Spencer - Parenting guide to pregnancy & childbirth

A Ballantine Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

Copyright 1998 by P ARENTING Magazine

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in slightly different form by The Ballantine Publishing Group in 1998.

Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.randomhouse.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spencer, Paula.
Parenting guide to pregnancy and childbirth / Paula Spencer with the editors of Parenting magazine. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-345-41179-2
eBook ISBN: 978-0-345-54442-1
1. Pregnancy. 2. Childbirth. I. Parenting (San Francisco, Calif.) II. Title.
RG525.S648 1998
618.2dc21 9735736

Text design by Michaelis/Carpelis Design Associates, Inc.
Cover photo Giovanni Lunardi/International Stock

v3.1

To George, my partner in parenthood and in life,
and to the fruits of our labors:
Henry Hartsfield, Elanor Louie, Margaret Meriwether,
and Page Jubilee

The information and advice presented in this book have been reviewed by a professional advisory board of medical doctors. They should not, however, substitute for the advice of your personal physician or other trained health-care professionals. You are advised to consult with health-care professionals with regard to all matters that may require medical attention or diagnosis and to check with a physician before administering or undertaking any course of treatment.

As the mother of two, I remember full well the joys of carrying a baby for nine months. But I also recall being filled with uncertainty during that time. Like Paula Spencer, the author of this guide, I read just about everything I could get my hands on.

But finding the explanations, reassurance, and advice I craved wasnt easy. Books about pregnancy abound, yet no single volume spoke to all my concerns. Some charted an expectant moms physical journey but skipped her mental one. Others were full of cheery encouragement, but short on the sometimes annoying, sometimes worrisome, realities of pregnancy.

I realized what I wanted was a complete sourcebook, one that delivered answers to everything from the mystery of fetal development and mom-to-bes moods to the stages of labor and delivery. And I wanted one that presented the information in a way that was quick and easy to access. I wanted to be able to sort through a book on pregnancy in much the same way I could read a magazine article on the topicmuch as we present information in P ARENTING magazine.