pregnancy books?

[jess live die]

thankyou all so much im off to shop for some books i hate reading but whn its on babies and thngs i cnt put them down. i brought up the duff off a mate so im onna go buy what everyone has listed and try do some reading

Belle333: i found 8 weeks the ykkest out of all weeks you poor thing hope u feel better soon.

[MantaRay]

I totally agree with Kelly. I read Up the Duff and What to Expect with my first pg and was totally unprepared for how to give birth. Up the Duff is amusing, but really doesn't tell you what you need to know. When pg with no 2 I read New Active Birth and wow, finally some great, useful info which led to me actually having the birth I wanted. Buy or borrow it, it is well worth it.

BTW, many of the books from the Recommended Reading List above can be bought from the BellyBelly store.

[*Beema*]

A friend has leant me New Active Birth - I need to get back to reading it!

Also Up the Duff (since bought my own copy), good for a giggle and has some useful info, and my private health fund has just sent me What to Expect when Expecting - I just rang up to check all was good with my cover and they asked if I had received my book and I had no idea what they were talking about!! Very informative

I am reading Save our Sleep by Tizzie Hall at the moment, have had a number of friends who have used it/followed it to great success, we might give it a whirl and see what happens!

I recommend a variety of books to get a good cross section, and even if you are planning to have a V/B, make sure you read about C/S etc as well, even though I am hoping to not have to take that path it is best to be prepared!!
Good luck and happy reading!

[trini246]

i have both of those books & they have been so helpful & great as someone said the 'up the duff' is gives you a laugh aswell as info but what to expect..is more factual

Highly recommended

[Indadhanu]

i actually didn't enjoy up the duff much, a few laughs but i found it didn't answer any questions I had!! i flicked through what to expect... seemed good for pregnancy info.

I third (or fourth or whatever!) New Active Birth!!! Got it from the library but am going to buy!!!!

[BellyBelly]

I love up the duff for light reading, especially when you have so many books you want to read, but for information value you do need to read more grunty stuff. I'm not a fan of what to expect either, it tells you a bit about pregnancy but is not adequate for birth - you really have to look for the non-commercial stuff. Books with cute names are a bad start LOL. You will be pregnant and nothing you can do about it, so I think more time needs to be spent on the actual birth, as you can have much more influence over the outcome of that than pregnancy! I.e. you get pregnant - baby comes out! But you labour - you can influence what happens by what you know and what you do. Getting good books is a MUST and you need to read the good ones before you get sick of reading!!! Or go for the pink kit if you prefer a mix of visual & reading. Its so important guys!!!!

[fionas]

Up The Duff achieves what it sets out to do which is to be a light-hearted funny read about pregnancy. I don't think it intends to be a good guide to labour/birth and certainly if it does, it fails miserably. But it's also a great one for blokes to read.

That was pretty much all I read about pregnancy apart from a few magazines here and there.

I also read Juju Sundin's book, sorry, can't remember the name about labour. It helped me enormously because her approach is to give you a whole heap of pain management skills and if you know you've tried your best in labour, then you can't be disappointed. I found that philosophy VERY important as although we all like to plan as much as possible, you can't predict how long your labour will last and hence what pain relief you may feel necessary at the time if you have say, a three-day labour as opposed to an 8-hour labour.

There is so much here on BB that I found I didn't need to read any books apart from those.

[BellyBelly]

ikwym about up the duff fiona, I don't think it is designed as a real guide either... but time and time again when I ask clients/women etc about what books they have read so far - and sooooo many times, overwhelmingly it is those two books. Do people think they dont need to read more? Do people not know where to find the right books? I don't know why but I guess there isnt the mass commerical appeal of those two books and many of the authors are overseas, dont have deals with major publishing houses etc... I just wonder thats all

ETA: Perhaps people ask their friends what to read and thats what they tell them, so they do and thats it? Dunno?

[trini246]

if you want a more descriptive one about the whole process i ahve another books called "Pregnancy: the complete australian guide" it has everything in it about the birthing process & labour..then after care etc! but there are sooo many different books out there & it really deoends what the individual is after

[fionas]

Yep, I think it's a shame too Kelly. I think a lot of women's education about labour is based on "what pain relief is available and what are the pros and cons of that" rather than what pain management techniques are available. If you asked the average woman what non-drug ways she intended to manage her pain, she would say "breathing" and that may well work for a short labour but for a three-day labour, let's get real.

As you know only too well, women also put an extraordinary amount of faith in the medical profession which I've always been cynical about (though I think my ob is magnificent) and the fact that Australia has a good healthcare system. So I think a lot of women don't like to think about what THEY can do, they take a "she'll be right" attitude.

I actually cop a fair bit of flack from friends about reading too much though the only things I read about parenting are BB forums because I would much rather read advice from hundreds of mums rather than one expert who can't possibly have all the answers. We don't say this often enough and I'm way OT now, but you've done an incredible job putting BB out there. It's absolutely invaluable.