers them to make their own right choices. When award-winning economist Emily Oster was a mom-to-be herself, she evaluated the data behind the accepted rules of pregnancy and discovered that most are often misguided and some are just flat-out wrong. Debunking myths and explaining everything from the real effects of caffeine to the surprising dangers of gardening, Expecting Better is the book for every pregnant woman who wants to enjoy a healthy and relaxed pregnancy—and the occasional glass of wine. If you are interested in how data and research impact the lives and decisions that pregnant people are faced with give this book a go.

Most doctors think of a “good” birth only in terms of medical success. But Dr. Anne Lyerly knows firsthand that many important elements are often overlooked. Her three-year study of a diverse group of moms explored what matters most to women during childbirth. The results, presented to the public for the first time in A Good Birth, show what really matters goes beyond the clinical outcome or even the usual questions of hospital versus birthing center, and reveal the universal needs of women, like the importance of feeling connected, safe, and respected. The book’s wisdom is drawn from in-depth interviews with women with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, and whose birth stories range from quick and simple to complicated and frightening. Transcending the “medical” versus “natural” childbirth debate, A Good Birth turns our attention to the crucial question of what makes the best birth possible. This book is a good choice if you are interested in research and results regarding pregnancy and birth. Dr. Lyerly is an associate director of the Center for Bioethics and a professor at UNC. 

“At least you and the baby are healthy.” That’s what they said when they handed him to me. And they were right. Why then, so long after my body has healed, do I still feel broken? A whisper inside of me insists: Birth is more than a means to a baby. There was something I was supposed to do, something I was to receive through giving birth. Pregnant again, when the doctor tries to schedule another cesarean, I refuse. I will not submit to being tied down, cut open, and having my uterus extracted again without a fight. That’s why I ask a midwife to help me give birth. I tell her that I’m determined and strong. But she sees through my tough-guy armor. She smiles, saying, “Birth isn’t a battle to win or lose. It’s the result of delving into your vulnerability and finding your true feminine power.” In exquisite detail, Roanna holds nothing back in her powerful birth memoir, plunging the reader deep into the intimacy of this universal rite of passage. Part memoir, part manifesto, this is a must read for anyone who has given birth, will give birth, or who loves someone who will give birth.

What practices and policies best promote safe, healthy, satisfying labor and birth? What harms do routine or frequent use of tests, procedures, and restrictions introduce? What non-medical factors drive the current maternity care system? Meticulously documented, Optimal Care in Childbirth: The Case for a Physiologic Approach pulls back the curtain on medical-model management of childbirth. This book is geared towards people in higher education and health professionals.

Many mothers-to-be find themselves torn between the desire for a natural childbirth with minimal medical intervention and the peace of mind offered by instant access to life-saving technology that only a hospital can provide. In Natural Hospital Birth, doula Cynthia Gabriel asserts that there is no good reason that women should not be able to have both. Cynthia shows expectant mothers what they can do to avoid unnecessary medical interventions and how to take initiative and consciously prepare for the kind of birth they want to have. With this book, mothers-to-be will be equipped with the knowledge they need to ensure a satisfying hospital birth that they will look back on with peace and joy. Gabriel is a doula, medical anthropologist, and an inspirational speaker. This book derives from her experiences and research, along with stories from other birthers. This is a great book for anyone interested in the topic of in vs out-of-hospital births.

This book is for any woman considering a vaginal birth after one or more previous cesareans. What are the risks? What are the advantages? What is the best choice in your particular case? The author, Hélène Vadeboncoeur, takes you through the research and also gives you a glimpse into other women’s experiences through the use of first-hand accounts. It was, in fact, the author’s experience of two very different births (one a cesarean, the next a VBAC) that inspired her to get a PhD. In her thesis she explored how women experience giving birth in hospital. Hélène wanted to consider questions about birth because this is such an important event in women’s lives. For over 10 years since then, she has divided her time between teaching and participating in research projects. (She is currently on the Board of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization.) She also regularly gives talks at conferences around the world. This means that you not only get the benefit of advice from a woman who’s been through both a cesarean and a VBAC, you also get taken through the most up-to-date research. 

