Book Review: How to Grow a Baby and Push It Out

Book Review: How to Grow a Baby and Push It Out

When I first found out that midwife Clemmie Hooper was writing a book about pregnancy and birth, I was really excited even though I would not be pregnant at the time of the book release. I just love reading about pregnancy to learn more and to hear other women’s stories.

That is one of Clemmie’s expert areas as she’s not only an experienced midwife and a mother of four, but she also has a blog called Gas & Air that features other mums’ birth stories as well as her own experiences of pregnancy and motherhood. I’ve read it for years and also follow Clemmie’s Instagram (@mother_of_daughters). I met Clemmie once at a NutriMum event in London in 2015 when she was pregnant with her twin girls and I with Baby No. 2. It was great to meet her in real life and being a midwife and mother she of course knows what she’s talking about when it comes to the topics of this book.

The book’s full title is How to Grow a Baby and Push It Out — Your no-nonsense guide to pregnancy and birth and that is a great summary of what the book is. It covers pretty much everything you need to know about this magical time in short chapters and sections. It’s really easy to read and the writing is friendly and witty.

It’s a very stylish book and I wouldn’t expect anything else from Clemmie. She’s a stylish woman! The book looks great with its beautiful illustrations and personal photos.

How to Grow a Baby and Push It Out is a pleasure to read and to look at. I found a few small editing errors but everything else is so perfect that I don’t care. The book is truly enjoyable to read and works as a great summarising guide to pregnancy and birth. If you want more extensive information about a particular topic there are lots of helpful resources at the end of the book.

The book has chapters about a few important weeks of pregnancy — not every single week. I’m happy about this as having had two babies myself, there’s not that much that changes from week to week. You’ll also find tips on what to pack in your hospital bag, perineal massage to avoid tearing during the birth, best positions for labour, how to relax and much more.

There’s plenty of information on the different stages of labour which is one of the most important topics to cover more in depth and Clemmie does this well. She also covers pain relief, C-sections and problems that can occur during birth.

Clemmie also covers a few topics that some women are definitely wondering about but might not want to talk to their midwife about such as bikini waxing before the birth and pooing during labour. She handles these topics well and gives informative answers.

There are lots of contributions from other mums in the form of birth stores and pregnancy experiences and also specialist advice from other mums you might know from Instagram covering things like hypnobirthing and nutrition

I’m really pleased with this book and it’s exactly what I expected from Clemmie. I’m looking forward to reading it again when it’s time for Baby No. 3 to refresh my knowledge. I would recommend it to other mums-to-be who want no-nonsense advice in a quick to read format that is pleasing on the eye too.

Buy your copy of How to Grow a Baby and Push It Out from Amazon.co.uk. It’s currently only £8.00 for a paperback copy!

Book provided to me for this review. As always, all my reviews are 100% honest and all thoughts and opinions are my own.