Pregnancy for Modern Girls and The Pregnancy Pocket Bible both by Hollie Smith

Pregnancy for Modern Girls by Hollie Smith is heralded as revealing the "naked truth about being pregnant", suggesting it discloses the gory details of pregnancy and birth that most books skim over. Using other women's own accounts, it does that justice, highlighting just how unflattering and unattractive many aspects of this process are - and you begin to realise the symptom you had last week isn't actually as rare as you thought, and concentrating on not constantly farting in public is actually very common!

There is a lot of information about drinking, smoking and drug use in early pregnancy, before the female has discovered she is pregnant. The personal accounts would put any worrying woman more at ease, especially as most women will not have partied as hard as some of the contributers. The book eases you into pregnancy, following the journey from early symptoms to birth and beyond.

The Pregnancy Pocket Bible begins with 20 great things about being pregnant - including eating more, a seat on public transport and no periods - every woman's dream! Alongside this are the "amazing pregnancy facts" such as the world's youngest parents and the first pregnant man! Both books follow the journey of pregnancy, birth and the newborn's first weeks, and include the delights of piles, constant trips to the toilet and nasal congestion. It has good information on names (including what combinations do not work, and what names have been banned in certain countries: Fish and Chips for twins being my favourite). The light-hearted tone and bullet-point facts help to make the book an easy read.

Both Pregnancy for Modern Girls and The Pregnancy Pocket Bible are discreet enough to be carried with you when out and about - especially as they do not contain vivid pictures of growing foetus, bumps and happy hugging couples - which only make you feel worse if that is not you! They are easy and digestible reads, and neither bombard you with facts or drum into you that you that chocolate and digestive biscuits are a sin.

I highly recommend them both.

Published by White Ladder, and imprint of Crimson Publishing, both books are available from Amazon. To order a copy please click the link below:

Pregnancy for Modern Girls: The Naked Truth About Being Pregnant The Pregnancy Pocket Bible (Pocket Bibles)