Childbirth should be one of the most joyful experiences in a woman’s life. All too frequently it is one of the most fearful. In An Easier Childbirth, Gayle Peterson, a nationally recognized leader in the field of Perinatal Psychology prepares the mother-to-be for the most positive experience possible utilizing a childbirth preparation method based on medical research that shows emotional factors to be important in a healthy pregnancy and delivery. An Easier Childbirth begins with a personal birth preparation inventory. It then addresses the mother’s fears and concerns through exercises aimed at decreasing her anxiety and increasing her confidence and sense of well-being. Guided imagery, visualization, and journal writing help the mother-to-be learn ways of yielding comfortably and safely into the entire childbirth process. This book would be useful if you are interested in furthering your knowledge on the emotional and physical aspects of labor and childbirth.

What you need to know to have the best birth experience for you. Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention. This book is tailored towards those who are interested in natural births and the education surrounding it.

This booklet aims to provide information about choices, suggest ways in which a vaginal birth after caesarean can be made more likely and inform women about their rights and where to find support. Vaginal birth after caesarean is commonly known as VBAC. Women’s experiences are an important element of this book. This reading is structured around VBAC’s, so if this is an interest of yours, it is for you!

Group 4 – Read at least ONE of the following:

Those who decide to breastfeed are faced with a disturbing lack of good advice and “hands on” help. Their initial determination to breastfeed is too often lost in conflicting solutions being offered and not working. Something they at first imagined should be simple and “natural” turns out to be a distressing and frustrating experience which frequently ends in their rejecting breastfeeding entirely. This book is filled with new approaches to preventing problems and treating problems if they have already occurred. These approaches work because they have been tested for over 45 years of combined experience and with over 30,000 mothers and their babies. They are aimed at making breastfeeding work. This book offers a deeper look into questions, problems, and solutions that arise with breastfeeding. 

Early motherhood is a time of great joy. It can also be filled with new stressors―chief among them: breastfeeding. In Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, Robin Kaplan, addresses specific breastfeeding concerns, allowing you to feel empowered while breastfeeding and overcome challenges as they arise. After working with countless mothers who have felt unique in their breastfeeding challenges, and as the mother of two who overcame breastfeeding challenges of her own, she knows how deeply personal breastfeeding is. This quick and easy read is a general resource for breastfeeding and perfect for those who enjoy a mixture of education, first hand accounts, and visual resources.

Journalist and infant health advocate Kimberly Seals Allers breaks breastfeeding out of the realm of “personal choice” and shows our broader connection to an industrialized food system that begins at birth, the fallout of feminist ideals, and the federal policies that are far from family friendly. The Big Letdown uncovers the multibillion-dollar forces battling to replace mothers’ milk and the failure of the medical establishment to protect infant health. Weaving together research and personal stories with original reporting on medicine, big pharma, and hospitals, Kimberly Seals Allers shows how mothers and babies have been abandoned by all the forces that should be supporting families from the start–and what we can do to help. This book is a great choice if you are interested in the sociological aspects of how breastfeeding is presented in our day and age. 

Breastfeeding is the natural and healthy way to nourish your baby, yet it’s not always easy. New mothers need practical information about getting off to a good start and solving breastfeeding challenges. Health professionals need this information too, because it is rarely taught in medical school. Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding covers the most common problems and questions that mothers encounter: – How do I help my baby to get a good latch – How can I know if my baby is getting enough milk – How can I help him get more? – Can I avoid sore nipples? – Will my medication affect my baby? – How do I fit breastfeeding into my life when I’m so busy? The answers are here. Dr. Jack Newman and Teresa Pitman are two of the world’s foremost lactation experts and have helped tens of thousands of new mothers find solutions that work. In this comprehensive guide, they share the most current information about breastfeeding and provide new, effective strategies and solutions to make breastfeeding work for you. If you are looking for a guide, research, and experience from a healthcare professional’s point of view, this book could be for you.

