F Kallop Birth Bk V345

Expectant parents will want to peruse this comprehensive, reassuring and realistic book by a childbirth educator. Pregnancy through childbirth and the early weeks of parenthood are covered in a clear writing style: changes in a woman's body and in the developing fetus; labor and delivery, including Lamaze techniques and coping with back labor and cesarean birth; nutrition and pre- and postpartum exercises; and caring for the newborn. The author is supremely sensible (``If you dwell on everything that can go wrong you will have a terrible time because of that worry and your fantasies are far worse than the reality''), accepting (``Labor is not a contest to see who can `go the distance with the least assistance' '') and not without humor (the section on newborn care is called ``Now How Do We Keep Him Alive?''). The advice is practical (remedies for morning sickness, a recipe to help a colicky baby, and bottle and breast-feeding hints) and sensitive (dealing with miscarriage or recognizing the ambivalence either prospective parent might feel about pregnancy). Detailed drawings are an aid to understanding. Author tour. (July)