My favourite pregnancy/birth books

During my three pregnancies I've read a lot of pregnancy books (yes, even re reading in subsequent pregnancies - you forget so much!) I wanted to share my top three.

 How to Grow A Baby by Natalie Meddings - my lovely hypnobirthing teacher Sarah passed this on to me as part of her course and I am SO pleased to have read it before I birth this baby. There are so many labouring scenarios I relate to in this book and wonder if I'd read it last time if I'd have responded differently. While it addresses birth scenarios and interventions I'd say it's still leaning on the holistic side so it's maybe one to skip if you know from the get go you'll be having an elective. Highlights include the concept of "the two rooms" of birth (aka. not jumping the gun and how to relax and take your time at the start of a very long labour), statistic based discussion on birth choices and coping mechanisms, and the importance of cake (seriously!)

 The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hills - this is the book I'd recommend everybody reads as it's going to appeal to the most people - it walks you through what labour "feels like" including lots of accounts from different birth givers, talks about different outcomes, and again gives you the tools you would need to make a positive birth far more likely. Knowledge is power and this really covers scenarios that may crop up while giving birth. For me the two above books work fantastically in conjunction with each other: one offering a no nonsense insight to birth, and How To Grow A Baby for a fresh point of view and plenty of relaxing and empowering choices, the two having a joint motive to make your birth sail as smoothly as possible.

 The Kind Mama by Alicia Silverstone - This one is for the crunchy, earth conscious hippie mama who wants to grow her baby on a plant based diet. Although there is a labour and birth section, I found the pregnancy and postnatal parts of the book most informative and empowering. Straight up, this book is not for everybody - it's very health focused and I GET it if you don't want somebody telling you to deep dive into the sugar cravings. Personally I found this empowering and motivating to get past my beige food stage (still acknowledged during this book!) and I've gone back to it with each pregnancy. It's not an essential but when I was pregnant for the first time and a little anxious about there being NO vegan pregnancy resources available in the UK, this gave me the confidence to grow my beautiful baby on plants (and to do so again another two times!) Highlights include her section on placenta capsules (doooo it) and the excellent nutritional information and inspiration.

Have you read any of these books? How do you like to get informed about pregnancy and birth?

The Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play by Laura Brand

The  Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play by Laura Brand: my current bedside reading, this book was a birthday present for Eden via me, as I felt a one year old isn't that into "stuff" but is super into learning and exploring - I hoped the ideas in this book would create far more fun over a long time than any one toy or item. I see a lot of supermums on Instagram sharing excellent structured play activities and games, but as a first time mum I honestly rely on Eden to teach me what she's capable of and what she'd like to do - I've never had to entertain a little one before so I'm a total novice. I hoped this pretty book would spark a few creative ideas we can try out, in a relatively easy and inexpensive way.

Self Care for the Second Trimester

Despite what I'd expected, it seems that the second trimester of my pregnancy has whizzed past and suddenly I'm approaching the third. It's a whirlwind of a time - it feels like there's so much preparation to do, so many changes going on in my body as Shroomie grows, and combining these aspects with a full time job can mean everything starts to feel a little overwhelming. I've written about self care before but it has never felt so important as it does now, as if I'm not looking after myself then I'm not looking after Shroomie - meaning suddenly it doesn't seem so much of an indulgence as it does a priority. For this reason I'd like to share a few favourite things that have really allowed me to indulge in self care, and the best part is many of them are fantastic whether you're pregnant or not!

Health & Nutrition: My Must-Have Books

"My experience as a human being changed when I realised that I am what I eat and when I decided to give myself the best chance possible to feel as good as possible."

It's human nature to want the best for ourselves. People fill up their cars with fuel that gives them the best value per mile. We choose the posh bleach that smells good and works better, rather than the value version. Yet, when it comes to food, we are often blinkered to the link between our diet and overall wellbeing as a whole.

Health and nutrition are a big interest of mine, and something I feel passionately about. When I am eating healthily I feel better in every way: not only physically in my digestion, body and skin, I also notice a huge difference in my mood and energy levels. There are so many aspects to nutrition and wellbeing that I find fascinating and want to discuss, but today I thought I'd start at the foundation by sharing some of the resources that have taught me, many which I still refer back to regularly, and have found fascinating in my approach to educating myself in this hugely important area. Ranging from theory-based to recipe-based, I genuinely believe that taking the time to learn from these resources is the most valuable thing I have ever done for my health.

Early Autumn Appreciation & Favourites

Those who tend to get puritanical about the seasons might be yelling at me that it's not autumn for another week yet, but I've officially started wearing scarves (and on one particularly cold morning thick tights!) so as far as I'm concerned autumn has started early for me this year. I started a new job last week which has resulted in my having to leave the house earlier in the mornings and truth be told it's worn me out more than I expected. While I'm in the process of getting used to the earlier start to my day, I've found myself even more excited about coming home to my happy place and getting cosy, as a result of this I wanted to share a few of the things that have been making me happy during this transition.

Turning 26 // Gift Gratitude & Lush Haul

Last Wednesday I celebrated turning 26. I was woken up by my Springer Spaniels who had come to stay, served breakfast in bed (spicy guacamole on toast washed down with Bucks Fizz) my boy took me for a wonderful lunch, we stopped by the Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery, and finished off the evening snuggling on the sofa in our candlelit living room with wine and Beauty and the Beast (my choice, in case you couldn't tell!) It was the perfect day, despite torrential rain that didn't stop once - as it was the first birthday celebrated in our new home I really wanted a chilled day that still felt special which was exactly what I got.

Since having our own place I have really tried to focus on avoiding accumulating too much clutter and try only to buy necessary or really special items. I still love shopping, but I try to do it far less, and have adopted a one-in-one-out policy with my wardrobe. Shifting to this approach meant that receiving birthday gifts felt particularly special this year. Lately I've been partaking in Adventures of Jade's #GratitudeIsYou Instagram tag which involves 10 days of listing things you are grateful for - big or small, things that make you happy. I've really enjoyed this approach and wanted to put together a gift gratitude post to share some of the lovely things I received for my birthday which made me so happy and I'm so incredibly grateful for.