The Nursing Mother’s Companion, the 5th edition of this best-selling, widely acclaimed guide for nursing mothers has been completely revised and updated to reflect the needs of today’s nursing moms.Still here are Kathleen Huggins’s indispensable “Survival Guide” sections to help troubleshoot each stage of breastfeeding—now set off by colored bands on the pages, making them an even quicker and easier reference for nursing mothers. Dressed up with a new 2-color interior, this reassuring, accessible, and comprehensive book has been helping new mothers nurture their babies for a generation. This book is a helpful, user-friendly source for anyone involved in breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding may be natural, but it may also be more challenging than you expect. Some mothers encounter doubts and difficulties, from struggling with the first few feedings to finding a gentle and loving way to comfortably wean from the breast. This second edition of Breastfeeding Made Simple is an essential guide to breastfeeding that every new and expectant mom should own-a comprehensive resource that takes the mystery out of basic breastfeeding dynamics. Understanding the seven natural laws of breastfeeding will help you avoid and overcome challenges such as low milk production, breast refusal, weaning difficulties, and every other obstacle that can keep you from enjoying breastfeeding your baby. An informational read that has benefited and increased confidence in those who are breastfeeding.

Dedicated to supporting nursing and expectant mothers, the internationally respected La Leche League has set the standard for educating and empowering mothers in this natural art for generations. Now their classic bestselling guide has been retooled, refocused, and updated for today’s mothers and lifestyles. Working mothers, stay-at-home moms, single moms, and mothers of multiples will all benefit from the book’s range of nursing advice, stories, and information—from preparing for breastfeeding during pregnancy to feeding cues, from nursing positions to expressing and storing breast milk. This book gives information that is based on the research and views of La Leche League International, which can be beneficial if this organization is something that interests you.

Keep in mind that feeding your baby is a learned skill. It takes patience and practice. For some women, learning to breastfeed can be frustrating and uncomfortable. It may also seem more difficult, especially if your baby was born early or you have certain health problems. The good news is that it will get easier, and support for breastfeeding mothers is available.

This timely, up-to-date guide addresses the unique economic and social issues of black women while showing them why and how to breastfeed their children. African American infants are twice as likely to die before their first birthdays as white infants, have the highest rate of asthma of any race and have a 35 percent higher prevalence of childhood obesity than white children. African American women are 2.2 times more likely to die from breast cancer and 30 percent more likely to die from ovarian cancer than white women. All of these health crises can be remedied to some degree with breastfeeding, but virtually all breastfeeding literature on the market fails to speak to the financial, educational and cultural realities of many African American women. The Black Woman’s Guide to Breastfeeding addresses the importance of breastfeeding in the African American community and provides all the practical advice African American mothers need to succeed at breastfeeding. A book that is specifically tailored to black women. If you are interested or curious in the differences that occur, this book is for you.

Group 5 – Read at least ONE of the following:

Transformed by Postpartum Depression is a poignant tale of 20 women’s journeys through postpartum depression and the growth that they experienced as a result. These women described severe suffering as they had been taken completely by surprise by their depression. They also experienced failure of care providers to screen for or treat depression, and finally reached a place where they determined that they would do whatever it took to recover. These women not only survived their ordeal, but emerged stronger than they were before. These women creatively engaged and transcended their “diagnosis,” truly transforming themselves, their relationships, and their lives finding self-empowerment within their personal creative journeys of healing. This book is designed for anyone involved or interested in how childbirth impacts a person’s mindset in postpartum. This book would be great if you are interested in hearing real stories.

