I loved reading this! Thank you for taking the time to so thoroughly introduce each book ❤
The only one I've read on this list is Spiritual Midwifery, so I'll have to check out the others. I'm especially glad to see The Garden of Fertility as an alternative to Taking Charge of Your Fertility - that one just didn't resonate with me somehow, so I'm glad to have another option to pursue as my girls approach those years.
Oh wonderful! Yes I think it is a great resource, it has all of the info you need and case studies and tons of resources but also is so easy to read. I need to go back and read yours now, that Ethics of Beauty really piqued my interest…
We're doing a podcast series about Ethics of Beauty if you want to check it out. It's not a sequential study of the book, it's really just us talking through the big ideas in there, but it might help you get a feel for what you'd be getting into. Here's episode one:
Sounds absolutely fascinating and like it would be perfect listening today while I am in the kitchen all day canning! Thank you! So glad to have found your work!
I have Edith Stein on my reading list at the moment! Also, I think you would really enjoy Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage by Dr Rachel Reed, if you haven’t read it already.
I've had the Continuum Concept on my list for a few months now since first hearing of it. I was just thinking of it earlier today before I read this, so your post is the perfect impetus to actually check it out and read it :)
It’s so good! I read it early in one of my postpartum and when I tell you I WEPT (but in that really redeeming, healing way). It really is just such a perspective shifter.
Ahhh I'm so happy to see Edith Stein's book here. I picked it up a couple years ago after hearing about it a bazillion times..... tried reading it postpartum last go-around and that was not the right time for it. haha Thank you for the reminder to revisit it.
Spiritual Midwifery, and the Garden of Fertility, would also be right there at the top of my list! I read both of them years before I even contemplated marriage or children (or even sex!), and they completely revolutionized how I related to my body. I charted my way through the years of recovery from PCOS, and those charts showed me, every day, my progress, in clear ink-on-paper terms, which was more than any doctor had been able to do for me. And, you know, Gaskin is the antidote to the poison of growing up around women who never say anything positive about childbirth, only tell horror stories.
I found the key difference between TCOYF and GOF is that weschler didn't really address the possibility of using the charts to *track and diagnose health problems*, and Singer did. And that was what I needed at the time.
That list, for me, would also DEFINITELY include the sequel to those two books: Katy Bowman's *Diastasis Recti*, which practically saved my life. Turns out childbirth is the easiest part. Postpartum recovery is the hard part! Let your monkey do it... and then let Katy help you figure out what to do next.
Wow, what a gift to have been exposed to both of those before you ever even delved into the procreative space! I hope to give the same gift to my daughters. Also, thank you for mentioning how fertility awareness can be used to manage and heal chronic issues, it is such an important reality of the practice.
I have Katy’s book as well! She is great, I just love her attitude and sense of playfulness.
What a terrific gathering of titles, Emily. I've heard The Continuum Concept mentioned a few times, and am especially eager to read it with your recommendation. Love the inclusion of Katie Singer and Michel Odent here too. Their work has been transformative for my understanding as well.
What great reviews! I too read Ina May Gaskin for the first time in anticipation of my eldest daughter’s birth. I had a difficult pregnancy emotionally, for many reasons, though strictly from a medical point of view the baby and I were always fine. I wanted, and had, all the technological monitoring and medical interventions at my disposal. However, I recognized that I also needed some spiritual help, especially as my early anxiety about the pregnancy was replaced with intrusive thoughts of dead babies as birth approached. We were lucky to find and be able to hire an experienced doula and she recommended Ina May. It was soul-expanding to read stories of women and babies who birthed with confidence.
My first birth was not without its challenges, but, with all the supports I did not experience any of the things that happened as traumatic and that is significant, I think.
My second daughter’s birth was completely different. I was less anxious, thank goodness. She was a breech baby but thanks to the same doula, and the availability of a breech birthing specialist team, I was able to have a natural birth. She came so quickly that if we hadn’t gone immediately to the hospital due to her breech presentation, I would likely have had an unplanned home birth lol. (My water broke at midnight on my due date and 4 and half hours later she was here.)
As the girls have grown up I find myself thinking more about how important it is to support new mothers. Pregnancy and infancy go by so quickly yet they do not diminish in importance. The best way I can put it is that the beginning of a story does not cease to matter even when you are in the middle.
Another book that greatly influenced me as a very young woman was Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With the Wolves. I reread it regularly for years, though not so much anymore. She is wise and encouraging and feminist without being obnoxious.
I loved reading this! Thank you for taking the time to so thoroughly introduce each book ❤
The only one I've read on this list is Spiritual Midwifery, so I'll have to check out the others. I'm especially glad to see The Garden of Fertility as an alternative to Taking Charge of Your Fertility - that one just didn't resonate with me somehow, so I'm glad to have another option to pursue as my girls approach those years.
