I love reading books, and I delighted in sharing that love with my sons. Reading stories together was such a sweet time, and the holidays made it a little sweeter. I'm sharing my favorite Christmas books for children and grown ups too. I personally adored reading Letters From Father Christmas two years ago, and one my favorite books as a child was The Littlest Angel. 
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• Moo, Baa, Falalalalala by Sandra Boynton
• The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
• Bear Stays Up by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
• Merry Christmas Mom and Dad by Mercer Mayer
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
• If You Take A Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff
• Oliva helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer
• The Night Before Christmas by Charles Santore
• Paddington and the Christmas Suprise by Michael Bond
• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May
• The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell
• The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt
• Letters From Father Christmas by J. R. R Tolkein
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause by L. Frank Baum

These books warm my heart and bring back delightful memories. I hope they bring you and your family some joy too.

During labor, it's normal to feel some discomfort in your back, especially as baby descends low enough to shift your sacrum and coccyx as they pass through the pelvis. This is not the same as back labor. Back labor is when the back of baby's head is lined up with Mom's spine. It often feels like the contraction starts in the back and wraps around, or it can feel like the contraction is only happening in the back. It's intense and can make for a longer labor. Here are  some suggestions for back labor. 

The first thing is to try to convince baby to shift from a posterior position. Things you can try are:

• Do 3 rounds of the Miles circuit.
• Use a Rebozo to encourage baby to turn.

If trying those things don't encourage baby to shift, here are ideas to manage back labor:

• Run the shower on your lower back
• Use the birth pool.  If you don't have a birth pool and your tub is large, you can use that instead.
• Roll tennis balls on either side of the lower spine during contractions
• Do the double hip squeeze
• Apply gentle pressure to the sacral area. Be mindful that pressure on the sacrum will limit the sacrum's ability to move which may slow baby's descent.
• Use a TENS unit on the lower back
• Try a heating pad on the lower back.
• Sit backwards on the toilet. You can use pillows on the tank to have a soft place to rest your head and upper body between contractions.
• Try sitting and gently bouncing on a birth ball.

Back labor is intense, but staying relaxed and trying the ideas I've shared can help you navigate labor with a baby in the posterior position.