The idea for this book came from the realization that many women are suffering from some degree of postpartum depression and that very few will find access to supportive care while going through itt. The material in this book is based on over thirty years of counselling thousands of women with postpartum depression. These women have willingly shared their experiences with each other, and together they have explored what has helped them. The term “perinatal depression” is being used to describe postpartum depression in many newer research, journals and publications. It is an umbrella term that better reflects the fact that symptoms can begin during pregnancy as well as postpartum. In this book we refer to “postpartum depression”, which fits under the more general category of “perinatal” symptoms. After it is all over, many women say they are glad they went through the experience. As one woman said, “I never thought I’d get through it but I did and I feel great. I know much more about myself. Now I enjoy my baby and I feel peaceful.” This is a great book if you are curious about how postpartum depression is presented in a psychological perspective.

If you or someone you love is among the one in seven women stricken by PPD, you know how hard it is to get real help. This proven self-help program, which can be used alone or with a support group or therapist, will help you monitor each phase of illness, recognize when you need professional help, cope with daily life, and recover with new strength and confidence. In Overcoming Postpartum Depression readers will learn to learn how to: identify the symptoms of PPD and distinguish it from “baby blues,” deal with panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive urges, and stress overload, break the cycle of shame and negative thoughts, seek and evaluate treatment options, and cope with the disappointment and loss of self-esteem. This book will be helpful or anyone that wants a broad overview of how PPD is approached.

The Hidden Feelings of Motherhood is for any mom who is coping with the stresses and difficulties of being a mother in our modern world. It celebrates the importance of this most demanding role and offers specific advice on how you can cope with the challenges and make positive changes in your life. The chapters on the history of women in the workplace and simplifying your life are excellent reading for every woman. This book can be a comforting approach to addressing PPD.

Group 6 – Read at least ONE of the following:

Purposeful Hustle helps you answer the question: “How do I use my talents, skills, and resources to create a greater impact?” To be an effective change maker, you have to blend intentional thought (Purpose) with intentional action (Hustle). When engaging in Purposeful Hustle, you are directing your life’s work toward intentionally making a positive impact in the world. Therefore, a Purposeful Hustler is someone who exists in the world with the ultimate goal of creating change! This book dismantles the assumptions you may have about personal resources and shows you how to work with an incomplete plan, little money, and scarce time by providing real and immediately applicable techniques. If you enjoy advice and tips derived from storytelling, then this book is for you!

The Doula Business Guide 2nd Edition is the must-have, comprehensive resource for anyone seeking to establish an independent doula business or program. Over 300 pages of inspiration and useful information for launching your dream career and making it pay well. From start-up decisions and staying out of trouble with the IRS, through marketing, boundaries, grant writing and risk management strategies, this guide covers everything the doula entrepreneur and birth visionary needs to know. This highly recommended book provides important information and is a good book to reference tool.

Written by two expert authors who have won millions of dollars in government and foundation grants, this is the essential book on securing grants. It provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for grant writers, including vital up-to-the minute interviews with grant-makers, policy makers, and nonprofit leaders. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking grants in today’s difficult economic climate. This is a helpful book that could be useful for doulas looking to grow their business opportunities.

From small startups to established national organizations, nonprofits large and small depend on grant funding to survive and thrive. Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing, and Writing Successful Proposals has long been the go-to resource for individuals and organizations looking for a clear, easy-to-follow approach to tackling the grant-writing process and winning funds. Now, in this revised Fifth Edition, changes and developments in the not-for-profit sector are integrated into the time-tested grant-writing formula that has proven effective time and again. New to this edition, you’ll find an expanded discussion of the importance of relationship building, social media, and online resources to successful nonprofit funding. The text has also been revised to include guidance for nonprofit program budgets for both foundation and public funding grants. This book contains activities and exercises that can be helpful to the reader.

These days it’s increasingly rare to have a stable career in any field. More and more of us are blending big company jobs, startup gigs, freelance work, and volunteer side projects. We take chances to expand our knowledge, capabilities, and experience. But how do we make sense of that kind of career – and explain it? Pamela Slim, the acclaimed author of Escape from Cubicle Nation, gives us the tools to have meaningful careers in this new world of work. She shows how to find the connections among diverse accomplishments, sell your story, and continually reinvent and relaunch your brand. This book is for readers that are interested in how to adapt to today’s economy and way of work.

