What to Expect When You
Some women breeze through pregnancy, others have aches, pains and extra scans. However, it's rare that a mother-to-be can get through the amazing nine months before birth without having any questions or concerns.
Finding the right book that you will have an affinity with can be a tall order. Something that will comfort you when you have a strange pain in the middle of the night, and that won't make you feel overwhelmed when you're reading about birth options.
Also, you may feel extremely self-conscious just walking into a bookshop and browsing the many, many books on the subject of pregnancy. If you are already pregnant, it might not show yet, and if you haven't been pregnant before, it takes a while to realise you're part of a big club of women who are going through or have experienced this before you. Just look at how many kids there are in the world!!!
If you do think you'd like to invest in a book as well as visiting ThinkBaby (don't forget there are many other wise women on those forums), reading a few sample pages of a few different books, will help you decide. You want a tone with authority, but nothing you will feel patronised by.
Also think about your existing lifestyle. Do you want something that will have lots of detail about keeping fit in pregnancy, or one that helps you continue with the kinds of special diets you require?
For all round useful advice in an easy to digest format (remember, you'll have one-off questions rather than the time to sit and read an entire book about the whole issue of pregnancy), the ThinkBaby favourite has to be 'What to Expect... When You're Expecting'.
Written by Heidi Murkoff (who has extended the brand to include 'What to Expect...' books on pregnancy eating, the first year of your baby's life, the toddler years, and even one for babysitters and nannies), with Arlene Eisenberg and Sandee Hathaway, it can be quite 'American' in tone. However, the text is fully revised and addresses UK needs and interests.
The book originally came out in 1984, but has become a popular reference book that addresses fetal development, all possible questions and worries you might have, it looks at emotions and health issues, and goes through the birth process in enough detail to help you feel prepared, without making you scared!
It has been regularly updated since its first publication, and we have already reviewed it on the site, but we include it here because there is a handy-sized (if chunky) format of it being published by Simon & Schuster, and we are always getting asked what books we'd recommend!