As someone who has always preferred to sit down with a work of non-fiction over fiction, imagine my delight when I discovered that being pregnant meant a whole new subject area to read my way through. Before browsing the section for the first time I had a simple idea of what I would find, but I had no idea that there was such a vast amount of information from every point of view and on so many topics! Really, a non-fiction reader’s dream come true.
I will spare you the books with WAY too much detail (certain diagrams should never be to scale or in colour) and stick to my favourites, ones I checked out repeatedly and have recommended to expecting friends.
I looked through a lot of week-by-week books but You and Your Baby, pregnancy: Your Ultimate Week-by-Week pregnancy guide by Dr. Laura Riley, OB/GYN was definitely my favourite. Each week follows the same layout, providing information on Your Baby, Your Body, Your Self and Diet & Exercise along with other information relative to that stage of the pregnancy. There are also chapters dedicated to labour and delivery, feeding and postpartum care. For me this was a great way to start each new “week”.
Finally a book for Canadian moms-to-be! The Mother of all Pregnancy Books: an all-Canadian guide to conception, birth and everything in between by Ann Douglas was great for information on Canadian standards, policies and laws covering everything from maternity leave to car seat safety to hospital coverage and everything in between. The Canadian information doesn’t stop there but continues with The Mother of all Baby Books: an all-Canadian guide to your baby’s first year also by Ann Douglas which I am currently halfway through.
While I referred to most books over and over again throughout my thirty nine week adventure, I barely made a dent in Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother’s Soul: 101 stories to inspire and warm the hearts of soon-to-be-mothers by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery and Nancy Mitchell. The few stories I did read were inspiring and heart warming and made me look forward to the things I was about to experience, but I found myself in tears even reading the happy stories; definitely a read to be saved for when your hormones are in check (if possible).
The baby owner’s manual: operating instructions, trouble-shooting tips, and advice on first-year-maintenance by Louis Borgenicht, M.D., and Joe Borgenicht, D.A.D. is a great little book which uses humour to get the information to the reader. Written as a car manual, the book covers topics up until the twelfth month for both girl models and boy models.
I wish I had been able to read through Breastfeeding solutions: quick tips for the most common nursing challenges by Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, FILCA prior to giving birth. It definitely would have made the first few days (weeks) much easier. Unlike other books on the same topic, this information seemed to be much more realistic and to the point.
If you’re expecting and are looking for the latest info in what your little bundle of joy is doing or even just looking for a good laugh check out one of these books. Or, if you would rather just nap, it’s okay, we get it. Congrats!
Chelsea Cernjul-Marsonet
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