Recommended Reading
“The Awaken Your Birth Power Recommended Reading List for Pregnancy”. Danette has compiled this list of absolute must-reads from her own personal library. Each book is one she used herself during her three pregnancies and/or has used extensively with pregnant women. They all reflect the Awaken Your Birth Power philosophy that “you have everything you need within you” and are all positive and empowering! Any of these books would compliment your copy of “25 Ways to Awaken Your Birth Power.” Be guided by your own intuition as to which book/s will enhance your birthing experience. I have provided a link to Amazon.com to order any of the books that are resonating with you to make things easy!
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, Ina May’s Guide to Breastfeeding and Spiritual Midwifery.
Danette: I absolutely LOVE Ina May Gaskin’s books. I believe that if I’m trying something new or challenging, it is incredibly helpful to have a mentor who has already done it and done it well. So if I were to pick a birth mentor, it would be Ina May because the outcomes at her birth centre are among the best in the world.
Birthing from Within.
Danette: “You have everything you need within you” and Birthing from Within shows you so many wonderful ways to go within yourself, find your strength and energy and your unique way of birthing your baby. Pamela includes amazing art by pregnant women and I encourage every woman to express herself through this creative medium to help move past fears so you can express your own creative energy during labour and birth.
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering.
Danette: Dr. Buckley is a very powerful and important voice for women. As a family physician who birthed her four children at home, she is holding a space for natural birth within our modern medical system. As Sarah Buckley says, “Pregnancy and birth can be ecstatic, instinctive, fulfilling and safe for you and your baby.” I cannot agree more and her series of articles and stories are well-researched as well as heartfelt.
Active Birth & Preparing for Birth with Yoga.
Danette: Janet Balaskas is the founder of the Active Birth Movement- of course, women have been birthing actively for thousands of years but we were starting to lose our own instinctive birthing nature. Janet Balaskas has inspired thousands of women around the world to listen to their bodies, follow their own instincts and to take full control of their birth experience. She has intelligent explanations of why as well as how!
Choosing Waterbirth: Reclaiming the Sacred Power of Birth.
Danette: Lakshmi Bertram has the most beautiful quote that I return to again and again, ““Remember that birth, as a gift, was not meant to be scary. It was meant to test you, to prepare you for this greater journey of caring for your young. It was meant as an exercise in honouring yourself and in learning to depend on your inner strength. It was meant to make you feel more powerful and more capable than you were before the experience.” Lakshmi’s book is a gift. She is quietly confident, real, assured and softly determined. She includes her birth stories, information about water birth (blissful!) and yoga.
Immaculate Deception II: Myth, Magic and Birth.
Danette: Suzanne Arms helped me understand why birth has become so fear-based and medicalised. I had many lightbulb moments while reading this book and came away feeling confident in my own body and my ability to give birth. The stories at the back are fantastic.
Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom.
Danette: I cannot say enough wonderful things about obstetrician Christiane Northrup! This book is something you will refer to your entire life- not just during pregnancy and birth. My copy is starting to lose pages because I refer to it so often! Dr. Northrup is everything I love- empowering, positive and firmly convinced of the incredible power of women!
The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth.
Danette: Dr. Sears is a paediatrician and his wife Martha is an RN, childbirth educator and breastfeeding consultant. Together they share their combined wisdom and their birth experiences (they have 8 children). They explain why birth is the way it is today and how to make choices that will lead to a positive experience for you. As most women will birth in the hospital system, I found this book good because the Sears come from that system and can explain it well but they have also experienced home birth and truly believe in women.



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From the beginning, Steph and I have felt the “warm light of Divine protection and guidance” surrounding us and our work. With the intention of inspiring women and helping them trust in their bodies and in their inner wisdom, we felt our intentions were pure and therefore our actions would be guided and blessed.
I had all of my children at home with an independent midwife. All three experiences were incredibly empowering for me, bonding for my husband and me, and increasingly beautiful experiences physically as I learned to trust my body and myself more and more deeply.
I had a very challenging birth experience with Archie our first child. It left me feeling torn, shocked and totally overwhelmed with the fear forever of having another child. So when I found out I was pregnant with Beatrix, I instantly became afraid.