Pregnancy book?

[sheepstache]

A couple people here mentioned Taking Charge of Your Fertility for lady health stuff and I was really impressed with it and hadn't heard of it anywhere else. A friend's expecting so I thought I'd tap the smart resources here for a recommendation for that. I did recommend Expecting Better by Emily Oster but wondered if there was anything good comprehensive like another What to Expect When You're Expecting.

[SandyBoxx]

The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy -  or everythibg your doctor won't tell you.  By Vicki Iovine.

When pregnant, everyone was trying to give me books. I told them all that I only wanted their favorite one - I got 5 copies of this one!

[ahoy]

My oldest is now 12 yrs, so the following is what I was reading at the time. 

I really loved "What to expect when you're expecting".  The month by month guides were great.  When my husband and I went to the classes at the hospital, I learn't nothing new there and it really was a waste of time.   The book seemed to cover everything.   The next one "What to expect for the first year" was pretty good too.  I bought the one for the 'toddler years" but really didn't get much out of that one.

[arebelspy]

Expecting Better is the one. I loved it, as did the wife. Science/data driven, rather than myths/folklore.

[Anatidae V]

Expecting Better is the one. I loved it, as did the wife. Science/data driven, rather than myths/folklore.

I found this good, but not comprehensive enough - I am also looking for pregnancy book recommendations, I need something that will step me through the completely normal symptoms like water retention and so on, does someone have a recommendation more like that?

*Oh and for baby's first year, "The Science Of Mom" is a great book. She also has a blog, and the book is taken from that:
http://scienceofmom.com/

[arebelspy]

*Oh and for baby's first year, "The Science Of Mom" is a great book. She also has a blog, and the book is taken from that:
http://scienceofmom.com/

Just snagged the book from my library, thanks!

[Flyingkea]

Expecting Better is the one. I loved it, as did the wife. Science/data driven, rather than myths/folklore.

I found this good, but not comprehensive enough - I am also looking for pregnancy book recommendations, I need something that will step me through the completely normal symptoms like water retention and so on, does someone have a recommendation more like that?

*Oh and for baby's first year, "The Science Of Mom" is a great book. She also has a blog, and the book is taken from that:
http://scienceofmom.com/

Not a book but www.bellybelly.com.au is a goodone that I used while pregnant.
Similarly, The Natural Child Project I found to be an amazing resource - it really spoke to the way I wanted to parent Sir Ed.

[APowers]

If you don't mind a book that comes from a VERY hippie perspective, we found "Spiritual Midwifery" (Ina May Gaskin) to be a really good guide. She was/is one of the most esteemed natural childbirth midwives from the '70s. Lots of fun stories, at least. Certainly worth reading, even if you only borrow it.

A really good, more staid read is "Heart & Hands: a Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth" (Elizabeth Davis). We read a ton of books that our midwife had in her library, and this was so good that we bought our own copy.

[sheepstache]

Expecting Better is the one. I loved it, as did the wife. Science/data driven, rather than myths/folklore.

I found this good, but not comprehensive enough - I am also looking for pregnancy book recommendations, I need something that will step me through the completely normal symptoms like water retention and so on, does someone have a recommendation more like that?

Exactly. It was a great reactive work in response to the mainstream guides and dealt with the issues she had time to research, but was wondering about a walk through of the whole thing with that type of approach.

So far I've glanced through What to Expect and I certainly appreciate its value for being comprehensive and pretty straightforward. But the babytalk (tummy! veggies!) is not going to fly well with my friend and a lot of it just basically seems to be urging moderation without explaining the why of any of it (don't exercise too much! but do try to exercise a bit! eat more! but make sure you don't eat too much!).

Has anyone read Our Body Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth?

Thanks for all the ideas!

[arebelspy]

*Oh and for baby's first year, "The Science Of Mom" is a great book. She also has a blog, and the book is taken from that:
http://scienceofmom.com/

Just snagged the book from my library, thanks!