Many photographers and small business owners feel pressure to discount their products and services, especially when times are tough. After all, how else will they keep up with the low prices offered by their discounting competitors? What they don’t realize is that discounting is the last thing they should be doing if they want to win big. Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck are here to show you that there’s a radically different way to run your business– one in which the owners focus on creating specialized offerings and an over-the-top customer experience, not on matching the prices of their competition. Worth Every Penny encourages you to explore and use the boutique model, which is designed to maximize your advantages over discounting competitors. Reading this will give you an inspiring look into the business owner world.

In You, Inc. Beckwith provides practical tips, anecdotes and insights based on his 30 years of marketing and selling his advertising services. Beckwith learned early on in his career that no matter what product you’re selling, the most important component of the product is you. In You, Inc.: A Field Guide to Selling Yourself, Beckwith relates tantalizing tidbits and real stories of how to harness your enthusiasm with an ability to impress your key accounts.Written in his traditional homespun style, Beckwith offers doses of humour and pithy knowledge to anyone who wants to seal the deal and thrive in business. This short and easy to read guide provides many ideas, advice and tips about you and your business.

Who among us hasn’t dreamed of turning our passion into an income-producing enterprise? Whether it’s arranging flowers, creating our own beauty products, or taking care of children, we all have our special talents. But how do you turn your hobbies into something more lucrative? And when would you ever find the time? In an uncertain economy, there is no better time than now to get started and The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit offers the step-by-step answers you need to turn your ideas into a business plan and your business plan into a bona fide business. Whether Kimberly Seals-Allers, an entrepreneur herself, is directing you toward resources that will tell you which licenses you need to get started or advising you on how to pick an accountant once your business starts to grow, you can count on her counsel to be clear, concise, and inspiring.. Whether you want to quit your job and start your own company or supplement your existing income with a “side hustle,” this inspiring book is for you. This is an encouraging book for BIPOC that wants informative and encouraging information.

Group 7 – Read at least ONE of the following:

Cultural Competence explained: In order to increase the cultural competence of the health care delivery system, health professionals must be taught how to provide services in a culturally competent manner. Important to note, however, is that cultural competence is a process rather than an ultimate goal and is often developed in stages by building upon previous knowledge and experience.

This stunning sequel to Brigitte Jordan’s landmark Birth in Four Cultures brings together the work of fifteen reproductive anthropologists to address core cultural values and knowledge systems as revealed in contemporary birth practices in Brazil, Greece, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Tanzania, and the United States. Six ethnographic chapters form the heart of the book, three of which are set up as dyads that compare two countries; each demonstrates the power of anthropology’s cross-cultural comparative method. An additional chapter with ethnographic vignettes gives readers a feel for what fieldwork is really like on the ground. The eminently readable, theoretically rich chapters are enhanced by absorbing stories, photos, quotes, thought questions, and film suggestions that nudge the reader toward eureka flashes of understanding and render the book suitable for undergraduate and graduate audiences alike. Birth in Eight Cultures will allow the reader to engage in quality and global information regarding childbirth.

Using evidence from nursing, medical, and public health journals of the era; primary sources from state and county departments of health; and personal accounts from varied practitioners, Delivered by Midwives: African American Midwifery in the Twentieth-Century South provides a new perspective on the childbirth experience of African American women and their maternity care providers. Author Jenny M. Luke moves beyond the usual racial dichotomies to expose a more complex shift in childbirth culture, revealing the changing expectations and agency of African American women in their rejection of a two-tier maternity care system and their demands to be part of an inclusive, desegregated society. Moreover, Luke illuminates valuable aspects of a maternity care model previously discarded in the name of progress. Elements of the long-abandoned care model are being reincorporated into modern practice, answering current health care dilemmas by heeding lessons from the past.This is a great book for readers interested in the timeline of what black women have faced in maternal healthcare.

