I appreciated Bradley's observations of how animals give birth (OK, I'm a farm girl) and how that led to allowing women to birth naturally. Even if you don't specifically use the Bradley method with husband as "coach," this gives thorough, accurate information about what your body will be doing during birth so you are prepared. Must read.

I think this is the older version of above. I read both and seem to remember the content was the same. Please e-mail me if you know!

This is a good read for anyone looking to make choices about their childbirth. Pros and cons of all aspects. While it definitely leans toward normal birth, it gives information good for anyone choosing any birth setting. Good starter book.

Great intro for those new to learning about birth, including your birth location. Works for any birth environment. I recommend highly anything by the Sears. Again, not only for homebirth though.

Fear + tension = pain. It's actually by Grantly Dick-Read, a British doctor, with the foreword by Michel Odent. How overcoming the fear of birth can help you manage labor.

Facts about birth that leave it to you to decide (and that will likely be that natural birth equals safe and normal). Not a homebirth how-to manual, but an overview of the medicalization of childbirth that may make firm your decision to birth normally. Beautiful photos.

One woman's story of her five births. I didn't know anyone who had birthed in water, so that's the part I felt I didn't know what to expect. The author describes waterbirth in detail so I felt fully prepared. Nice pictures. She's into yoga, so it also gives poses for pregnancy.

I read this just so I could answer those silly people who asked, "But what if your midwife doesn't make it in time!?!?" It also reminded me to boil some shoelaces. ;)

I planned for my older child to attend the birth of her new baby sibling. This gave a good overview about how to decide if it's the right thing for your family and a plan to prepare the child for the birth. It was hard for me to find, but my librarian found it through interlibrary loan.

This is an accurate and cute childen's book about homebirth. It gives details about the birth and I used it to prepare my older child for the birth of her baby sibling. Those other new sibling books scared my daughter when they talked about Mommy going away to the hospital without the older children. I also recommend "Runa's Birth" by Uwe Spillman (not available on Amazon).

An old book. I didn't use the Lamaze method, but this prepared me for what my body would be doing during birth. Has exercises and breathing practice if you want to do it the Lamaze way.

I'm including this one not because women contemplating homebirth don't already know unnecessary c-sections are so harmful, but because this book demonstrates the extreme. Reading this FIRMLY cemented my desire to give birth in a place where no one would even begin to think about putting the knife to me.

Don't read if pregnant! I read this fictional drama long before I had children because it was on Oprah’s list. The author did enough research about real midwives that it made me respect midwifery. It’s here because it is part of my history. But it’s FICTION with a made-up outcome. The freaky thing is the morning of my homebirth, I turned on the TV and the movie based on this book was on.