NEW MOM ESSENTIALS

A debut handbook for a healthy pregnancy and baby care in the first three months after childbirth.

In this wide-ranging volume, executive coach and yoga teacher Murray takes readers through the multifaceted experience of being pregnant and parenting a newborn. It clearly describes an array of standard prenatal tests and optional procedures and, refreshingly, estimates prices for each. Early on, she advises that new mothers should, for instance, call their insurance company sometime in the first trimester and inform them of the pregnancy. “Then,” she continues, “ask them what info they tend to share with those who are pregnant, as well as what they need from you when (e.g., prior authorizations for genetics or gestational diabetes testing and/or post-delivery hospital stay, protocol for adding baby to your insurance, any coordination of benefits requirements you should know about...)” and so on. In addition, the author includes carefully itemized sections regarding human resources policies in the United States, using policies in Illinois, where she lives, as a specific example; the practicalities and politics of selecting helpers at every stage; the pragmatics of returning to work; and dozens of other aspects of the pregnancy and infant-care experience. The work lays out all of this practical information with impressive clarity, but the book’s strongest aspect may well be its reliable, consistent tone of calm and wise reassurance. “Hopefully this goes without saying, but being pregnant and giving birth are natural things your body is born knowing how to do,” she says in one representative passage. “You are not sick. There is not something wrong with you.” Prospective mothers and their loved ones will find this a comprehensive volume that answers their questions and calms their fears.

A wise one-stop guide for new mothers.