In 1997, this groundbreaking book made a powerful entrance into the national conversation on race. In a media landscape dominated by racially biased images of welfare queens and crack babies, Killing the Black Body exposed America’s systemic abuse of Black women’s bodies. From slave masters’ economic stake in bonded women’s fertility to government programs that coerced thousands of poor Black women into being sterilized as late as the 1970s, these abuses pointed to the degradation of Black motherhood—and the exclusion of Black women’s reproductive needs in mainstream feminist and civil rights agendas. If you are interested in black reproduction health and history, this book is for you.

What does it mean to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless yet is deeply divided by race? In the face of pervasive racial inequality and segregation, most whites cannot answer that question. Robin DiAngelo argues that a number of factors make this question difficult for whites miseducation about what racism is; ideologies such as individualism and colorblindness; defensiveness; and a need to protect (rather than expand) our worldviews. These factors contribute to what she terms white racial illiteracy. Speaking as a white person to other white people, Dr. DiAngelo clearly and compellingly takes readers through an analysis of white socialization. She describes how race shapes the lives of white people, explains what makes racism so hard for whites to see, identifies common white racial patterns, and speaks back to popular white narratives that work to deny racism. This book is a great starting point for those who want to progress their knowledge on white privilege. 

In a time when to most people pregnancy automatically means motherhood, what is it like to get pregnant, give birth, and breastfeed a child all while being an out transgender man? When Trevor Macdonald decided to start a family, he knew that the world was going to have questions for him. As a transgender man in a gay relationship, Trevor has gone through the journeys of pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing all while exploring – and sometimes defending — his role as a trans dad. Trevor and his partner tackle all the questions new parents are familiar with (Should we feed our baby breast milk or formula? Should we have a hospital or home birth?) and others perhaps unfamiliar (How can a man cope with gender dysphoria when going through such female-coded rituals as childbirth and breastfeeding?) Luckily for the reader, Trevor explains his own answers to these questions with grace and humour. His stories convey the intimate and sometimes surprising realities of the transgender parenting experience. This memoir is a book about being a breastfeeding parent and a transgender man, and the many beautiful, moving, and difficult ways these two identities collide. Where’s the Mother? is a memoir like no other. This is an engaging book that is a must-read if you are interested in how transgendered people approach their experiences. 

Same-sex couples are faced with many different options when choosing to have children today. In Journey to Same-Sex Parenthood, author, activist and father Eric Rosswood guides and helps prospective LGBT parents to explore these five popular options: Adoption, Foster Care, Assisted Reproduction, Surrogacy and Co-Parenting. Each section includes a description of the specific family-building approach, followed by personal stories from same-sex couples and individuals who have chosen and gone through that particular journey. The appendix contains important legal issues to consider and questions to ask before deciding to move forward, along with a list of reasons why people may choose each of the five family-building paths and the challenges they may encounter. This book is an inspirational guide for same sex partners and parents.

There is a global crisis in maternal health care for black women. In the United States, black women are over three times more likely to perish from pregnancy-related complications than white women; their babies are half as likely to survive the first year. Many black women experience policing, coercion, and disempowerment during pregnancy and childbirth and are disconnected from alternative birthing traditions. This book places black women’s voices at the center of the debate on what should be done to fix the broken maternity system and foregrounds black women’s agency in the emerging birth justice movement. Mixing scholarly, activist, and personal perspectives, the book shows readers how they too can change lives, one birth at a time. This book gives many perspectives on the relevant topic of injustice for black women.

Patrisia Gonzales addresses “Red Medicine” as a system of healing that includes birthing practices, dreaming, and purification rites to re-establish personal and social equilibrium. The book explores Indigenous medicine across North America, with a special emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales combines her lived experience in Red Medicine as an herbalist and traditional birth attendant with in-depth research into oral traditions, storytelling, and the meanings of symbols to uncover how Indigenous knowledge endures over time. And she shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples. Red Medicine is an educational guide on Indigneous culture and healing.

On March 12, 2010, Amnesty International issued a report entitled Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA, which documented that although the United States spends more on health care than any other country, it ranked 41st (at the time of publication) in terms of maternal death.

 

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