Women Pregnancy

Doula Beccy Hands and midwife Alexis Stickland know what a challenge it can be to balance self-care with motherhood. In The Little Book of Support for New Moms, they bring together decades of experience to share invaluable tips and tricks to boost confidence and calm frazzled nerves - plus answers to all those questions new moms may be too embarrassed to ask. Here are instructions for creating cooling breast pads with chamomile tea, quick stretches for relieving aching muscles, and tips for reducing swelling.

Keira Johnson, a 50-year-old mother of two grown sons, believes she lives a good Christian life without secrets - until she discovers a life-jarring fact her late mother kept hidden all her life. Kiera was born out of wedlock, and the man she had always known as her father had adopted her as an infant. Meanwhile, Keira's beloved 17-year-old niece, Kirsten, has just discovered an unwanted pregnancy. Her boyfriend, Jose, is bound for college and Kirsten does not know what to do.

Pregnancy may have left you feeling that there’s no way to fix common postpartum symptoms, such as pelvic floor issues, exhaustion, and burnout, and lactation woes. But that's simply not true. With this revolutionary resource in hand, you’ll learn what happens to the body during pregnancy and childbirth, common changes in function and feeling, and solutions for healing. Your Postpartum Body was written with expertise by a pelvic floor physical therapist who'll empower you so that you can feel like yourself again—physically and mentally.

For thirty years Liz has perfectly played the part of Mrs. Thomas Lightsey, exemplary pastor’s wife and mother. But maintaining appearances for the congregation and catering to her demanding husband takes a toll, and she’s lost herself in meeting the expectations of others. When Thomas suddenly dies, Liz feels shock, grief, and, to her surprise, the siren song of freedom. Dare she dream of a life to call her own?

Like many women her age, 34-year-old Rebecca Walker was brought up to be skeptical of motherhood. As an adult she longed for a baby but feared losing her independence. In this very smart memoir, Walker explores some of the larger sociological trends of her generation while delivering her own story about the emotional and intellectual transformation that led her to motherhood.

When Helen Ledwick discovered she had a prolapse after the birth of her second child, she was devastated, not just by the constant discomfort but also by the pervasive shame she felt and the lack of available information and support. When she learned that one in three women have pelvic floor disorders, she was horrified...and determined to do something about it. In this warm, factual and anecdote-rich look at a taboo subject, Helen shares her story along with those of many other women.

After an unbelievable makeover gave her the confidence to strut her stuff at a charity ball, Kate Crosby went from harmless flirt to a bedroom vixen. But she wasn't about to let a single night of oh-so-sultry passion with archenemy Peter Logan become anything more. Of course, she didn't count on seeing their lip-lock featured in the local paper! Finally able to track the mysterious beauty down to a remote cabin, Peter learned the truth about her identity—and that she was going to have his baby.

Pregnancy is a profound journey. Navigating it while working—from figuring out how to tell your boss you’re pregnant to squeezing in doctors’ appointments between meetings, all while working even harder to prove yourself—can be a push and pull between a desire for privacy and the need for support. The good news is, it’s possible to thrive in both spaces. Carry Strong offers a new approach that will transform your pregnancy years at work from something to “get through” into a career opportunity to embrace with confidence.

With pregnancy comes a flood of emotions as you anticipate the birth of your little one. Your mind wonders immensely about the various stages, what to expect, and how to do all the right things to have a safe and healthy pregnancy. The goal of this book is to help you stay healthy, find support, locate excellent prenatal care, learn about your nutritional options, understand the importance of maternal care, and give you advice that reflects your preferences and helps you prioritize your baby.

Becoming a mother can be one of the most rewarding experiences in your life. Through all of that, your body and emotional state can go through a lot of changes. Learning how to navigate your way through the feelings you may be experiencing after childbirth and through the childhood years can take a toll on your mental and physical state. Taking care of yourself is not just a luxury, it is a necessity for being the best parent you can be. Feeding your mind, body, and soul with simple meditation, nourishing foods, and exercise is a must for new and seasoned moms.

