Impending parenthood can bring equal parts excitement and anxiety. On the one hand, you’re eagerly anticipating meeting your baby and getting to know her. On the other, you’re wondering if you can possibly learn everything you need to know about raising a baby in nine short months! New in bookstores is a bevy of books designed to help you prepare for the big event.
Dr. Miriam Stoppard’s new Trusted Advice Series (DK Publishing, February 2011; $9.95 each) offers essential, practical advice in a punchy, engaging and accessible way for busy parents. No need to wade through reams of dense text or medical jargon. Each title focuses on a specific stage of pregnancy or child development and combines the author’s reassuring advice and expertise with tables and charts, bulleted lists, step-by-step illustrations and photo demonstrations.
Your Healthy Pregnancy explains how to care for your baby, your body and your mind during pregnancy. You’ll also find advice on diet, exercise and preparing emotionally for parenthood. Stoppard covers everything from keeping fit to working during pregnancy to maintaining a sensual relationship for as long as possible.
Your New Baby provides a guide to caring for a newborn during the first six months while Your Healthy Child addresses common childhood illnesses, their symptoms 
and treatment. It includes an A-Z index of 80 typical childhood complaints for easy reference. You and Your Toddler includes essential information to help raise a toddler to achieve his or her full potential. It covers such key topics as potty training and dealing with tantrums.
The Babysense Secret (DK Publishing, 2010; $15.95), by occupational therapist Megan Faure, tells parents how to read their baby’s body language and signals so they can anticipate how their baby is feeling and meet his or her needs.
Featuring handy, at-a-glance charts, The Babysense Secret shows parents what to do in the middle of the night when their baby is crying inconsolably. Faure provides an easy-to-follow method to care for a baby during the first year. Flow diagrams help parents determine what their baby is trying to tell them and how to respond to his or her signals and needs.
Finally, break up the stress with a good belly laugh, courtesy of Teresa Strasser in her new book, Exploiting My Baby*: *Because It’s Exploiting Me (NAL Trade Paperback Original, January 2011; $15). Strasser, an award-winning journalist and media personality, gives an unflinchingly honest, always hysterical and surprisingly heartwarming memoir about pregnancy and childbirth. At 38, Strasser, armed with the “perfect” husband, though she was ready to have a baby. But then again, maybe not.
In Exploiting My Baby, she takes a look at the highs (having doors opened and seats offered) and lows (leaking breasts and uncontrollable gas) of pregnancy. She also gives her take on things that annoy real moms, like ads for pregnancy products featuring models with glowing skin and zero weight gain.
If you have ever been pregnant, would like to be pregnant at some point or are dealing with an expanding baby belly right now, Exploiting My Baby is the ultimate sidekick to prepare and comfort you during it all. Strasser will make you laugh, cry and give you something to focus on when your baby makes that epic journey through your birth canal.
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