The Pregnancy Bible
Joanne Stone, MD & Keith Eddleman, MD
2009, Firefly Books, $34.95
Track your pregnancy week by week. Life-size, full color photos, ultrasound images and step-by-step illustrations, checklists, check-up calendars and more guide moms- and dads-to-be through the stages of pregnancy, birth and early infancy.
Jenny raves, “I have four pregnancy books but this is the only one I keep coming back to for info. It’s been my partner from day one of my pregnancy. My husband loves to read it, too!”
Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood
Geeta S. Iyengar, Rita Keller & Kerstin Khattab
2010, Getty Publications, $35.00
Yoga is touted as one of the best forms of exercise available.
Pregnant women can safely increase flexibility and endurance with this guide, which includes more than 400 pages of pregnancy preparation yoga, safety recommendations for each trimester, contra-indications, delivery and postnatal yoga. Breathing, stretches, sequences for moms-to-be with common problems like diabetes and hypertension, asanas (poses) for beginner to advanced students.
Loaded with full color illustrations that show correct placement of limbs and props.
Make Room for Daddy The Journey from Waiting Room to Birthing Room
Judith Walzer Leavitt
2009, The University of North Carolina Press, $22.95
This fascinating history explores men’s changing roles in the birth of their children from the 1940s to now. Examining the experiences of fathers, mothers, hospital staff and childbirth educators, it offers a powerful message of purposeful change.
Leavitt says that as men “banded together in hospital waiting rooms, in person and through fathers’ [shared journals], men collectively found the courage to challenge hospital exclusion policies and ultimately came to share both labor and delivery with birthing women.”
Mom: A Mother’s Journal
2010, Journals Unlimited, $18.95
JournalsUnlimited.com
Hectic days and sleepless nights can take a toll on your memory. Luckily, you don’t have to lose any more precious moments. Use The Mother’s Journal to keep track of current events, your feelings, hopes and frustration and life with little ones. Sturdy, spiral- bound journal offers a page a day to preserve your life on paper. Just fill in the lines (such as “Today I feel…” or “Special magical moments”) and use the next page to write about whatever you please. Whether you are a habitual diarist or new to journaling, you’ll create a keepsake to cherish.
A Mother’s Song
Janet Lawler
2010, Sterling, $14.95
A mother and daughter walk through a year of seasons and discover nature’s wonders together: “Bend by the garden and sniff, one by one, the blossoms that burst in the warmth of the sun.”
Sweet, cheerful illustrations will bring back special memories of spring, summer, autumn and winter play.
Bedtime for Mommy
Amy Krouse Rosenthal
2010, Bloomsbury, $16.99
This hilarious switcheroo will leave little readers giggling. Watch as Mommy gets put to bed by her young daughter, including story time, a glass of water and several all-too-familiar “getting settled” moments.
