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3 Best Pregnancy Resources

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Are you waiting for your baby to arrive – with curiosity and wonderment? Not sure how to prepare? Start by strengthening your marriage, getting your finances in order, freezing a bunch of meals, and taking a photography class.

If you still have a bit of time on your hands before baby arrives, you may want to take a peek at these three resources (my current favorites):

raising baby green by alan greeneRaising Baby Green by Dr. Alan Greene: The wealth of information in this book is astonishing and it’s presented in a concise, easy-to-read format.

You’ll learn how to make simple lifestyle changes for your baby in the womb, in the labor and delivery room, in the nursery, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and beyond (those are the chapter titles). You’ll find out what it really means to buy organic (and how to get started), how to choose baby care products that are free of harmful chemicals, and how to treat ear infections (without antibiotics).

Raising Baby Green is the best all-around baby care book that I have read thus far.

the business of being born dvdThe Business of Being Born (DVD; on-sale at Amazon.com for $5.79): Created by Executive Producer Ricki Lake and Director Abby Epstein, this film promises to “make a compelling argument for more humanistic approaches to birth, challenging the ideals of our technocratic society which places absolute faith in machines and technology.” It definitely succeeds in fulfilling that mission.

I recommend that every mom-to-be watch it, regardless of your views on childbirth.

ask dr. sears websiteAskDrSears.com (a website): Operated by the Sears family – a family of pediatricians with a practice in Southern California – this website is my “go-to” site for questions about pregnancy, parenting, breastfeeding, vaccinations, and more. I sincerely appreciate the Sears’ more “natural” approach to medical issues and their gentle way of encouraging parents to do what is best for their families (even if it goes against the status quo).

 

Comments

  1. I loved the Nursing mother’s companion!! Great to read it a little before delivery and in the first few weeks!!

  6. There weren’t all these resources available when I had my babies. They should be very helpful for expectant moms. I do know about Whole Foods, however, and I love shopping there.

  9. I’m not sure if anyone else has mentioned it already, but “The Bump” is a great website with all kinds of info. It’s by the same people who do “The Knot”

  10. The only book I needed when I was pregnant was What to Expect When You’re Expecting. It walked me thru everything and was great. I didn’t want to confuse my info so, for me anyway, it was one and done. Definately could use any grocery gift cards these days though. Kids never stop eating! Thanks for the contest!

  11. I think What to Expect When You Are Expecting is helpful and accessable. I’ll take the Whole Foods certificate. Thanks for the contest.

  12. the labor kit would be an awesome gift for a friend of mine who is about 3 months along and so very nervous.the best thing you can do for the pregnancy and labor experience is to have knowledge and know all that you can so you are ready for what to expect :)

  13. I liked “What to Expect When You are Expecting,” because that was the main book when I was pregnant.

  14. I read the book What To Expect When You are Expecting and thought that was the best pregnancy book out there.

  16. I’m really enjoying Babycenter.com with this pregnancy. Not only do they have tons of helpful articles on their site but being able to talk with other mothers at my stage in this pregnancy really helps me feel normal and less worried. Also it’s a lot of fun too!
    Also the book Your Pregnancy & Birth has a lot of basic pregnancy info and is a great reference book.
    lisalmg25 at gmail dot com

  17. I like Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way for labor and delivery. For after the birth I like Penelope Leach’s books Your Baby and Child and The First Six Months: Getting Together With Your Baby. They are not the newest books out there, but the advice is good.

  18. I would recommend The Business of Being Born. It was eye-opening. I read Baby Wise, too, and took what I wanted from it. I choose not to follow it exactly. What works for us is the “eat/play/sleep” routine; we never did the CIO sleep training. I also read a bunch of multiples pregnancy books and took advice and strategies from each of them.

  19. I am not currently pregnant. I know it sounds cheesy, but I really liked What to Expect When You’re Expecting when I was.

    txhottie_86 at yahoo dot com

  20. I am due to have my first child next month at age 41. I am so excited and nervous at the same time.

  22. I love the website babycenter – their weekly email about what your baby is up to in the womb and beyond is great info, they have some nice sweepstakes every so often too.

  23. My kids are grown–so I would choose the Wholefoods gift card(I love wholefoods) –the best resource when going through the pregnancy and raising my kids was by far my Mom—I read lots of books–all had contradicting, impractical, and illogical instructions—my mom could sift through the b.s. and tell me straight –exactly what I needed. My mom took my calls at all hours–and never charged me.
    kakihararocks@gmail.com

  26. I’d recommend “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” and “Pregnancy for Dummies”, they’re both great books and we learned a lot from them!

