When I was pregnant with my first child, I used to read as many books as I can about pregnancy and baby, besides doing a lot of research (online). I just had to know what was going on inside me, what to expect and such, and I find having good books to read about pregnancy is really helpful. I guess that's normal especially for first-time moms.

Now that I'm on my second pregnancy, I don't read pregnancy books anymore. I just skimmed through certain topics when I feel like it (which is like, only 2-3 times so far) because my toddler keeps me busy. I read her books more than I read mine!

The only pregnancy-related reading I do now is the weekly email I get from BabyCenter.com and also this app called What To Expect which I downloaded on my iPhone.




But there is one book that I want to re-read and would highly recommend it to all pregnant women or those who are planning to get pregnant. I've talked about this book before in my previous posts but I want to talk about it again. It's my ultimate favorite pregnancy book - Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.




This book is about natural childbirth and it's a must-read, even if you're not planning to have a natural childbirth because it's very informative and mind-blowing. The first part of the book is a collection of inspiring birth stories. Reading these stories is kind of like a brainwash from all those negative birth stories that were "installed" in your head from what you've heard/saw/read before. The second part of the book is about the essentials of birth.

"Ina May's Guide to Natural Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women's faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention" - eNotAlone.com

You know the feeling when you're so afraid of something that's going to happen and you would do anything to really prepare yourself for it? Well that's what I did. I wanted a normal delivery with no epidural so I searched high and low about natural childbirth and came across Bradley method. Then I searched about Bradley method (I wanted to sign up for the classes but they're available in Malaysia) and that was how I came across Ina May's book. I was so convinced to get the book after reading the customers' reviews on Amazon.com, especially this one review from a woman who was planning to take epidural but later changed her mind after reading the book. I thought, wow this book must be really good. And so I bought it. And read it. And fell in love with it. This book played a major part in preparing me for childbirth, 2 years ago. And now I want to read it again, especially because Ayra was born before I could finish reading it.

I hope my second birthing experience will be of ease, insyaallah.

By the way, the last time I checked, the book was only available at Kinokuniya bookstore for RM69.90.


p/s: Can anyone recommend the best book about breastfeeding that you've ever read? I want to get one. Thanks!

Labels: Books, Pregnancy