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Parents of Infants

Pregnancy books - any good ones?

phyllis_philodendron

21 years ago

I am about six weeks along and figure I need to start reading up. Any good ones that won't have me worrying night and day that something will turn out wrong? I hear What to Expect is a little over the top. Any suggestions?

Comments (5)

trekaren
21 years ago
Phillis,

Wait a minute. You post on the other threads about the KY and the trouble you were having and all, and *I* for one never saw a followup that you had hit a home run!!!!!

~~~going in a corner to pout a while before telling you the books I liked~~~

CONGRATULATIONS!
phyllis_philodendron
Original Author
21 years ago
Sorry! I guess I didn't want to get into the *details* but since you asked ... LOL

At that point I was already starting to freak out, since we used KY and I just then (at ovulation) found out that it could be toxic to little swimmers. I ordered this stuff ... but it didn't get there in time so we tried it once without KY (takes some getting used to!) Apparently it worked. Two weeks later I got a cold, and decided to test because there was this off chance and I wanted to know if I could take anything or not. I couldn't believe it. Two other couples near us had been trying forever and one even had IVF - it seemed like all DH had to do was LOOK at me and it happened. LOL So here we are. And I didn't even get to use to stuff I ordered! Right now I feel pretty good - although today my stomach has been doing mild flips and I just ate and it didn't help!

So TREKaren, are you satisfied now? ; ) You can come out of your corner now. =)
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Zena
21 years ago
Hi Phyllis,

Congratulations!

I have two books and I think they're both good. The first is The Mother of all Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas, which I think is a good introductory book, and I still refer to it from time to time. The tone is rather jokey, which gets on my nerves sometimes but it's OK in small doses.

The second one I got, The New Well Pregnancy Book by Mike & Nancy Samuels is superb. It goes into much more detail and gives scientific evidence for the claims it makes. It's a shame it's not more up-to-date though (the latest edition is 1996).

I think the two books complement each other nicely, but if you want to get only one, I recommend the Samuels.

BUT bear in mind that I haven't actually given birth yet, so perhaps my recommendation should be taken with a pinch of salt! Maybe both books will turn out to have totally misrepresented giving birth. I'll find out this summer.....

Zena.

Here is a link that might be useful: The New Well Pregnancy Book
trekaren
21 years ago
Phyllis,

Ok out of my corner! Personally, I enjoyed the "What to Expect..." series.

I found them to be full of common sense at a time in life when your well-meaning family, friends, internet buddies and magazine articles can unintentionally send your mind to worrying about all SORTS of things.

I read it first. Then I used it as a reference as time went on. Looked up all kinds of things.

The other thing I enjoyed, wasn't a book, but my breastfeeding classes. Her series of classes were very informative about all kinds of nagging questions, both related to BF and just related to pregnancy and babyhood in general. Again, her matter-of-fact, common sense approach alleviated a lot of my jitters.

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!
Adella Bedella
21 years ago
Congratulations.

I don't have a specific name of a book, but I found my mil's nursing school books to be very helpful. You might be able to find books like this in a local college library. It really woundn't matter if they were a few years out of date.

I'd also recommend watching "A Baby Story" on TLC. To me, this show was a lot more realistic than any movie I ever saw in Lamaze class. I'm pregnant with #3 and still watch it occassionally just to see the experiences of other couples.

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