The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth

By: Genevieve Howland

Narrated by: Rebekkah Ross, Genevieve Howland, Cynthia Mason, Maura Winkler

Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

With more than 1.3 million video views each month and over 52 million total views on her YouTube channel, Howland's (aka Mama Natural) funny but informational videos have empowered millions of women to embrace natural pregnancy and parenting. Now Howland is turning to books, offering up the first week-by-week natural pregnancy book for soon-to-be moms.

For the last half century, control over childbirth has been in favor of doctors. Many pregnancy guidebooks are conventional, fear based, and written by male physicians deeply entrenched in the old-school medical model of birth.

But change is underway. A groundswell of women are taking back their pregnancies and childbirth and embracing a natural way. Genevieve Howland, the woman behind the enormously popular Mama Natural blog and YouTube channel, has created an inspiring, fun, and informative guide that demystifies natural pregnancy and walks Mom through the process one week at a time.

The Mama Natural's Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth is the modern (and yet ancient) approach to pregnancy and childbirth. "Natural" recognizes that pregnancy and birth are normal and that having a baby is a wondrous biological process and rite of passage - not a medical condition. This book draws upon the latest research showing how beneficial and life changing natural birth is for both babies and moms.

Full of weekly advice and tips for a healthy pregnancy, Howland details vital nutrition to take, natural remedies for common and troublesome symptoms, and the appropriate (and inappropriate) use of interventions. Peppered throughout are positive birth and pregnancy stories from women of all backgrounds (and all stages of their natural journeys) along with advice and insights from a certified nurse midwife (CNM) plus a registered nurse (RN), a doula, and a lactation consultant. Encouraging, well researched, and fun, The Mama Natural's Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth will be an essential companion for women everywhere to embrace natural pregnancy and reap all the benefits for both baby and mama.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2017 Mama Natural Productions, LLC (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Love this book.

Very good information. This book helped me get through my pregnancy and know what to do and not to do.

A MUST LISTEN!

Would you listen to The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth again? Why?

I would definately listen to this book again - it is a wealth of information and super up-to-date.

So helpful for a first-time mom!

I really appreciate the way this book is broken out by week and how it covers a ton of different types of pregnancy-related topics: not just medical, not just social, not just development, not just nutrition. It's all of the above and more!

The audio quality and talent are good - very easy to listen to.

My only gripe is that so many places in the book mention a topic and then says "but more on that later." It's really repetitive and silly - just wait to give more on the topic.

I love this book!

I am currently 14 weeks pregnant and I love this book. Listening to each week ahead of time has truly helped me to understand what to expect, how my baby is developing, what my baby needs most at certain times, how my body will change, and provides healthy and unique meal options. Though the book is for a “natural” momma as shown in the title, I am very medical and plan on delivering in a hospital, and yet I feel everything in the book is benefitting me in some way. I had no idea about all of the options out there, and listening to this book gives me confidence each week in my decision making.

Pretentious

Had some good information but I could tell from my own research that there was a lot of biased and misleading/misinformation in this book. A lot of cherry picking. Just on a personal note too, the narrator sounds so pretentious it was so annoying the whole book..

Super helpful book full of fact based, naturally minded info

This book was recommended to me by my SIL and I absolutely loved it! Being a first time mama, having a weekly guide to help through pregnancy and lessen my fears and questions about birth is great. The recipes, pregnancy symptom relief methods, and midwife/doula input were particularly helpful. I also liked that the author included fact based info, citing studies done on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of different practices, and helping the reader make an informed decision one way or another. The narrator had an easy to listen to voice, making the audible version of this book an excellent choice for a busy mama. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. Well worth the read. I even found a copy in my birthing center’s library!

comprehensive natural childbirth manual

this really is the perfect overview to natural childbirth. it gives plenty of references and ideas that you can do more research into yourself. the readers and performance was also very high quality, enjoyable and very entertaining. there were some anecdotal examples, but most premises were based on science and statistics. highly recommend!

Fantastic job!

if you're going to be a new parent by this book. you'll learn a ton.

A must!!

This book has been my guide. It gives me knowledge that brings me peace. Thank you so much for it!!

Informative but annoying narrator

I cannot stand when the author does not read their own books, but that aside, it's not bad. Some of the claims & suggestions were a bit out there & impractical, but for the most part, I think you can learn a lot of good information in this book.

Something that drove me NUTS-- they mention the accompanying PDF for all the recipes & supporting documents.. WHERE TF IS THAT?! Damn provide a website for listeners to go to like every other audiobook. Good Lord. Some of those recipes sounded great & I would like to try, but nope. Can't get them I guess 🤷 & yes I tried Googling it