When talking about all-encompassing books for all things pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and newborn parenting, this book takes the cake! I'm excited for this to be the first book I can provide insights for since it is in fact a whopping 460 pages long!
Just a brief introduction of what to expect for monthly book insights. These are not reviews on the books, I am merely trying to provide quick insights to help you decide if this is worthy of your time read to help you in preparation for pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and newborn parenting. The basic outline of these insights will be:
-An overview of what the book is about
-Topics that are covered in the book
-Highlights of the book
-Who the ideal reader might be
So, let's get down to the insights of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide.
Overview
I will start by saying that it is indeed a complete guide, with 460 pages worth of information, not including footnotes and a glossary of definitions at the end. You could either read the entire book from cover to cover to have extensive knowledge of all your childbirth options, what to expect during pregnancy, and so on, or you could just flip open to the chapter of information that you would like to know most about and just begin reading from there. That being said, this is an excellent alternative to finding up to date and accurate information reliably as opposed to going down the endless rabbit hole of the Google search.
This extensively covers all your options from what you can do during pregnancy, to pain management during labor, to choices for your newborn, to how to transition easier to the postpartum period.
It is A LOT of information but also is not meant to always be read like a traditional book. This is more of a great reference book that will definitely go hand and hand with a good childbirth education class.
In addition, the book also has lots of little tidbit sections that are outlined in grey that are filled with common FAQs, testimonies from birthing parents, highlighted important information, and key points to each of the chapters.
Topics Covered
There are a total of 19 chapters worth of information, so I will list out the titles of the chapters as the overall coverage of this book.
-Introduction to Having a Baby
-Initial Choices during Pregnancy
-how to be an informed decision-maker
-where to give birth
-types of childbirth classes
-types of providers
-doulas
-Common Changes and Concerns in Pregnancy
-Having a Healthy Pregnancy
-Feeling Good and Staying Fit
-Eating Well
-When Pregnancy Becomes Complicated
-Planning for Birth and Postpartum
-When and How Labor Begins
-Labor Pain and Options for Pain Relief
-Comfort Techniques for Pain Relief and Labor Progress
-What Childbirth is Really Like
-When Childbirth Becomes Complicated
-All About Cesarean Birth
-What Life is Like for a New Mother
-When Postpartum Becomes Complicated
-Caring for Your Baby
-Feeding Your Baby
-When You're Pregnant Again
Highlights of the Book
Some highlights of the book include:
-All-encompassing of all aspects from pregnancy all the way to newborn parenting and even to looking ahead to if you are to become pregnant again
-Lots of good questions to ask doulas, providers, nurses, etc
-Each chapter has a key points section to review what you read during the chapter
-Some common Q&As that many new parents ask
-Great diagrams and photos to reference for exercises and comfort techniques
-Helpful charts in the back of the book to reference for labor progression
Ideal Reader for this Book
This book is an excellent resource to have as a reference for ANYONE who is newly pregnant! While there is a lot of information, it should not take the place of a childbirth education class, but be an excellent companion alongside a class, just like a textbook would be in a college class.
This book is especially great for parents who want to:
-Know all their options
-Have a more in-depth explanation of different procedures
-Want to know what to truly expect during all stages of pregnancy to fresh parenthood
-Want to have reliable up to date information that they can turn to at any point
Happy Reading!
Comment below if you have read this book and what your experience has been.
Have a book that you want to submit to be a part of Book Insights? Contact me and I would love to hear your suggestions for more books!
Want to be the first to know when new posts are up? Subscribe here by going to the bottom of my home page!