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My husband and I will begin baby making attempts in the next few months. I’ve never been into self-help and intend to approach pregnancy as just another stage in life, not some idealized baby obsessed utopia during which I need to document everything, take extreme precaution with safety and food, and transition my life into mommy perfection.
I’ve purchased the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy, which is very straight-forward, medically accurate information. I’d like to find some book suggestions though that other Offbeat Mamas have found enjoyable and informative. — Theresa
WE LOVE TALKING ABOUT BOOKS!
Seriously: just look at all these posts. We also have a kick-ass collection of resources for parents that has all kinds of goodies and faves listed:
- The Natural Pregnancy Book by Aviva Jill Romm, MD
- Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
- The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth
- The Pregnancy Book: A Month-by-Month Guide
- Pregnancy Journal: A Week-by-Week Guide to a Happy, Healthy Pregnancy
- The Birth Partner, Third Edition: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions
Any books we haven’t mentioned before that y’all think are awesome?
Magical beginings,enchanted lives by Deepak Chopra
Wise woman herbal for thechildbearing year by Susun Weed
Dad’s pregnant too
LaLeacheLeague Art of Breastfeeding is very sympathetic and useful aboutmuch more then breastfeeding. I cant titfeed worth a flip.
Oh and you should know they can shoot numbing stuff around and in your vag without “drugs”. No one tells anyone about that!
..and don´t make the mistake i did: i wanted to know everything about pregnancy but failed to look into a few books about what to do when the child is eventually here and very real…
(i.e. this http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Happy-Children-Do—ebook/dp/B001GXQKVI or anything from jesper juul like here: http://www.amazon.com/YOUR-COMPETENT-CHILD-parenting-ebook/dp/B005V0AUJ0/)
ps: forgot how to link the good way again! pregnancy brain…..
I loved Birthing from Within http://www.birthingfromwithin.com/store/show/2
It’s a lot more about the spiritual side of giving birth with some decent pain management techniques as well. It’s mostly a book for those wanting a birth without medical intervention.
I loved this book! It was the only book that I could find (well, except the Bradley Method ones, but I didn’t do the Bradley Method) that had useful advice for dealing with pain during labor. It even had exercises/practice to do beforehand. Very helpful!
Yes! This what I was going to recommend as well. I’ve read a bunch of books about pregnancy/childbirth/childcare, but if I could only have read one to prepare myself and understand my pregnant body, the best was Birthing from Within. It’s very accessible and not scary or preachy, and also very practical in a way the Ina May books aren’t always. But if you are going to read a second book, read Ina May’s Spiritual Midwifery or Guide to Childbirth! Can’t praise those books enough 🙂
For twins, I really liked Mothering Multiples. For every twin book we’ve found, you have to skip some chapters. For instance, Having Twins, by Elizabeth Noble, we quite liked except where it talked about how drinking milk would poison the babies.
I haven’t noticed anyone mentioning either The Birth Partner by Simkin or my favorite Sheila Kitzinger’s Complete book of pregnancy, which had great week-by-week charts.
I enjoyed So *that’s* what they’re for! The Definitive Breastfeeding Guide by Janet Tamaro. It was full of interesting facts, anecdotes and research, if breastfeeding is something you are thinking about. I can’t say I returned to it after giving birth, but it was good to read beforehand.
For breastfeeding, I recommend Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding (I believe it has a different book title in the US). A comprehensive guide, and lots of troubleshooting sections for later.
This has been really helpful. I just found I’m pregnant a few days ago and still haven’t gotten over the shock enough to buy books. However, I have sufficiently panicked enough to google everything I eat for the last three days to make sure we don’t end up with a baby with three horns. I came across http://www.pregnantchicken.com. It is a compilation of things the author has found on the internet about what to avoid while pregnant. I have found it calming, informative, and best of all funny. She isn’t a doctor but rather a synthesizes all the conflicting information out there and lets you draw your own conclusions.
I found pregnantchicken.com just last week and LOVE it! I’m only 10 weeks into my pregnancy, but it’s written very well and I’m thankful I came across it.
I really liked the info and approach in my Hypnobabies materials… it was the opposite of crazy-making and is all about developing positive expectations.
The La Leche League breastfeeding book (“The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding”) was overwhelming to me before I gave birth but SO useful from the hospital on… it literally addressed every concern and problem I faced, and did so in a very nonjudgmental way. I’d recommend browsing it before and keeping it with you afterward.
For anyone who wants to be active during pregnancy, I HIGHLY recommend Exercising Through Your Pregnancy by Dr. James Clapp. It talks about results of Clapp’s scientific studies into exercising while pregnant… VERY inspiring and comforting!!
