It can be so exciting preparing for the birth of your first child–it can also be overwhelming and extremely nerve-racking!
When I found out I was pregnant, one of the first things I did was run to Amazon.com and buy ALLLLLL the pregnancy books.
Related Post: The Best (and ONLY) Baby Registry You’ll Ever Need
Even with an extensive background in child development (which included a lot about pregnancy), I wanted to immerse myself in learning everything I could about what was going to happen to me throughout the next nine months and beyond.
While I have admittedly not read every single book cover to cover, I have retained great information from all of them.
Some books on this list are geared toward a natural (drug-free) birth, but you can ABSOLUTELY still find them to be helpful even if you don’t plan on going the natural route.
It is important to educate yourself on ALL aspects of birth. While you may want or EXPECT your birth to go a certain way, sometimes the universe has other plans and your ideal birth may not be what actually winds up happening. My motto? It’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared!
So take a look at my top 5 must-read pregnancy books for first-time moms! They are filled with great information about pregnancy, birth and beyond! Click any of the links to purchase on Amazon.
*Please note that if you make a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission (at no cost to you). This is very much appreciated and helps me to support and run my blog!
What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff
When you think of a pregnancy book, this title is probably the one that first comes to mind.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting is probably the most popular pregnancy book on the market–and for good reason! First published in 1984, this book has been revised and updated multiple times to include the newest information in the pregnancy world. It covers EVERYTHING from pre-pregnancy to postpartum.
It breaks pregnancy down month-by-month and week-by-week. It also covers labor and delivery, the first 6 weeks postpartum, sickness, complications, pregnancy loss, multiple pregnancies, and nutrition.
They even have little sections throughout the book written especially for dads! What more can you ask for?!
Why You’ll Love this Book– The month-by-month chapters allow an in-depth look at what is happening to your baby, your body, what to expect at your doctor’s appointment, common questions you may be wondering about and a specific topic relevant to that month.
Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn: The Complete Guide by Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, Ann Keppler, Janelle Durham and April Bolding
This book is written by 5 women who have over 150 years of combined experience working with expectant and new parents! With almost 500 pages, this book is jam-packed with tons of information about pregnancy, birth, and what follows after.
The book starts off with the beginning of pregnancy, discussing choices, common changes and concerns, complications, and working out and eating healthy.
The book then covers labor and childbirth, options for pain relief (including medications and non-medication use), complications and c-sections.
The last third of the book covers the postpartum period, complications that may arise, caring for your new baby, breastfeeding and even has a section on becoming pregnant again.
Why You’ll Love this Book– I LOVE that this book dedicates so much time to the postpartum period.
While it does not give an extremely in-depth explanation of what is happening each week of pregnancy, the postpartum part is VERY detailed and covers topics and concerns that you may not have even thought of! It’s a great read for the end of pregnancy so you can expect what is about to come.
Natural Hospital Birth by Cynthia Gabriel
If you want the experience of a drug-free birth, but still feel most comfortable with the medical surroundings of a hospital, this book is a must-read for you! Even if you don’t plan on laboring drug-free, I would still recommend reading this book, as it has a lot of good information about mentally preparing for birth and giving birth in a hospital.
The beginning of this book focuses on planning for birth featuring topics such as feeling safe and creating a birth team.
The second half focuses on giving birth and the labor process, experiencing early labor at home, coping mechanisms and birthing complications.
Why You’ll Love this Book– Many times when natural birth is discussed, the focus location that is talked about is a home birth or birthing center.
I, personally, felt most comfortable sticking with my OB-GYN and delivering at a hospital, even though I was aiming for an intervention-free birth. As you may guess, hospitals and doctors often do things differently than birthing centers and midwives, so this book specifically caters to that.
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
If you’ve been researching things throughout your pregnancy, you’ve probably come across the name Ina May Gaskin-one of the most well-known midwives of all time. This book is FILLED with her knowledge and experiences of birthing babies over the years.
Why You’ll Love this Book– One feature I LOVE about this book is the large number of positive birth stories!
So often, women hear horror stories about birth experiences, which serve no purpose other than to scare new moms-to-be about what they are about to go through!
IGNORE THEM! These positive birth stories will make you feel confident and empowered about what you are about to endure–remember, your body was MADE to do this!
The second half of the book is entitled “The Essentials of Birth”, which discusses what happens in labor, the importance of mind-body connection and the birthing process.
The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Genevieve Howland
Founder of mamanatural.com, Genevieve Howland created this week-by-week pregnancy guide from a natural perspective. Again, even if you’re not planning to go drug-free, this book is still worth the read as it covers topics from diet and exercise to skin changes and cold remedies during pregnancy (plus MUCH more).
Why You’ll Love this Book– I love how this is broken down week-by-week. Each week, you get an overview of baby’s development, as well as what is happening to mama’s body. After that, there is a different topic of information provided for each week.
It really gets into a bunch of different areas that a lot of other books may not cover, such as: preparing home for baby, maternity clothes, baby registry checklist, sex during pregnancy, turning a breech baby, dispelling fears about birth, and newborn tests and screenings (just to name a few!).
I hope you find these books as helpful as I did during my pregnancy. They certainly helped educate me on the birthing process and eradicate some fears I had about childbirth.
Is your favorite on the list? Comment below on which one it is!
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- The Best (and Only) Baby Registry You’ll Ever Need
