One of the best parts about sharing my pregnancy with the world has been the amazing support and encouragement I’ve been give from other readers who are pregnant now, hoping to be pregnant soon, or experienced moms already. Prior to becoming pregnant myself, I knew as much about pregnancy as the next person. Within a few hours of seeing those positive double lines, I was running to the computer to research everything I could get my hands on.
Many of you have asked what books, websites, and blogs I have used for sources of pregnancy information, and I figured now half-way through my pregnancy, it’s probably time to share! There are so many pregnancy resources available, and I’m sure I don’t even know about half of them. But here are some of my favorite places to check when I am in need of some baby talk.
BLOGS
It probably comes as no surprise that blogs have actually been my favorite pregnancy resource. I am lucky enough to have many pregnant blogging friends, some due before me, some due after, and some who just had babies! Here are the blogs that I regularly check to hear first person accounts of babies and parenting!
- Tina – Faith, Fitness, Fun (proud mama of two)
- Melissa – Dear Baby Blog (baby born last month)
- Callie – The Wannabe Athlete (baby born last week!)
- Susan – Real Life Travels (baby born last week!)
- Lisa – The Splattered Apron (31 weeks pregnant)
- Brittany – A Healthy Slice of Life (27 weeks pregnant)
- Sabrina – Rhodey Girl Tests (24 weeks pregnant)
- Ashley – (Never)Home Maker (14 weeks pregnant)
- Jen – This Runner’s Trials (13 weeks pregnant)
WEBSITES
In addition to blogs, there are a few other great parenting and pregnancy websites that I have used a lot for researching information – everything from “what should I be eating?” to “how big is the baby?”
- Babble – Being Pregnant – also the site I write for!
- Babycenter – great weekly updates and birth club forums
- Nymbler – fun site for picking a baby name
- Alphamom – funny pregnancy calendar
Books
With so much great information on the internet now, I haven’t actually really read many pregnancy or parenting books, but here are the few that I have bought and enjoyed!
- Baby Bargains – great book for researching baby supplies!
- Feed the Belly – fun guide to pregnancy nutrition
- The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy – hilarious guide to the ups and downs of pregnancy
So that is my (short) list of the most common references I use for figuring out this whole pregnancy thing. What are some of your favorites that I might not know about? I always love finding new pregnancy blogs!
Last but not least, I have a new post up over on Babble about Embracing Maternity Clothes, so if you’re interested head over and check it out!
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If I decide to have kids down the road, I’ll definitely be using your blog as a HUGE resource! I commend you for writing so many posts that are honest about the good parts of pregnancy, and the hard parts!
I’m also super happy to see that you’re settling in so well in your new city :)
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Such great resources! I am a frequent flyer at Tina’s blog – isn’t she amazing? And I couldn’t be happier for Jenn!
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When I am preggo one day, I will definitely be referring to this. Thanks girl!!
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I also really love Joanna’s posts about pregnancy and being a mom on A Cup of Jo.
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I too loved Baby Bargains and Alpha Mom’s pregnancy calendar! Have you started looking at books for after baby is born yet?
I loved the happiest baby on the block… save yourself some time and $ get the DVD from your local library.
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You should check out Rebecca at girlsgonechild.net. She’s at the exact same week as you and pregnant with twins! You often write your weekly updates on the same day so its fun to read them back to back in my Google Reader!
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Thank you so much for posting these! I’ve used BabyCenter too and find it very helpful. Seeing your healthy pregnancy journey is an inspiration. :)
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Thanks for the blog love!! I loved baby bargains when registering and now I can’t wait to check out all the other baby blogs!
Ps- I’m driving to meet Caden (real life travels) right now!
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:) You are too kind! And thanks for listing all these other resources. Cannot wait to check them out!
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I loved BabyCenter when I was pg with my second child (didnt have a puter w/ the first) with my second pregnancy I was having twins and they didnt have a whole lot for me at the time. I’m not having anymore but I still enjoy reading yours and other baby related things :)
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You know baby center keeps sending emails after the baby is born? I’m now getting two “Your pregnancy this week” for No. 2 and “Your preschooler (gulp when did 2-year-olds become preschoolers??!!)”
Once you have the baby, for you and any one else who does any kind of work, I recommend Working Moms Against Guilt blog. Love them. They tweet a lot of good links to other blogs. http://www.workingmomsagainstguilt.com
I’ve also done the What to Expect books, all 3, well I’m still in the toddler years. It’s a good resource. I like the milestones at each age. And it’s simple.
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“Secrets of the Baby Whisperer” by Tracy Hogg. I didn’t read this for my 1st but read it for my 2nd and 3rd and what a difference it made! I wanted to go back in time and start off with my 1st again!
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Chelsie Reply:
June 6th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Great book! I really wish I would have read that before I had my daughter. I was lucky to come across it once she was about 7 months old. It made a huge difference.
Baby center was also one of my favorite go to websites!
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As I’m currently obsessed with baby blogs and all things baby… checking those out now!
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If you love AlphaMom’s Zero to Forty Pregnancy Calendar, you should check out Amalah (www.amalah.com) she is absolutely hilarious; happens to be the author of Zero to Forty; and just gave birth to her third little boy last week! :)
~
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I suppose this is more of a “pre-pregnancy” type of site, but I’ve stumbled across this site a few times while Google searching (we might start trying to get pregnant later this year- yay!): http://www.bestprebabybody.com/
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She just gave birth to her third child, but I loved all of Amalah’s (http://amalah.com) pregnancy posts. She’s hilarious.
