Book Reviews

The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy
This book was hysterical, and so true. In reading some of the other books I really found them to be very clinical and some what intimidating. This really was like talking to a girlfriend, she seemed to cover all the topics that you were curious about but too embarrassed to ask. This is the only pregnancy book that I read cover to cover. It provided lighthearted reading, with some great advice.


Book of Baby Bargains
This book was such a huge help for a first time mom. Its really easy to get wrapped up in all the stuff that is out there for babies. Before you know it you can spend $1000's on crap! I used this book as a reference when we registered and I am sure I saved a lot of money. We all know how important that is!

Preemies: The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies
I hope that no one ever has to read this, but this book really helped us get through our NICU experience. We were really overwhelmed when we were in the NICU and visiting the girls, when the drs would talk to us we would sometimes just have to say "can you write that word down" then we would look it up when we had a chance. There is so much to wrap your head around when you are dealing with a sick child, this was a great reference for us. I still refer to it sometimes.-Lafrance76

Raising Twins After the First Year: Everything You Need to Know About Bringing Up Twins--from Toddlers to Preteens
Laid out by age, with detailed chapters on each year of life from one to ten, this book covers everything from the terrible twos and potty training to twin rivalry to cryptophasia (“twin language”), with such entertainingly well-written sections of practical advise as “Eating Out: How Not To Get Kicked Out of Your Favorite Restaurant.” Gottesman goes into refreshing detail about raising elementary school-aged twins. Her list of resources is up to date and extensive. This is an excellent book, high-quality and very useful, with much more detail on the ages covered than other books on older twins.

Twins! Pregnancy, Birth and the First Year of Life
Dr. Connie L. Agnew is a perinatologist in private practice in Los Angeles. She's a leading specialist in the care of high-risk mothers and infants. One of my favorite parts of this book is the breakdown of pregnancy by weeks, with an illustration of your twins in utero. No other book has that for twins. The second edition of this book has updated medical advice, expanded and updated resources lists (websites, addresses, organizations, etc), and revised immunization schedules. Dr. Agnew addresses in detail pregnancy, labor and delivery or cesarean birth, and the first year of life with twins. Transcriptions of roundtable discussions with real parents of twins at the end of chapters are also quite helpful and encouraging to read.

Everything You Need to Know to Have a Healthy Twin Pregnancy
Dr. Gila Leiter is an OB/GYN and mother of twins. Her writing is clear and concise, friendly and not too clinical, and her medical advice for pregnancy is exhaustive. Dr. Leiter’s nutrition advice and lists of medications are second to none, and her three chapters on complications and pre-term labor are an excellent resource. Her in-depth descriptions of labor and delivery, and what happens immediately after the birth, are a necessary resource for the pregnant mother of twins.

Raising Twins: What Parents Want to Know (And What Twins Want to Tell Them)
This book has a different perspective than most parenting books for twins, because it was written by a twin instead of a mom of twins, who is also a family therapist. She addresses physical, cognitive, and developmental issues of life with twins, from twin talk to teenage twins (the only book to address parenting issues of teenage twins), to twins with different needs, to death of a twin.

Twinspiration: Real-Life Advice From Pregnancy Through the First Year for Parents of Twins and Multiples
Written by a mom of twins, Lage’s book is chock-full of all the practical advice that I desperately wanted when my boys were infants. How I wish she’d published this two years ago! It may not have the in-depth, professional medical advice that Agnew has, but this is the real deal. No other twin book I’ve ever read has had such real-life advice on how to handle your twins, logistically speaking. My favorite part is her in-detail description on how to maneuver a double or tandem stroller through any kind of door (push versus pull, left-open versus right-open, etc). Lage speaks in real language, addressing every possible concern or worry you might have about how you’re going to survive pregnancy and the first year. It’s like having a long conversation with your best friend. This book is wonderful and absolutely necessary. I’ve put it at the top of my recommended reading lists to new mothers of twins.

--written by Iggy