The New Zealand Pregnancy Book

THE NEW ZEALAND PREGNANCY BOOK has been used by many thousands of parents since the first edition was published in 1991. The third edition has been comprehensively rewritten by GP author Sue Pullon, along with midwife Cheryl Benn. A richly informative text, accompanied by vivid life stories, is illuminated throughout by full colour photography (along with illustrations and diagrams). This is a superb New Zealand reference work, produced by an expert team: GP, midwife, writer, photographer, physiotherapist, and designers working in close collaboration with the publishers. This is a must have for New Zealand families in the significant phases of pregnancy, birth and early childhood.

This book is written for the New Zealand context. The simplest questions are answered, from deciding to have a baby through to the first months of a child's life. Medical knowledge is clearly presented and a full range of issues is addressed - from what kind of nappies, advantages of breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, to choosing between homebirth or hospital birth. How you feel in this book is as important as what you do. Topics include: development of the foetus, your changing body, services before and after birth, ante-natal and post-natal visits, options for care and delivery, cloths, baby clothes and equipment, feeding and hygiene, coping with other commitments at work or within the family, and useful New Zealand organisations.

From award-winning science journalist Linda Geddes, a fascinating and practical companion for expectant parents that makes sense of conflicting advice about pregnancy, birth, and raising babies. Can I eat peanuts during pregnancy? Do unborn babies dream? Can men get pregnancy symptoms too? How much do babies remember? How can I get my baby to sleep through the night? The moment she discovers she’s pregnant, every woman suddenly has a million ques­tions about the life that’s developing inside her. Linda Geddes was no different, except that as a journalist writing for New Scientist magazine she had access to the most up-to-date scientific research. What began as a personal quest to find the truth behind headlines and information that didn’t patronize or confuse is now a brilliant new book. In Bumpology, Geddes discusses the latest research on every topic that expectant parents encounter, from first pregnancy symptoms to pregnancy diet, the right birth plan, and a baby’s first year.

Increasingly we are understanding how vital sleep is to our general health and feeling of wellbeing. Many of us struggle to get a good night's sleep, but the challenge is especially hard for pregnant women. The changes in women's bodies during this time have a huge impact on sleep, and sleep disruption is very common. It can be difficult to get helpful, accurate information on sleep in pregnancy. But the latest research from Massey University's Sleep/Wake Centre gives you the tools you need to manage your sleep over each trimester. There will be challenges in meeting your sleep needs, but the ideas and information in this approachable and easy-to-read book will assist you in making the most of your sleep opportunities. Includes up-to-date information about sleep, and the latest research on our circadian clock, REM and NREM sleep; a section on strategies for sleep health in pregnancy, including how the different hormones affect your body and your sleep; and the challenges to sleep during each trimester.

Emerging from diaries, letters and memoirs, the voices of this remarkable book tell a new story of life arriving amidst a turbulent world. Before the Plunket Society, before antibiotics, before ‘safe’ Caesarean sections and registered midwives, nineteenth-century birthing practice in New Zealand was typically determined by culture, not nature or the state. Alison Clarke works from the heart of this practice, presenting a history balanced in its coverage of social and medical contexts. Connecting these contexts provides new insights into the same debates on childhood – from infant feeding to maternity care – that persist today. Tracing the experiences of Māori and Pākehā birth ways, this richly illustrated story remains centered throughout on birthing women, their babies and families: this is their history.

By any measure, New Zealand must confront monumental issues in the years ahead. From the future of work to climate change, wealth inequality to new populism – these challenges are complex and even unprecedented. Yet why does New Zealand’s political discussion seem so diminished, and our political imagination unequal to the enormity of these issues? And why is this gulf particularly apparent to young New Zealanders? These questions sit at the centre of Max Harris’s ‘New Zealand project’. This book represents, from the perspective of a brilliant young New Zealander, a vision for confronting the challenges ahead. Unashamedly idealistic, The New Zealand Project arrives at a time of global upheaval that demands new conversations about our shared future.