Oh wonderful! Yes I think it is a great resource, it has all of the info you need and case studies and tons of resources but also is so easy to read. I need to go back and read yours now, that Ethics of Beauty really piqued my interest…
We're doing a podcast series about Ethics of Beauty if you want to check it out. It's not a sequential study of the book, it's really just us talking through the big ideas in there, but it might help you get a feel for what you'd be getting into. Here's episode one:
https://open.substack.com/pub/orthodoxcm/p/first-episode
We're gearing up to record our next few episodes on gender, so stay tuned for that too. No definite timeline yet, but soon, God willing!
Sounds absolutely fascinating and like it would be perfect listening today while I am in the kitchen all day canning! Thank you! So glad to have found your work!
I have Edith Stein on my reading list at the moment! Also, I think you would really enjoy Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage by Dr Rachel Reed, if you haven’t read it already.
I haven’t! I love her though, and it would be a good time for me to read it, so I’m ordering! Thank you!
I've had the Continuum Concept on my list for a few months now since first hearing of it. I was just thinking of it earlier today before I read this, so your post is the perfect impetus to actually check it out and read it :)
It’s so good! I read it early in one of my postpartum and when I tell you I WEPT (but in that really redeeming, healing way). It really is just such a perspective shifter.
Ahhh I'm so happy to see Edith Stein's book here. I picked it up a couple years ago after hearing about it a bazillion times..... tried reading it postpartum last go-around and that was not the right time for it. haha Thank you for the reminder to revisit it.
I really recommend listening to the episode about her on Helen Roy’s podcast before you read her if you haven’t yet!
Spiritual Midwifery, and the Garden of Fertility, would also be right there at the top of my list! I read both of them years before I even contemplated marriage or children (or even sex!), and they completely revolutionized how I related to my body. I charted my way through the years of recovery from PCOS, and those charts showed me, every day, my progress, in clear ink-on-paper terms, which was more than any doctor had been able to do for me. And, you know, Gaskin is the antidote to the poison of growing up around women who never say anything positive about childbirth, only tell horror stories.
I found the key difference between TCOYF and GOF is that weschler didn't really address the possibility of using the charts to *track and diagnose health problems*, and Singer did. And that was what I needed at the time.
That list, for me, would also DEFINITELY include the sequel to those two books: Katy Bowman's *Diastasis Recti*, which practically saved my life. Turns out childbirth is the easiest part. Postpartum recovery is the hard part! Let your monkey do it... and then let Katy help you figure out what to do next.
Wow, what a gift to have been exposed to both of those before you ever even delved into the procreative space! I hope to give the same gift to my daughters. Also, thank you for mentioning how fertility awareness can be used to manage and heal chronic issues, it is such an important reality of the practice.
I have Katy’s book as well! She is great, I just love her attitude and sense of playfulness.
I had similar thoughts! And then I had all boys...
Emily! This list is amazing 🌹🩵 thank you for sharing it with us 📖
Thank you friend!
What a terrific gathering of titles, Emily. I've heard The Continuum Concept mentioned a few times, and am especially eager to read it with your recommendation. Love the inclusion of Katie Singer and Michel Odent here too. Their work has been transformative for my understanding as well.
Thank you Jan! I think Liedloff’s work will most certainly be something you appreciate and find relevant to your work.
What great reviews! I too read Ina May Gaskin for the first time in anticipation of my eldest daughter’s birth. I had a difficult pregnancy emotionally, for many reasons, though strictly from a medical point of view the baby and I were always fine. I wanted, and had, all the technological monitoring and medical interventions at my disposal. However, I recognized that I also needed some spiritual help, especially as my early anxiety about the pregnancy was replaced with intrusive thoughts of dead babies as birth approached. We were lucky to find and be able to hire an experienced doula and she recommended Ina May. It was soul-expanding to read stories of women and babies who birthed with confidence.
My first birth was not without its challenges, but, with all the supports I did not experience any of the things that happened as traumatic and that is significant, I think.
My second daughter’s birth was completely different. I was less anxious, thank goodness. She was a breech baby but thanks to the same doula, and the availability of a breech birthing specialist team, I was able to have a natural birth. She came so quickly that if we hadn’t gone immediately to the hospital due to her breech presentation, I would likely have had an unplanned home birth lol. (My water broke at midnight on my due date and 4 and half hours later she was here.)
As the girls have grown up I find myself thinking more about how important it is to support new mothers. Pregnancy and infancy go by so quickly yet they do not diminish in importance. The best way I can put it is that the beginning of a story does not cease to matter even when you are in the middle.
Another book that greatly influenced me as a very young woman was Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With the Wolves. I reread it regularly for years, though not so much anymore. She is wise and encouraging and feminist without being obnoxious.