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There's No Manual

Honest and Gory Wisdom About Having a Baby

Author Beth Newell, Jacqueline Ann May

Paperback

$20.00 US

Penguin Adult HC/TR | Avery

7.07"W x 9.03"H x 0.7"D | 21 oz | 24 per carton

On sale Feb 04, 2020 | 272 Pages | 9780525534358

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The info-packed, truth-telling guide expectant and new mothers have been screaming into their pillows for.

So you're making a person...and no one will stop telling you what to do about it. Your friends, your neighbors, your Uber driver--everyone is giving you unsolicited advice, to which Beth and Jackie say: F*ck advice! There's no "right" way to be pregnant or a new mom, only stretchy pants to be worn and choices to be made.

This illustrated guide asks and answers all the essential questions that pop up from the first trimester to the fourth, such as: Should I have an unmedicated or drugged-out birth? (Up to you!) Will I have time to pee as a new mom? (Maybe!) How do I avoid hating my partner? (That's a little more complicated.) Funny, feminist, and, above all, pro-mom, this book is an actually useful baby shower gift.

"Most books on pregnancy seem to be written by people whose other profession is cross-stitching inspirational phrases on pillows. This book is not that. It is, for lack of a better term, a chill hang."
--Rachel Bloom

"If you are looking to laugh and learn a ton, read this book! I learned way more about pregnancy and parenthood from this book than from The Da Vinci Code, no offense to Dan Brown!”
–-Megan Amram

"This sharp, hilarious and 1000% relatable book gets to the heart of all Pregnancy Mysteries you actually need to know about, like how to handle pregnancy sex (lean into the oral), how to respond to strangers who want to know if the baby was "an oopsie," and exactly which drugs to ask for and when (all of them, immediately, if you're me, but to each their own). My personal favorite section: how to plan the perfect birth for your baby to ruin...because babies don't give a fuuuuuck about birth plans. #Truth."
–- Jordan Reid, author of The Big Fat Activity Book for Pregnant People

Beth Newell is the co-founder and editor of the satirical women's magazine, Reductress. She co-authored the book How to Win at Feminism and co-created "The Reductress Minute" and "Mouth Time" podcasts. Her work has been featured in The Onion, McSweeney's, and The New Yorker. She hosts the podcast "We Knows Parenting" with her husband, Peter McNerney. Beth was named by Rolling Stone as one of the "50 Funniest People Right Now" and as one of Time magazine's "23 People Who Are Changing What's Funny Right Now." She gave birth to her daughter in the back seat of a Honda Fit.

Jackie Ann Ruiz is a writer, illustrator, mother, and performer. A native New Yorker, she co-hosted the podcast "Best Friends, However" with Eliot Glazer and performed at BAM and UCB before relocating to Richmond, Virginia with her family. Jackie is a resident artist at Studio Two Three in Richmond, where she works on commissioned illustration projects and is developing a coloring book for disgruntled women. Once an editor for a men's lifestyle website covering topics such as BLUE BALLS REALLY IS A THING, Jackie is now an out-of-the-closet feminist who is thrilled to be using her platform as a writer and illustrator to describe the harrowing and transcendent experience of pregnancy, labor, and motherhood, which changed her life in the best and worst of ways. Plus, she got to draw a lot of vaginas on her iPad. By the time you read this, she will be happily divorced.

Beth Newell View titles by Beth Newell

Jacqueline Ann May View titles by Jacqueline Ann May