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Spearmint Baby! http://www.spearmintbaby.com. Shari posts birth stories, party ideas, nursery decor, bump pictures, etc. from moms & moms-to-be from all over. It’s so interesting to see & read about different experiences, and it’s given me great nursery & party ideas + many new blogs to check out. I love that site & I’m not even close to being pregnant yet!
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Cute post! I know you have the best collection of resources. Perhaps one day in the near future I’ll get to come back and bookmark some. I’ve heard Baby Bargains drives my friends crazy.
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I’ll look forward to checking out some of these. I’m 34 weeks pregnant with my first. While I blog about other topics as well, the pregnancy definitely makes its way into many posts ;)
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I really enjoyed Ina Mae’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin and The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (if you are planning to bf). The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley and all of her books are good.
My least favorite were the What to Expect books, but I was bf and they give really detrimental bf advice, and their pregnancy book was fear based, which is probably why I like Ina Mae’s so much better.
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Awww…thanks for the shout out. You know I am loving following your pregnancy journey! :)
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Check out the Pregtastic podcast! Terrible name but awesome resource. I thought that had some great guests and I love hearing positive pregnancy stuff – not scary, doom and gloom info.
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I love Brittany’s, Sabrina’s, and your blog- such great resources for me right now!
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I’m pretty honored to make your list!! Thanks, Emily :-)
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Katie at “Yes I Want Cake” just had her baby girl– her blog may be helpful!
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I really liked the Mayo guides, Parents Magazine (like any magazine or pop culture type info, I take it with a grain of salt), Babycenter, and then child development psychology textbooks and guides. :)
I also have a ton of activities books for birth to five years of age that were great for ways to bond with baby and do fun learning activities together. We do a lot of “home school” type activities even long before kids were of school age, because they were fun and easy ways to fill time and bond. I read a lot of homeschooling blogs as a way to learn more about various activities that I can do out of my kitchen, backyard, or library now that my kids are almost 7 and 5.
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I’m a mom of 1 1/2 year old twin boys (and a newbie to the healthy living blog world). It’s sooo much fun (both blogging and being a MOM)! I’m so excited for you. Baby Bargains is AWESOME!!!! They have another book out Baby 411 that is a must-have also. I looked up everything in that book. Once your new little addition is here you’ll want some other books as well. Let me know when you’re ready for those reccommendations. ha! Love your blog!!! :)
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Finding the best resources is definitely something I hope to find when I go down the baby-making road
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I would say make sure you read some books regarding how to look after a baby. I only read about pregnancy and birth whilst preggers and boy oh boy, do I wish I had more about actually looking after a baby – it was a HUGE shock to me as I thought babies just ate, slept and pooped. I didn’t realise they needed (or at least mine does/did) so much help to get them to nap etc. I was clueless. I find http://www.mumsnet.com ver helpful and the message boards are FANTASTIC.
A fantastic book is The Wonder Weeks, fascinating and reassuring. Tells you about mental ‘leaps’ your baby makes and how their behaviour changes around that time.
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Thanks again for including me on this list. And right back at you — you’ve been incredibly helpful and fun to follow on this adventure.
As far as other resources, I have also read “Pregnancy Sucks” and “Exploiting My Baby” . . . I’ve tried to stay away from “What to Expect” because it usually scares me. And I’ve also stopped visiting birth boards because they scare me, too. Sometimes less is more :)
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I read Tina, Melissa, and Sabrina’s…I’ll have to check out the rest! Assuming my 2 week old will sleep long enough. ;)
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Emily –
Enjoy this awesome time! My very favorite resource was the Pregtastic Podcast. http://www.pregtastic.com/
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great list! You can also check out my blog, if you are interested. My lil guy is about 3 1/2 months and I’ve done a few posts on breastfeeding basics, baby gear 101, the truth behind a body after baby (http://www.thedailybalance.com/2011/05/26/my-body-before-and-after-pregnancy/)
all posts can be found here (I compiled them): http://www.thedailybalance.com/2011/05/20/per-your-request/
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I just came across this book and thought I’d share it! http://www.anusara.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=4008&category_id=8&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=143
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i have no children, but i am an aunt… my sister really likes http://www.thebump.com/ so i thought i’d recommend it!
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I’m partial to SparkPeople of course so my favorite resource is a sister site of theirs, BabyFit. I used it for the short time that I was pregnant, and if I ever get pregnant again I will definitely be back on there!
http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/
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LOVE the Alphamom pregnancy calendar, too funny. I’m 7 weeks now and will definitely be checking it every week from here on out for a good laugh.
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I’m 14 weeks pregnant and have been following your blog for a little over a year, so I was ecstatic for you when I found out you were pregnant. When I found out I was pregnant a few weeks later, it was doubly exciting. I look forward to your weekly blogs each week. :)
One book I read that was purely for entertainment but still provided some insight was Jenny McCarthy’s “Belly Laughs”. I know some people have strong opinions about her, but seriously this was a really funny, easy read and it makes like of pregnancy while still explaining some of the less glamorous sides. Check it out!
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Emily Malone Reply:
June 9th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Congrats to you too!
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Hi, I LOVE reading your pregnancy updates!!! My husband and I are going to start trying in a couple months and I was wondering what ipad app Casey uses???? Thanks…
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Emily Malone Reply:
June 9th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
It’s actually an app by Pampers, that tracks the baby growth week to week!
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Emily–thanks so much for including Feed the Belly in your roundup! And congrats on your pregnancy. I’m on baby number 2 right now. Enjoy the journey!
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You can follow my pregnancy blog here: http://the-miracle-of-punkin.blogspot.com/
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My favorite book that helped prepare me for the actual event of giving birth to my first baby is called Birthing from Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz. They also have classes and a website: http://www.birthingfromwithin.com/. I know many moms who found this book to be the most informative and helpful for labor.
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