Once you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, I recommend that you go out and get a book or two about pregnancy.  The books can give you a lot of information about what to expect and they can be your go-to resource for all of the inevitable “is this normal?” questions.   While you are picking out a book for yourself, you might ask hubby if he would like a book or two as well.  There are tons of books out there now tailored to the expectant fathers as well.

I bought 2 books for myself.  I went with a funny day-by-day book (The Pregnancy Countdown Book: Nine Months of Practical Tips, Useful Advice, and Uncensored Truths by Susan Magee), and a more informative week-by-week book (The Complete Illustrated Pregnancy Companion: A Week-by-week Guide to Everything You Need to Do for a Healthy Pregnancy by Robin Elise Weiss).

I found the funny book to be a staple to my daily routine.  I really looked forward to reading it every night.  I found myself reading ahead and rereading it a lot since it was so humorous.  There were many evenings I found myself laughing out loud.  When my husband wanted to know what was so funny, I would have to share with him and we would laugh together.  It was fabulous to have some comic relief when everything surrounding a pregnancy is so serious. 

The informative book was great to have as a reference, but I found it to be a little too repetitive.  The informative book had MORE information than I needed.  This book provided great reminders about more of the administrative side of pregnancy.  Without this book I might not have known that I needed to schedule a tour of the hospital, take a birth class, pick a pediatrician, and get my insurance for me and baby in order. 

My husband picked out two books at the same time that I got mine.  He picked out a classic informative book for fathers (The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-be by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash) and a more humorous book that was recommended to him by his friend who was already a daddy (She’s Having a Baby and I’m Having a Breakdown: What Every Man Needs to Know – and Do – When the Woman He Loves is Pregnant by James Douglas Barron). 

My husband says that the informative book was great.  He loved that he was reading advice from a father about becoming a father.  He found that it had educational and practical advice about what to expect when you are living with a pregnant woman and have a baby on the way.   The topics ranged from what to expect from your pregnant wife, to what the role of the significant other is during pregnancy and delivery, all the way through planning your finances and raising your child through the first two years. 

My husband loved the funny book.  He says that it was a very light-hearted book about dealing with your pregnant wife and your own anxieties and fears about pregnancy.  This book gives a very clear outline of what a man should do to support his significant other at every stage of pregnancy.  He found the book to be very comedic.  And like the informative book, he found it helpful to hear from another father (who has been there and done that).  

My husband’s funny book was my favorite of the four books.  After I had finished my books, my husband and I started a ritual of him reading to me at night from his books.  At first he read from his informative book until he finished it.  Then he restarted the funny book from the beginning and read the entire book out loud to me, cover to cover, over the last few weeks of my pregnancy.  I found this ritual to be incredibly soothing before bed time.  The book had just the right amount of comedy and practicality.  I love lists and this book had tons of lists- lists about husband’s fears, lists about what not to say, lists about what to pack- it was fabulous.  The book also gets more and more vulgar as the pregnancy progresses.  I found that this really supports the tension and anxiety that grows in your husband as you get bigger and bigger.  When my baby was born he of course knew my voice right away.  But he also recognized my husband’s voice.  I like to think that all those nights of reading contributed to that.    

If you have any suggestions for books to read during pregnancy, please feel free to leave them in the comment section.