Best pregnancy books

thistlenweeds

 Let's share the best books about pregnancy here!

I'm currently reading a book called "Expecting better" by Emily Oster. She is an economist and when she was pregnant she was doing a lot of  research on different popular pregnancy rules and such and the studies that were done to prove them and it's really enlightening. 

Another book that I read a while ago but want to reread now is "Bringing up Bebe" by Pamela Druckerman. It's really entertaining and is about an American woman living in France and learning about the French parenting. It's really fun and I think it has some good points in it too.

What about you? Any books you'd recommend to first time mommas?

RainyDays86

The happiest baby on the block! Cannot recommend it enough, it was a life saver for those first few months with DS.

sqfibemom

I'm old school hha! I haven't read a pregnancy book since DS but I liked WTEWYE and The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy. I also read Knocked Up and enjoyed that (it's a novel, not related to the movie) 

pshaortao

I bought a couple then barely looked through them. The bump was good enough for me And reliable resources online

luckywife10

@contrarationem Expecting Better sounds like a good book, I'm gonna have to check that out.

Books I've found helpful are:
-How to Exercise When You're Expecting by Lindsay Brin
-The Business of Being Born (the documentary of this book is good too)
-The Business of Baby (similar to The Business of Being Born but more in depth on certain subjects)
-Birth Without Fear by Grantly Dick-Read written in 1942 but it has been revised a couple times
-Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding both by Ina May Gaskin
-The Mother of All Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas 

mamatowildones

Belly laughs was hysterical. Jenny McCarthy wrote it and it still makes me laugh out loud even with the third pregnancy. 

hp_momma

I read the traditional What to Expect When your Expecting... and I found a book for my husband, "Your Boys Can Swim!" It's like the funny, shortened version of WTEWYE for husbands to understand what your dealing with! 

flychick-2

@contrarationem someone recommended that book earlier and I read it right away and loved it! I'll probably reread it again during this pregnancy.

I really liked Bringing up Bene the first time. Then when I read it again I found it a bit sanctimonious. She has some anecdote about her daughter putting down kraft Mac n cheese like we were supposed to think it was cute, and all I could think was how she was going to grow up to be an insufferable brat.

alr5k

mamatowildones said:

Belly laughs was hysterical. Jenny McCarthy wrote it and it still makes me laugh out loud even with the third pregnancy. 

OMG this was hysterical. I read this when pregnant with DS and peed my pants (literally). She tells the REAL good, bad, and ugly.

pshaortao

Ive never heard of belly laughs so I went and requested a copy from my library!

MollyandD

@luckywife10 I'm reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth now. It's pretty good, but I did skip past the birth stories at the beginning, because there were so many. 

Yiggle09

Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding by Ina May Gaskin

psherman42wwsa

For my first I got several books but I found the Mayo Clinics guide to a healthy pregnancy to be the most helpful. Since I am a nurse I liked more medical information the first time around. If I get any more books this time around I'll probably go for something that will make me laugh. I bought books used on amazon for super cheap and they were all in great condition.

I also got a hypnobirthing book. Everyone made fun of me for this one.. I skimmed through it and tried some of the relaxation techniques... I thought eh I'll give it a try, I did a couple of them during labor and it sort of helped?  After the end of a busy day I would sit in the bath and do some of the exercise and it was nice and relaxing... for my first baby I was really scared about giving birth and it helped give me some confidence by thinking that people give birth completely unmedicated so I could definitely do it medicated lol.

mdlorenz

@MollyandD  IMHO the birth stories are one of the most important parts of her book. There are so many horror stories that friends and family love to tell, and Ina May makes a point to counterbalance that with positive stories. Birth isn't always kittens and roses but having trust in the process (and your provider) is fundamental. 

Kipperoo

I highly recommend Expecting Better--I think it does a great job actually laying out the facts around the research regarding risks in pregnancy. There is so much misinformation and speculation in the pregnancy community...I really enjoyed this book as a counter to all that noise. 

MollyandD

mdlorenz said:

@MollyandD  IMHO the birth stories are one of the most important parts of her book. There are so many horror stories that friends and family love to tell, and Ina May makes a point to counterbalance that with positive stories. Birth isn't always kittens and roses but having trust in the process (and your provider) is fundamental. 

They were useful, but after a while I wanted to read more about how bodies in labor work in general, rather than specific stories.