More than 90 percent of sexually active women have only been given a very limited amount of information about how birth control works, often right at the beginning when they start their first pill or patch. Not all of us enjoy biology lessons, and figuring out the complexities of hormones, cycles, and our bodies can feel a little too much. But it doesn’t need to be rocket science. Getting a better insight into how your body really works can empower you and open up choices and possibilities so that you make the best decisions for yourself. After all, this is your body!

Black women have higher rates of premature birth than other women in America. This cannot be simply explained by economic factors, with poorer women lacking resources or access to care. Even professional, middle-class Black women are at a much higher risk of premature birth than low-income White women in the United States. Dána-Ain Davis looks into this phenomenon, placing racial differences in birth outcomes into a historical context, revealing that ideas about reproduction and race today have been influenced by the legacy of ideas which developed during the era of slavery.

In the years before Roe v. Wade, women seeking to end their unwanted pregnancies had limited options - many of them dangerous, even potentially fatal, and nearly all of them illegal. This groundbreaking work by sociologist Nancy Howell Lee, first published in 1969, takes an intimate look at the entire abortion process - from the initial decision to terminate a pregnancy through the procedure itself and the aftermath - providing an incomparable view of what is still one of the most controversial and divisive issues in America.

With all of the modern conveniences that we have today, a lot of women are not willing to go through the natural process of giving birth as there are alternatives to it. Hypnobirthing: An Introductory Guide is a reminder that the process of natural childbirth can be extremely rewarding and that it does not have to be a stressful, heartrending experience. As more and more persons are taking things back to basics, hypnobirthing is making a comeback.

Close to one in four American women experience the silent grief of pregnancy loss. Loved Baby offers much-needed support to women in the middle of psychological and physiological grief as a result of losing an unborn child through miscarriage, stillbirth, or ectopic pregnancy loss. In Loved Baby, author Sarah Philpott gently walks alongside women as they experience the misguided shame, isolation, and crushing despair that accompany the turmoil of loss.

As a soon to be mom, whether this is your first pregnancy or your fourth, these scriptures will bless you and give you peace. The scriptures in this audiobook are powerful and God-breathed. By praying and meditating on these scriptures you can build faith and strength for this pregnancy. These scriptures are centered around, peace, love, protection, and provision. Allow the promises in these scriptures to wash over you and your unborn child. They will help you to pray in the right way when certain circumstances arise. Life throws many challenges our way.

Aileen Weintraub has been running away from commitment her entire life, hopping from one job and one relationship to the next. When her father suddenly dies, she flees her Jewish Brooklyn community for the wilds of the country, where she unexpectedly falls in love with a man who knows a lot about produce, tractors, and how to take a person down in one jiu-jitsu move. Within months of saying "I do," she's pregnant, life is on track, and then wham! Her doctor slaps a high-risk label on her uterus and sends her to bed for five months.

One woman’s struggle through 3 stillbirths, 3 miscarriages and 3 healthy, successful pregnancies, all within 10 years…

High school teacher Kristin Caine has a black belt in settling for less and a dying mother who doesn't mince words when it comes to voicing how disappointed this makes her. But when Kristin's status quo is rocked by an unexpected pregnancy and the consequent breakup with her less-than-enthusiastic boyfriend, things change. Suddenly, agreeing to help her overbearing mother complete a bucket list before the big C wins seems not the worst thing in the world-despite their many differences and Kristin's fear of traveling.

Two years after the death of their mother, Jada and Maddy Battle both navigate unplanned pregnancies. Jada, a thirty-one-year-old psychology PhD student living in Pittsburgh, quietly obtains an abortion without telling her husband, but the secret causes turmoil in her already shaky marriage. Back home in rural Pennsylvania, nineteen-year-old Maddy, who spends her time caring for birds at a wildlife rehabilitation center, is paid off by the man who got her pregnant to get an abortion. But an unsettling visit to a crisis pregnancy center adds to her doubts about whether to go through with it.