Four Great Books on Pregnancy and Conception

I learn best by reading. While I may also pick up the occasional bit of trivia from watching and listening, having print seared into my brain is the best way for me to understand a topic enough to remember. I should also comment that for me to be able to learn something, I can't just solve the basic problem - I have to research why it is that way, else I won't remember.

Example: my son had a heartbreakingly profound outbreak of baby acne when he was three weeks old. I wanted to know what the heck it was and whether it was normal. Being told that "It'll go away when he's three months old" wasn't sufficient for me. I found out, by researching a boatload of websites and scouring my baby care books that it's caused by residual maternal hormones surging across the placenta before birth. You can imagine that a little boy with that much estrogen in his body is going to be affected some way. When I understood that it wasn't my fault and that I couldn't do a darn thing about it, I felt a bit more confident in explaining to people (like grandma) that, "No, I haven't been drinking too much soda."

I would like to share my favorite books discussing pregnancy with you. I referenced these books with an almost nightly obsession, trying to glean every tidbit of information I could about my developing baby and how I could take charge of my gestation. In a nutshell, they kept me sane.

I spent what had to be hours in stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders standing in front of the cases of pregnancy books previewing and scanning. The following are the titles that I purchased and loved. Most, if not all, should be available at your local library or found on your mommy-friends' shelves.

When we were trying to conceive and while I was learning about fertility, The Mother of All Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas was a constant fixture on my nightstand. It was a great, objective primer on how reproduction works. While I don't consider myself a Type A personality (I'm probably a B+), it was imperative that I understood every step of the process ranging from ovulation to implantation. I found the book to be well-organized and easy for the lay[wo]man to comprehend.