The Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth.

Author – Kaz Cooke

Age Range – pre-birth to new-born

Key words - Pregnancy

This book gives you an up to date low-down on pregnancy, birth and coping when you return home. This book gives you a week by week guide from preparing for pregnancy, through to the birth itself. There is a supportive blend of wise advice and humour, which combines to provide a text that is both informative and reassuring.

This book provides a step by step guide to the biological and emotional changes in the body during the differing stages of pregnancy and the author really works to normalise anxieties and prepare the reader for the inevitable changes. Kaz Cooke acknowledges how normal it is to feel overwhelmed at the thought of becoming a parent and her approach is both pragmatic and encouraging. The diary extracts throughout the book highlight the stages of pregnancy as experienced by the author and make this book both an honest and accessible read.

Criticisms would include the size of the book, although the layout and tone allow the reader to dip in and out and access the relevant parts. The book is more biological than psychological but would provide an interesting and informative read for any mum to be. Also, the week by week break down of the book could prove daunting if the reader is progressing through the changes of pregnancy at a different rate.

Saying that, Cooke’s humour and friendly tone make this book a very good and accessible read.