Can anyone recommend a good pregnancy book?

[Chocolocolate]

I've just found out I'm expecting and would love to get a good pregnancy book.

Preferably something with lots of pics of embryos/foetuses at each stage of pregnancy.

Any recommendations?

I don't know any books like that but a very good website is www.askbaby.com where you can see how your baby is developing in the womb every day :)

i have seen one today in WHSmiths called your pregnancy day by day was £25 though so quit expensive but there was a cheeper one in waterstones, was just £13 xx

I got 'Your Pregnancy Bible' last week, lots of information about the different stages and pictures. :)

www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Pregnancy-Week-Lesley-Regan/dp/0751336823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299874216&sr=8-1

Your Pregnancy Week by Week [Hardcover]
Lesley Regan

It has a lot more about embrological and fetal development than Your Pg Bible.

DO NOT READ PREGNANCY BOOKS! They are all bunk. There's nothing you really need to know. After about forty weeks, a baby comes out. You can worry yourself silly about whether your child has ears yet. There's a development calendar on here (see bottom of page for details). Babies do not develop according to the calendar though (they can't read for a start).

Read PARENTING books by all means (the Mumsnet one is v funny) but don't shell out on pregnancy books - you get one from the midwife anyway if it's your first (which is also a bit crap but if you are bored......)

BTW congratulations on your pregnancy. Enjoy the experience, register for online pregnancy calendars if you want to know about the development cycle but really, it won't help you to read lots of books - your brain is turned to porridge in the third trimester and you forget it all anyway (well mine did anyway, twice). :)

Dr mirrium stobbard is really good

I swear by What To Expect When You're Expecting, which will literally answer every possible possible question, but it doesn't have cute foetus pictures - also it has deranged ideas about the number of Magnums/Dairy Milk Bars/entire bags of Kettle Chips you should be eating (no more than 1 per MONTH!)

A good parenting book is What to Expect the First Year - loads of useful info on pretty much everything you can think of, but don't be put off just because it doesn't have photos. 'Your Baby's First Year month by month' by Practical Parenting is a good one too with lots of photos etc.

As for pregnancy books, Dr Miriam Stoppard's Conception, Pregnancy and Birth is pretty comprehensive. The Rough Guide to pregnancy is good too, and very funny.

As for pictures of baby's development, I found babycentre website the best for info on how baby is developing as you go along. I don't recall any pregnancy books that have pics of the foetus at each stage, although Miriam Stoppard's book does have a few.

HTH.

i got the mumsnet one - very funny! also got what to expect in the first year but reading it scares me so have put it on OH bedside for him to read

Rough Guide to Pregnancy by Kaz Cooke. I thought there was enough info to be useful, without being a paranoid info-overload.

i love that kaz cooke book... so funny

Go to the library, get a couple, see what you like. Return them. Costs nothing and you won't really want/need them in a few months time. Don't spend ££ on them.

I just bought the Day-By-Day Pregnancy Book, which is published by Dorling Kindersley. It was £25 so not cheap (possibly the one Valiant1 referred to) BUT it is HUGE and has lots of pics, which I loved. I now enjoy reading my daily update! Each to their own, I guess.

I agree with ShowOfHands - borrowing pregnancy books is deffo the way forward. Ask friends or join the library.

Francesca Naish and Janette Roberts - Healthy Pregnancy, Better Baby

I have 'What to expect when you are expecting' too, it's not one to be read from cover to cover though as it covers every eventuality, lots of which you don't really need the detail on unless it applies to you.

I bought my copy with DC1, it goes away for a bit after each birth and is out again for a 3rd time. It has put my mind at rest quite a few times (but then I worry due to past history).

its not so much a pregnancy book, more one about the "fourth trimester" i.e the six weeks after youve given birth, its a book called "and you thought labour was hard". I LOVE this book.its so funny and isn't too long either. I havent had my DS yet (hes coming in may) but its by far the best book ive read in regards to being a new mum :)

What SoH said

And Ina May Gaskin Guide to Childbirth in a few months time....

Also surf the net...

Boots website

BBC

etc....

Don't waste your money now... you'll need it for chocolate later on :)

How ridiculous telling someone not to read a book! The more informed you are, the better prepared you are, and more alert to any issues that might crop up. Arming yourself with information removes fear for a lot of people, and thus results in a pregnancy that is easier to understand and rationalise.

I'd go to your local bookshop and pick some up, flick through, get a feel for the tone etc. Some people like very scientific ones, some like humorous...

All the best for your pregnancy!

ps- sign up to babycentre.co.uk weekly emails - they send info on foetal development at each week with pictures etc. For free.

oh and Your Pregnancy Week By Week is a brilliant book

I would say steer as clear of the What to Expect books as possible. They're written for Americans, whose birthing culture, work culture, and childrearing culture is different to ours, sometimes quite subtly. The emphasis is on how to get your head around accepting a medicalised birth, with the assumption that you will not question your OB-GYN. There are much better books for discussing pros and cons and options. The breastfeeding advice (iirc) has far too much to say on expressing, because American women don't get good maternity leave and have to be back at work within weeks.

They do have a few footnotes for British readers but the whole thing about pediatrician checks (in The First Year) and the pages and pages of things that you wouldn't have thought of, but now might worry about, are annoying.

If you want something by a doctor, the Yehudi Gordon book is all right and very comprehensive.

Pregnancy boks really are not all bunk. Sadly we don't have a system where a woman can go into labour and be looked after by one or more caring and trusted women/midwives. Being as informed as possible - and having a partner who is as informed as possible and can speak up for you - can really, really help. The number of women who find out afterwards that something was done to them that really ought not to have been done is too high to be advocating keeping women passive and in the dark.

eg knowing that there is no such thing as a reliably predictable length of labour
knowing that you can take AGES to dilate to say 4cm and then go quite quickly after that - and that's just one possibility
THEREFORE knowing that when a midwife comes in and tuts that your labour is too slow, she is not being subjective and you are not failing to progress
That sort of information is invaluable IMO

I got Your Pregnancy Bible when I was pregnant with DD. It covers everything, pregnancy, labour, breastfeeding, even sex positions and first aid. It has lots of pics of the developing baby and I found it really useful regards what to expect in labour.

It costs approx £25 in Waterstones but is usually on Amazon for under £15.

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