The other day, my boys were digging through one of our bookshelves, and pulled out a stack of books that we haven’t read in a long time. We have hundreds of children’s books, so while we read every day, it isn’t too difficult to find some books that have sat unread for a period.

One of the books they pulled out was Jenni Overend’s Hello Baby. Since they pulled it out about five days ago, we’ve read it multiple times a day. I’m not sure what’s made them latch onto this book right now, perhaps the fact that a new cousin will be arriving later this year or maybe that as we read this book, we talk about their own births. My boys love to hear stories about themselves and retellings of our family history.

I found Hello Baby when I was pregnant with my second child. I spent weeks and weeks searching for a children’s picture book that talked about and depicted a home birth. And then I found Hello Baby. As far as I know, it is the only children’s picture book that discusses this topic.

In Hello Baby, Jenni Overend tells the story of the birth of a little boy through the eyes of his soon-to-be big brother (a child who is four or so). She simply describes the actions taken by each member of the family: the mama, the dad, the older sisters, the aunt, the midwife, and, of course, the little boy, as the mama labors, births the baby, and the whole family heads to sleep that night.

The pictures are beautifully drawn, and are realistic without being too graphic — though it does show a baby’s head emerging and a naked newborn baby, if you’re sensitive to such things. It was the perfect book for me to read to my son as we prepared for the home birth of his little brother. It helped him to understand what was going to happen in a simple, picture-filled way.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is preparing an older sibling for a homebirth or for any type of birth. It would also be good for kids who want to learn about how babies are born, whether there is a sibling coming to join them or not.

Overend is an Australian author, and some of the wording hints at that, but childbirth is universal, and every part of this book rings true. As a note, this book was also published under the title, Welcome with Love.

You can get your own copy HERE, HERE, or HERE (the same book was published under the title Welcome with Love).