__'Full of practical, down-to-earth advice and fresh biblical insights ... a great resource for parents embarking on this new adventure.' -Chris and Jo Saxton__This book takes a totally unique look at pregnancy. Instead of focusing on 'material' preparations for having a baby, it helps us to prepare our hearts, emotions and spiritual lives for the arrival of a newborn.

It equips expectant mums and dads in shaping their attitudes towards parenthood, helping tem to bring God into every aspect of pregnancy, birth and life with a young baby.

Will and Lucinda share the story of their journey through pregnancy, and the stories of their friends, with humour and sensitivity. Theory biblical insights, interwoven with personal story, make for a human and engrossing read.

This book takes a totally unique look at pregnancy.

Will & Lucinda van der Hart

The Pregnancy Book

I. Pregnancy

II: A new family

III: The birth

IV: The first year

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Pregnancy

1. How do you hold a baby? BEGINNING The pregnancy journey

Your moment of discovery

How did you react when you first found out you were pregnant?

The practical versus the spiritual

God's view of pregnancy: three biblical birth stories

For reflection or discussion

2. From lad to dad: preparing for fatherhood

A new set of concerns

Responding to the big news

Preparing to be out of control

Building in margin

Three practical ways to prepare for fatherhood

What do you most enjoy about being a dad?

3. Faith or fear? Trusting God through pregnancy

Worries, worries, worries

What were your greatest fears during pregnancy?

Your companion on the journey ahead: fear or faith?

What's pressing your worry buttons?

In whom are we trusting?

Jesus and the fear factor

The power of prayer

Practical steps

Part II: A new family

4. When two become three : Starting a family

Family lasts for life

Family in the Bible

Value your values

Your current relational situation

How do you maintain a good marriage when a baby comes on the scene?

5. What if we end up like our parents? Dealing with family damage

How were you brought up?

Unconscious drivers

Solid foundations

Reacting against your own upbringing

Enid Blyton experiences

Do you tend to idealize or criticize the way you were raised?

What about generational patterns?

Three ways to take action

Continue to develop your own self-­awareness

Part III: The birth

6. Happy Birthday : Giving birth with God on side

My own birth story: Skye

Catherine's birth story: Joshua

Ali's birth story: Josiah

Your birth story

7. The hand-holder: Dad and the birth

Will: dad to Skye

Giles: dad to Skylar

Benedict: dad to Charlie

His story is your story

Part IV: The first year

8. How do we adjust? Changing relationships as a new parent

Your self-­identity

Your relationship with your spouse

How did having a baby affect your sex life?

Relationships with wider family

Your relationship with your friends

9. Where is God in all this? Faith as a new parent

Faith

Hope

How did your spiritual life change when you became a parent?

Guilt

Love

Parenting as a child

Embrace the change

How have you changed since becoming a parent?

Appendix Prayers for pregnancy, birth and the early days

Prayer following conception

Prayer during morning sickness

Prayer before a scan

Prayer when you are worrying about your baby

Prayer for your marriage relationship

Prayer before the birth

Prayer during labour

Prayer for when you go overdue

Prayer for a newborn

Prayer for a new family

Prayer for sleep

Prayer for new parents

On pregnancy

On caring for your baby in the first year

'Full of practical, down-to-earth advice and fresh biblical insights ... a great resource for parents embarking on this new adventure.' -Chris and Jo Saxton

This book takes a totally unique look at pregnancy. Instead of focusing on 'material' preparations for having a baby, it helps us to prepare our hearts, emotions and spiritual lives for the arrival of a newborn.

It equips expectant mums and dads in shaping their attitudes towards parenthood, helping tem to bring God into every aspect of pregnancy, birth and life with a young baby.

Will and Lucinda share the story of their journey through pregnancy, and the stories of their friends, with humour and sensitivity. Theory biblical insights, interwoven with personal story, make for a human and engrossing read.

'Fills a vital gap ... Always fascinating and sometimes hilarious. This valuable and easy-to-read book will help many others to become more effective and fulfilled parents.' - Nicky and Sila Lee, in their foreword  
   
 'Many expectant parents will connect with this book.' - Mark and Lindsay Melluish  
   
 'Will and Louie's insights into impending parenthood will be helpful to anyone expecting a child.' - Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing  
   
 'Full of practical, down-to-earth advice and fresh biblical insights ... a great resource for parents embarking on this new adventure.' - Chris and Jo Saxton

The Good Book Stall

Full marks to this vicar and his wife for writing a book about pregnancy and the first year with a baby, while adjusting to these life-changing events in their own lives.   
Will and Lucinda write with immediacy, honesty and humour, and never play down their times of anxiety, fear and tiredness. The reader is therefore ready to trust their integrity and their carefully and prayerfully thought out ways of preparing both emotionally and spiritually for the addition of their new family member.   
The sharing of the writing between husband and wife makes for a balanced book which is enhanced by a useful reading list and prayers for pregnancy, birth and the early days of parenthood. Expectant parents would do well to read this valuable book which I really enjoyed.

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The Pregnancy Book

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