Reading List

I promised a friend that I would post a reference list of books that I'm reading for pregnancy, delivery, and childcare, so here it is:

• The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy - Vicki Iovine - I love her perspective on pregnancy...so funny! I laughed the entire time I read this honest account of what REALLY happens when you're pregnant.
• Your Pregnancy Week by Week - Glade B. Curtis and Judith Schuler - This is a pretty straight forward description of pregnancy as it progresses each week. Medically based, it has a lot of information about medical issues that could happen, but it can get a little heavy on this information at times. It's a basic, good reference book along the way.
• The Birth Partner - Penny Simkin - This is an excellent book! I would recommend this to every new mom and dad. It's written for the partner, but it really applies to anyone who is planning to be involved in a delivery. It has in-depth information on everything you need to know from contractions to complications, and it is not overly biased on one delivery method or another. While encouraging natural approaches, it does not preach, which is refreshing, and I consider the information to be critical to have should you need to make any tough decisions during delivery. It is clearly presented and exceptionally informative, and I would give it five stars. It will be with us in the delivery room.
• The Nursing Mother's Companion - Kathleen Huggins - I have admittedly not started this book yet, but it has been repeatedly recommended to me by other moms and is the standard nursing book recommended by my delivery hospital. It's next on my reading list.
• Baby Wise - Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam - While not written exceptionally well, the concept behind this book makes sense to me, and we will probably adopt this approach in raising our daughter. Based on the idea of establishing a routine and providing structured support for the daily experience of feeding and sleeping, the goal is to ultimately develop independence in your child that should allow him or her to incorporate into your life as a member of the family, as opposed to taking it over as the center of the family. Should be interesting to see how it works.
• The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD - Harvey Karch - I recommend the DVD over the book because you can see how this technique for soothing your crying infant actually works (and it's only 35 minutes long). Greg can't keep a straight face every time it gets to the "shooshing" part of the concept, but beyond that, it's a pretty helpful and impressive video. Seeing this man instantly quiet a screaming baby is inspiring and definitely gives any parent hope that they too can soothe a baby into restfulness using the techniques shown in the video.
• Baby 411 - Ari Brown and Denise Shields - I have not purchased this book yet, but it has been recommended by our delivery hospital as the ultimate reference for what to do with your baby once you get her home. I've heard good reviews for it, so I'll probably pick it up pretty soon.
• Love and Logic - Jim and Charles Fay - I have not researched this book, but it has been recommended to me by a very good friend who is also a speech therapist and works with special needs children. She is probably one of the most informed people I know in the area of child behavior, and she says this book offers a great technique for handling behavioral issues. I will be looking into it soon!

I hope that's helpful for any moms out there who are following the blog. If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them too!