Choosing a Pregnancy Guide

Once you find out about your pregnancy, one of the first things you really need is a guide. You may be issued with something at your first medical check-up where your expectancy is officially confirmed, or you may be given something by friends who have already had babies. Read through the guide you are given, and see if it matches your ideal of how expectancy should be approached.

There are many different guides available. Most of them cover the same kind of information in that pregnancy follows a set pattern of development; they will give information on the kind of things to expect with your body during each of the three trimesters and will give hints on how to prepare for the actual birth of the baby. Many of them will also give advice on diet and exercise.

For many women, a generic guide is sufficient to give them the information they require. However, depending on your personality you may want to explore other books to see if they are better suited to you. For example, do you want a guide that not only informs but also encourages you to use the book as a record of your expectancy by having space for you to write in your weight at the various stages?

If you are a teen mother-to-be, or an older mother-to-be, or this is not your first child, then you may prefer a guide that speaks to you and offers advice specific to your situation. It could be that you prefer to know all the symptoms of the various complications of expectancy so that you are prepared, or perhaps you prefer a book that doesn't give you nightmares dreaming about what may not be!

Perhaps the right guide for you will give a specific kind of nutritional advice - for example an expectant vegetarian may be concerned about how to get the right kind of nutrients to her baby for a healthy pregnancy. Or it may be about how to keep you and the baby safe if you have any pre-existing medical condition - such as diabetes.

There are many different options available, take a trip to the library, or browse through the books on expectancy available at a bookstore such as Amazon, to discover the right guide for you.

Also read our article about Pregnancy and birth advice