You know, before I was pregnant, I knew everything about pregnancy. Kinda like how I was an expert on parenting before I became a parent. I read a few books while we were waiting for God to bless us with a little one and felt completely prepared for the forty weeks that were surely waiting up ahead for me. I knew it all!

And then, I got pregnant. And realized that I didn’t know squat.

I wish that Erin MacPherson’s book The Christian Mama’s Guide to Having a Baby had been available to me back then. While there are plenty of pregnancy guidebooks out there, those that are fun aren’t all that informative and those that are informative work better as a sleeping pill for an already exhausted mommy-to-be.

This book, however, is fun and informative all at the same time. Erin does a great job of keeping the tone of the book light and funny, with plenty of stories and advice to keep the more technical parts from getting bogged down. She takes you from the dreaded first trimester to the wonderful day when you bring your newborn home, covering all the steps and stages in between. She covers a wide range of issues and concerns that come up in pregnancy, using her personal experience and the experiences of others to elaborate. While Erin admits to not being an expert on certain areas of health and pregnancy, she did a fantastic job of researching and incorporating the help of those who are experts in their fields, including detailed information on nutrition, exercise, baby gear, and childbirth options. I thought I knew a lot about pregnancy, but there was information that was completely new to me. (You shouldn’t eat lunch meat while pregnant? Oops.) The best part of the whole book was the feeling that you were just sitting down to chat with a friend who was drawing from her own struggles and experiences in pregnancy.

I would totally recommend The Christian Mama’s Guide to Having a Baby to anyone out there who is expecting. (Or, if you’re like me and like to do your research well before time, anyone who hopes to be expecting one day.) You’ll love it!

Many thanks to Erin and her team at Guideposts for providing me with a copy of this book to enjoy and review. All opinions expressed are mine entirely.