  27. I had your pregnancy week by week, that was pretty good. And my husband and I watched the Being Dad DVD before I gave birth; it was nice having a resource directed at him. But really, what’s helped more than anything is networking with other mothers. I spent the second half of my pregnancy reading the boards on websites such as thebump.com, and I learned a lot from other people’s experiences. But I also found that my own “bump” was an invitation for others to give me advice, and I got a lot of good information that way!

  28. I would also recommend the What to Expect When You’re Expecting Book. Thanks for the contest!

  29. I would recommend What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I think that gives a good overall review of the basics.

    I also though Belly Laughs bby Jenny McCarthy was very good.

    **Would love the Whole Foods gc!

    candaceotto32 at yahoo dot com

  30. Whole Foods so works for me. Definately in my list of favorite stores, and one I have been known to send gift certificates from.

  31. I would reccomend the Ina May Gaskin Book “Ina Mays Guide to Childbirth”

    amazing. . . . . and a must read if expecting!

  33. I recommend Babycenter.com. They have a ton of information and some great forums and support groups.

  35. I found a lot of the pregnancy books to be anxiety-producing but really enjoy the weekly emails from WebMD and babycenter.com.

  36. I loved Your Pregnancy Week by Week and got a lot of great info from connectingmoms.com, though it looks like it’s no longer active.

  40. Our Bodies Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth is a must-have book. It makes the whole process seem natural and beautiful, instead of scary and medical. At the same time, it provides an unbiased explanation of all of the medical procedures, with pros and cons. It is so informative and helps you understand that every woman is different, so we make different decisions for different reasons.

  41. I loved The Pregnancy Book by Dr. Sears. For inspiring natural birth stories, Spiritual Midwifery had some beautiful stories. I remember thinking about those women when I was in labor with my son.

  42. The laborkit would be perfect for my sister who’s expecting her first. Thanks for the chance.

  44. When I gave birth to my son yeeears ago, I never read any birthing books. I know women today read most every book out there on giving birth. If I had it to do over again, I am sure I would read books on giving birth, I didn’t know what to expect when I went in there,learned as I went I guess :)

  45. Thanks for showing the LaborKit–I’m giving birth at a birth center but it looks like it might still be really useful.

    I loved the book Spiritual Midwifery–it made me feel so empowered to give birth and trust my body.

  47. I liked many of the ones already mentioned but also Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. After so many serious books, I enjoyed something humorous especially about the not so glamorous parts of pregnancy/child birth. Thanks!

  48. I’m having number four and I still occasionally get out “What to expect when your expecting.” It’s great when you have a question about something. I have a few nursing books too which helped make me stick with nursing during the hard spots.

  50. Thank you for the giveaway. When I was pregnant, my favorite books were “What to expect when you’re expecting” and “what to expect the fist year”

  52. this is my new favorite pregnancy book:
    Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat?: The Essential Guide to Loving Your Body Before and After Baby by Claire Myesko. It really helped bring things into perspective for me.

    And that prepacked bag looks awesome–does it come with a nanny too? ;)

  54. These Labor Kits are an awesome invention!! I wish I would have had one when I had kidlets. I would prefer the Whole Foods gift card.

  55. All the books look good and informational. I hope to get pregnant again sometime next year, so these books would be awesome to read

  56. I love “The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy” and “Belly Laughs” for books. For websites I like Baby Center and The Bump.

  59. What to Expect When You Are Expecting was an informative book for me when I was pregnant. Later on, the book Potty Training In Less Than a Day helped me potty train my children. It took more than a day though, actually three days.

  60. There are so many resources out there, it’s nice to have some recommended! So far, I’ve been googling and overwhelmed with all the info!

  63. I did Lamaze at home using a “Lamaze” Dvd. It was stress-free and really nice to be able to do it whenever I wanted {plus I didn’t have to pay to go to classes with my husband!}

    I really loved the Miracle of Life book…it was so neat to see how my baby was actually growing!

  66. I really liked What to Expect when Your Expecting. There was so much valuable info in this book. Thanks.

  72. Your opening comment on strengthening your marriage is right on. The hardest times in our marriage have been the first couple months after each of our kids were born.

  74. The book that was big when I was expecting was What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Very informative.

  77. What To Expect When You’re Expecting was like my pregnancy bible. I highly recommend it. My copy is pretty beaten up from so much use.

