book bonanza – welcome with love

May 12, 2010

I have been attending births this month – two so far with one more to go – so birth is on my mind. I want to share one of my favorite birth books with you. Welcome With Love by Jenni Overand and illustrated by Julie Vivas is a delight to the eyes and heart. The artwork is colorful and portrays a laboring and birthing mama quite accurately, especially those who birth outside of the hospital with all its tubes, gowns, uncomfortable beds, and machines beeping in the background. The birth story is told from the perspective of the big brother, Jack, who is around the age of five in my estimation. He talks about the noises his “mum” makes, the walking, dancing with dad, and groaning that is going on all in a calm, matter of fact manner that teaches that while birth is a special event it is also a normal part of life. His mum proceeds to give birth holding on to dad with their midwife catching and the older sisters watching and welcoming the new little one. At the end of the story the family curls up together in front of the fire and mum drinks and drinks some more while explaining to Jack “thirsty work having babies.” Indeed it is! I prefer homemade popsicles during labor made with R.W. Knudson’s Morning Blend juice and cannot get enough of them when I am bringing a baby into this world.

This book is not available for a reasonable price any longer, but it is published in Australia under the name Hello Baby. Hopefully you can find it at your local library or in a thrift store. Mine is missing at the moment after it got lent to a client and not returned…big mistake since it is now over $200 at amazon.com (Hello Baby in hardcover is $969.00 – how on earth can a book that sold for around $15 now be worth 969 buckaroos?). If you find two cheap copies, pick them both up and I will buy one from you!

This lovely treasure conveys the beauty and simplicity of birth in a family setting with soothing words, gentle illustrations, and the wonder of a boy experiencing it for the first time. I hope you love it just as much as we do.