Thanks for the recommendation, the wife just read it, very quick read. She said most the info she knew by this point, but some good stuff.

[midweststache]

I'm on the lookout for a free digital copy of "From the Hips" (authors Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morris), which is supposed to be What to Expect meets Expecting Better. It's gotten glowing recommendations from a number of sites I respect, including Offbeat Home & Life/Offbeat Families.

[Parizade]

a friend of mine gave my DIL a book called "Happiest Baby on the Block"

Of all the books they got and read, this is the only one they raved about. And they do have a very happy little girl.

[brycedoula]

What To Expect can be a bit...fear mongering?

The Mother of All Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas (also authored The Mother of All Baby Books)

and

Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn by Penny Simkin (also authored The Birth Partner)

are my recommendations, both as a birth doula & a new mum!

[ponyespresso]

I second Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn. I don't care for the What To Expect books personally. I also liked the Nursing Mothers Companion for once baby arrived.

[Doubleh]

My wife immediately got What to Expect as soon as she found out she was pregnant - seems the default option - but it definitely came across as pretty fear mongering.

I'd recommend bumpology - it's not a comprehensive guide but is a great companion that will appeal to those who value evidence backed claims. The author is a writer for new scientist who reviewed the availabile literature for everything moms to be are told and separates out the do's and don'ts which actually have a sound basis from those with no real support so that you can make your own informed decisions.

[Bracken_Joy]

For partners, I highly recommend, "The Birth Partner". Excellent book, but more labor focused than pregnancy focused.

I also enjoyed "The Mother of all Pregnancy Books", mentioned above.

Also thought "What to expect" is pretty fear mongering...

All the said with the caveat that, while I have been there for the pregnancies of family and friends, and some labors, and done an OB rotation in nursing school, I, myself, have never had a kid. So grain of salt I guess?

[fitfrugalfab]

So these aren't books but if you're TTC, Ovia and Kindara are free apps that you can you to track your cycles and the best time to TTC.

[bobechs]

Uhhhmm...

Rosemary's Baby?  A bit dated, but timeless in a way.  Manhattan remains Manhattan.

Book was better than the movie, imo.

[forummm]

If you don't mind a book that comes from a VERY hippie perspective, we found "Spiritual Midwifery" (Ina May Gaskin) to be a really good guide. She was/is one of the most esteemed natural childbirth midwives from the '70s. Lots of fun stories, at least. Certainly worth reading, even if you only borrow it.

I strongly recommend Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth.

I'm on the lookout for a free digital copy of "From the Hips" (authors Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morris), which is supposed to be What to Expect meets Expecting Better. It's gotten glowing recommendations from a number of sites I respect, including Offbeat Home & Life/Offbeat Families.

I liked this one too.

[MrsDinero]

we didn't read any books, but Mr. D subscribed to the weekly emails from babycenter.com and we both had the pregnancy version of baby center downloaded.

We found the weekly updates very helpful.  If we were concerned about anything else, we googled it.  Most often he knew more about what was happening inside my body than I did :)

[Psychstache]

1000 questions about your pregnancy. The OBGYN office gave us a copy. Good reference guide, not so much of a cover to cover read.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[QueenV]

I'll add my vote for Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn by Penny Simkin and her other book, The Birth Partner.  I probably read around 10 pregnancy and labor books and these two were my favorites by far and the only ones I liked enough to purchase (borrowed the rest from the library).  The Birth Partner is basically the childbirth section from the other book but is written specifically to the perspective of the partner.  You probably don't need both, I bought the Birth Partner thinking my husband would read it while I read the other one.  (He never did.)  I felt like these books were very comprehensive and fairly unbiased in presenting medical options vs "natural" childbirth options.  It felt like the book provided support for whatever birth options I chose.  It also provided a lot of good scientific information that I didn't find in some of the other books.  I also liked that it covered the entire journey not just pregnancy or just childbirth or just newborn care like many other books.  It was nice to have all the info in one place.