Birthing is the ultimate guide to conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, blending Davina McCall’s honesty and humor with expert insights to empower and support women through every stage of the journey. Following the revolutionary success of Menopausing, the Nibbie-winning Book of the Year that sparked a nationwide conversation, Davina McCall returns with a powerful new guide to one of life’s most transformative journeys. In Birthing, Davina brings her trademark honesty, warmth, and humour to the life-changing experience of conception, pregnancy, birth, and the fourth trimester. From navigating the highs and lows of fertility to the physical and emotional challenges of birth and recovery, Davina is joined by an incredible team of experts to answer the questions women often feel too afraid—or too embarrassed—to ask. Midwife Marley provides real-world guidance and reassurance every step of the way. IVF specialist insights ensure clarity around fertility options. A sex therapist explores intimacy through pregnancy and beyond. Breathwork and pelvic muscle therapists offer practical tools to build strength and ease discomfort, while a personal trainer shares exercises tailored for every stage. A psychologist unpacks the mental and emotional shifts, helping readers feel seen, heard, and supported. Packed with unfiltered advice, bold truths, and empowering stories, Birthing doesn’t shy away from the messy or raw realities. Instead, it celebrates them—because women’s health deserves nothing less than honesty and care. Like Menopausing, this book is more than a guide; it’s a call for change, sparking conversation and giving women the tools they need to feel confident and informed. Beautifully designed, unapologetically bold, and refreshingly real, Birthing is here to inspire, support, and empower—one story, one page, one woman at a time.

W/over 4,000,000 copies sold, Our Bodies, Ourselves is the resource about all aspects of female wellbeing. Completely revised, its pages give everything needed for decisions about health--from definitive information from experts to personal stories. This update includes the latest on: Nutrition & exercise; Relationships, sexuality & sexual health; Complementary health practices; Reproductive choices, pregnancy & childbearing; Growing older; Medical testing & procedures; Food pyramids, Sexual orientation & gender identity, Making safer sex fun, Breast-feeding; Pregnancy loss support & a section about getting care from the health system. W/www.ourbodiesourselves.org, it's a woman's one-stop resource.

Our Bodies, Ourselves is the resource that women of all ages turn to for information about their bodies, sexuality, and reproductive health. Completely revised and updated, these pages provide women with the information and tools they need to make key health decisions—accurate, evidence-based information, input from leading experts, and personal stories from women who share their experiences. This new edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves includes the latest vital information on: • CHANGES IN THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM—especially how health care reform affects women and how to get the care you need. • SAFER SEX — how to engage in pleasurable, satisfying sexual experiences while protecting your health and the health of your partner. • ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISKS — including minimizing exposure to everyday pollutants that endanger reproductive health. • BODY IMAGE — resisting negative media stereotypes and embracing healthier approaches to looking and feeling good. • LOCAL AND GLOBAL ACTIVISM — using social media and organizing tactics to build community and advocate for policies that improve women’s lives. • As well as crucial information about gender identity, sexual orientation, birth control, abortion, pregnancy and birth, perimenopause, and sexuality and sexual health as we age. Together with its companion website, ourbodiesourselves.org, Our Bodies, Ourselves is a one-stop resource for women of all generations.

Diagnosed by her physician husband with a “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency” after the birth of her child, a woman is urged to rest for the summer in an old colonial mansion. Forbidden from doing work of any kind, she spends her days in the house’s former nursery, with its barred windows, scratched floor, and peeling yellow wallpaper. In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid” wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness. A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society. First published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. Excerpt: Out of another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.

A radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind, brain and body During pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood, women undergo a far-reaching physiological, psychological and social metamorphosis. Other than during adolescence, there is no other time in a human's life with such dramatic change, yet science, medicine, and philosophy have neglected this life-altering transition. Its seismic effects go largely unrepresented across literature and the arts. Speaking about motherhood as anything other than a pastel-hued dream remains, for the most part, taboo. In this ground-breaking, deeply personal investigation, acclaimed journalist and author Lucy Jones brings to light the emerging concept of 'matrescence'. Drawing on new research across various fields—neuroscience and evolutionary biology; psychoanalysis and existential therapy; sociology, economics and ecology—Jones shows how the changes in the maternal mind, brain, and body are far more profound, wild, and enduring than we have been led to believe. She reveals the dangerous consequences of our neglect of the maternal experience, and interrogates the patriarchal and capitalist systems that have created the untenable situation mothers face today. Here is an urgent examination of the modern institution of motherhood that seeks to unshackle all parents from oppressive social norms. As it deepens our understanding of matrescence, it raises vital questions about motherhood and femininity; interdependence and individual identity; and our relationships with each other and the world.