I haven’t read all of the other comments so I’m sorry if maybe someone suggested it already:
I REALLY enjoyed reading “Do chocolate lovers have sweeter babies?” by Jena Pincott. It’s not a guide but it scientifically explains many things about pregnancy and childbirth. A very informative read!
I’m really enjoying ‘Up the duff’ by Kaz Cooke. She’s an Australian, so not everything would necessarily be relevant (she talks about our health system etc), but it is freaking hilarious, completely non-judgemental and at times quite reassuring. It’s written as a week-by-week guide. Highly recommend.
The best book I was given was “How to Have your 2nd Child First”! It is great and it has really helped cut down on buying crap I didn’t need and things were you can take short cuts so you can enjoy your baby more and spend less time worrying about the little things.
The absolute best advice i can give you is to GO TO THE LIBRARY!
They have almost every book about pregnancy, they also have books on pregnancy that are medical rather than anecdotal (like for med students).
Tips for using the library effectively:
1. Be open minded – if your library has a large book-limit, bring a LOT of stuff home. Browse through over a few days and also try to use them to “look-up” spontaneous questions to judge their reference value.
2. Pregnancy books are in a different part of the library from Parenting books and naming books are completely separate from both.
In my forays to the library for books I have found a few gems that I will share with you:
1. Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds – The best of both worlds:
This book was amazing. I started reading it and could not put it down. Cynthia Gabriel has her PhD in anthropology and is also a Doula and mother of 3 so her perspective is broad and educated. This book details hospital birth completely (twice, a succinct chapter-length description and a several chapter in-depth analysis)also gives VERY detailed advice on writing a three-part birth plan that is top-notch. Another bonus is that this book was published in 2011 so it is very up-to-date. It has a 4.8/5 rating on Amazon with 51 reviews. Cannot praise this book enough!
2. The Pregnant Body Book – This book is by DK publishing, who make pretty awesome science books for kids. This book details pregnancy from a medical perspective but uses accessible language and amazing images. Yes it is $40. I bet your library has it in their “over sized” or “coffee-table books” section. Beautiful and detailed, gender free language that is appropriate for all kinds of expecting families.
I also have From the Hips, which is the first comment’s recommendation. I like that it covers more than JUST pregnancy. It also has birth as a separate section as well as an After-Birth for mom section and a section about the care of your infant. Nice to have one book with so much information. I LOVED their section on feeding your newborn and their breakdown of pros and cons of formula and breast feeding.
Hated What to Expect, so full of scary nonsense and misinformation.
Love Ina May Gaskin, Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies, Our Babies Ourselves, and although I don’t remember the title, there is one written by a woman who is the head of integrative medicine at Yale, it was the perfect antidote to What to Expect.
Stay off baby center and similar sights again lots of scary stuff with little scientific backup. Eat what you want, exercise the way you always have (ACOG rescinded the 140 beats per minute thing 3 years ago, the no lying n your back thing or you’ll get dizzy only applies to 10% of women)
Check anything the doc tells you that sounds more like folk lore than common sense, and don’t forget that your body was designed for pregnancy.
I really like The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy (http://www.amazon.com/The-Girlfriends-Guide-Pregnancy-everything/dp/0671524313). I couple that with a week-by-week and another very medical book. The Girlfriend’s Guide is a less than medical look at pregnancy and what your body goes through (plus it’s humorous, which is a HUGE plus when you are feeling lost in a sea of hormones and a less than understanding partner).
I liked Pregnancy: The Ultimate Week-by-Week Pregnancy Guide by Laura Riley. I received it free from doing a hospital tour (I highly recommend even just touring all the hospitals in your area because they often give away freebies, like a pregnancy massage, books, etc). It was the one I turned to the most.
I also like The Mother of All Pregnancy Books. And DK has one that I can’t remember the title of, but all their books have great pictures.
Birthing From Within ended up being the best book I read. Highly recommend it and take the class if you can, too.
I know this post is oldish but my husband and I are in the same boat as OP and I love all these suggestions! My doctor suggested I read “What to Expect Before You’re Expecting” and I found it to be super condescending, generally obnoxious, and not really my style, so I’ve been looking for other suggestions. Thanks Offbeat friends!
Also – I recently read “Pregnant Butch: Nine Long Months Spent in Drag” (http://www.amazon.com/Pregnant-Butch-Nine-Months-Spent/dp/1593765401) which, while not necessarily a pregnancy book, was a fantastic read which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in gender identity issues, LGBT issues, pregnancy, feminism, suspenders, or just generally being a person in a complicated world.