  78. I loved The Business of Being Born. That movie helped educate my very logical husband and that is amazing. He even recommended it to friends.

  79. I read What to Expect When You are Expecting cover to cover with my first. I scanned through it with my second. With my third I finally managed to pull it out more then half way through my pregnancy.

  80. This book is worth reading: “Active Birth:
    The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally”
    by Janet Balaskas

  83. I love askdrsears, it’s so helpful for the everyday questions. I would highly reading up on infant massage, I think it’s very helpful for calming babies and children.

  84. Can I make a suggestion on what you don’t really need? What To Expect When You are Expecting. The info in there is OK, but hard to find what you need. It is more like a bunch of questions with responses. I don’t like how it is organized (if you call it organized). Topics are not always discussed in enough detail. It seems like it is the standard book that most new moms around me end up purchasing. I was not so thrilled with my copy.

  85. Honestly I didn’t read any birthing books but my husband and I watched the Happiest baby on the block DVD and SWEAR by it!!

  86. We adopted instead! however, the babycenter gives wonderful info especially as you wait for your travel call- you can learn about what stage your baby is at.

  87. I really like networking – asking other more experienced moms. I like the personal touch of hearing their birth stories and getting their tried and true advice.

  88. I would recommend Supernatural Childbirth and Painless Childbirth. Both wonderful books to help you through a natural labor and delivery.

  89. I’ll second Ina May’s book and Mothering.com. Another good book to read is Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block.

  91. Hm, another book for my reading list – Raising Baby Green looks interesting! I’ll be checking my local library for that.

    I found my best resource while I was pregnant were my friends who had been there, done that already. Especially my friend who is also a nurse… she is an awesome resource – but an even awesomer friend.

  92. I second the recommendation on “The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth” by Henci Goer and also “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth” if you really want to know what your body is capable of (so many 10-11 lb first time babies in that book born naturally!) Thank you, Stephanie, for highlighting the fact that women need to not be scared of childbirth. I’m having my third baby at home (any day now!) and I hope both of my older girls will be able to see birth as natural and perfect-just the way God intended it to be. Great post!

  93. I also recommend “Pregnant in America”, a wonderful documentary that shows all the sides of home birth and the hospital industry. I would have loved to have a home birth and want to for my next child. Unfortunately it came down to a money issue for us. Because we happen to have rockin’ great insurance, it cost us only $35 to birth Evangeline at Kaiser Permanente as opposed to the $2000-$3000 for a home birth with a midwife. But, we are saving for the next one and hope to be able to have tha incredible experience!

  94. You hit on all of my favorites, but I would also suggest the book -Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience Author: Ricki Lake (Same ladies that did the Business of Being Born wrote this book, and its awesome). Oh, and since I’m pretty much anti-vaccine, I would suggest Mother’s educating themselves on the history of vaccines, as well as ingredients etc.. with the book Evidence of Harm by David Kirby. I’ve loved this weekend, and forwarded these posts to many friends, keep up the great work Steph! (Oh, and I am doing a homebirth this time around, and so I don’t need the kit, but I would love the gift card, thanks!)

  95. I checked out What to Expect When You Are Expecting from the library several times when I was pregnant. It was very easy to read, with lots of charts, great index, and short, concise answers. Is easy to find at garage sales and library sales too.

  98. I have a couple of books that I like for birth preparation: Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, Painless Childbirth, Birthing from Within and The Thinking Woman’s guide to a Better Birth. For online resources I like Mothering.com for support and BabyCenter for basic information but I take some of the “advice” with a grain of salt.

    I really enjoyed the movie The Business of Being Born too. Thanks for hosting this giveaway and for the post on packing your hospital bag!!!

    janelleldent at yahoo dot com

  99. I love my Pregnancy Week by Week book and I’m also a big fan of parentingweekly.com where they have “birth boards”, where you can talk to other people who are having babies the same month as you!

    autumn398 @ yahoo.com

  100. I would recommend:

    1) Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers, by Nancy Mohrbacher and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett

    and

    2) Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, by Susan McCutcheon

    and finally, two really dated yoga DVDs (actually mine are VHS hand-me-downs from my older sister). Dated or not, these workouts were amazing during my pregnancy. I felt great after them and slept better too. Here they are:

    3) Baby & Mom Prenatal Yoga [The Method]

    4) Pregnancy Yoga Zone: Postures for Pregnancy

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