Product Spolight: Reading Materials

ziggymama06

What are you currently reading (or have read in the past) that you find useful on this journey?  Any books, apps, articles, videos, etc. are welcome!  Also, any materials that your partners have read and found helpful?  

ziggymama06

This is my first pregnancy and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I figure I can't be the only one!!  Anyone found anything really helpful?  Much appreciated!  

gladmamma

I really like Expecting 411 and Expecting Better. Both have been really helpful in terms of giving straightforward information in a friendly, conversational way. They also both (especially Expecting Better) do a very good job of easing anxieties over things "not going right" given all the fear based information that's out there. I'm really trying to stay positive and calm during this whole process instead of focusing on the "what ifs" and horror stories I've heard.  

tyrion_

I will dive back into my birthing books once the first tri scaries are past. 

I’ve read Guide To Childbirth before but will be adding a Bradley method book, as well. 

Hoping and praying for my third unmedicated delivery. 

ziggymama06

@tyrion_ I'm hoping to go unmedicated as well.  Just made my first appointment for three weeks from today (yay!).  I've heard of the Bradley method but don't know much on it, yet.  Thanks!  Fx for another unmedicated for you!!!

ziggymama06

@gladmamma Those sound interesting.. I just ordered the Expecting 411!  

starlight8323

My favorite pregnancy app so far has been “Pregnancy+”

It has the best, most realistic, 360° pictures of what the baby looks like and even shows the heart beating. You can zoom out to actual size, or zoom way in on the heart or the head or whatever you want, and you can even tap the baby and it moves! It’s really cute, and makes the whole process much more real!

The app also has helpful daily articles, weekly sample sonogram pictures, weekly blogs about the development of baby that week, what you can expect from your body, health tips, etc., a weight tracker for mom, a place to keep your name list, and several other functions that I know I’m forgetting!

(I’m putting the pictures from the app in a spoiler below, just so that they don’t take up much room, and they’re easy for y’all to scroll past in the future.)

  

rowen20

@starlight_7 I'm also loving this app! I'm avoiding books right now... I'm too paranoid about another loss, I just can't seem to find the excitement to read much until at least the 1st ultrasound comes back clear!

coldlife

Apps - never used 'em. My period tracker keeps track of my due date and week counter, and that's all I care about. 

Books:

Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth. First half - 2 stars. Second half - 5 stars. The first part is birth stories, and it's extremely, EXTREMELY hippy and woo woo. Laboring in a tree and being connected to the earth, and having a hard time dealing with it so another woman who already had a baby a day prior lays next to the laboring woman, both nearly nude, bodies touching and having contractions in sync. If that's your thing, great, and you'll like it. It is decidedly not mine, despite the fact I'm a no intervention, out-of-hospital birther. The second half is good and about actually having a baby. 

The Birth Partner. I didn't read most of it. I read the relevant parts aloud to my husband because he's not a huge reader. I liked how for each phase of birth, they went through what's happening, what the doctor/nurse/midwife will be doing, how the person giving birth may be feeling, and what you (the birth partner) can do to help. I think it could be very helpful, although I don't know how much my husband remembered from it. 

What to Expect. It's fine. It gets deserved criticism for dwelling on what can go wrong. I read it once, but I don't really feel that I learned that much from it. 

Active Birth. It was ok. Don't read if you don't want to see lots and lots of pictures of fully nude woman giving birth. I wish the author had left them out. It was interesting to review. Definitely solidified my desire to be upright with this birth (I was on the stool with my first first and more reclined with my second). However, some of the information regarding excercises I think is out of date. 

gomillis

Expecting Better is great, science-backed information. I found it super informative, although my friend is an addiction researcher and was really alarmed by how liberal it’s recommendations about alcohol were. Personally, I abstained from alcohol my last pregnancy (and this one), but I appreciated the book’s balanced approach to discussing the risks. 

I also found The Science of Mom really informative about early newborn care. 

fitandnerdy

Another vote for Expecting Better! The author is an economist and I am an economist-in-training so I am probably slightly biased 😂 But I like how she provides research and lists some pros/cons so ultimately you can weigh and make your own decision. She also recently released a parenting book but obviously haven't looked into that yet...

This isn't reading material, but I love the podcast The Birth Hour. I feel like I have learned so much about the process from listening to the stories. 

scgirl6113

For anyone searching for something to help with spiritual growth through pregnancy, I have so been enjoying “Labor With Hope” by Gloria Furman.