British childbirth books?

Gosh, I've been off of UKY forever now. Hi! Hope this is an OK board for this question.

I'm trying to get pregnant at the moment and finding that all of my books about pregnancy and birth are clearly written for an American audience. I don't want to get into the details here, as they could be upsetting to some, but I have some recent traumatic history in my family surrounding pregnancy, as well as a personal history of serious anxiety issues. I'm being very patient with myself, but I do need a bit of extra support and time to adjust to things while working toward a family of my own.

At the moment, I feel like I know plenty about birth, but very little about what to expect while giving birth in England. I do lots of reading online, but would love a book that includes the NHS, midwife care and postnatal visits, maternity rights in the UK, etc.  A book that suggests cots instead of cribs, you know? I'm fortunate that some of my British friends have had children since I arrived here and so I'm not totally in the dark, but reinforcements are always good, and it would be really nice to be able to mail a copy to my family back home when I'm ready to tell them and they are sure to be bombarding me with anxious questions about my care here.

Thanks for any advice or stories about things you personally found odd as an American but are actually normal here. And thanks for reading all this!

There's the NHS's: The Pregnancy Book, which I think might be good for you to start with.

There is also the Your pregnancy and baby guide from the NHS online that you may find helpful.

Also have you been on Mumsnet yet? There is a thriving forum on there that you may find quiet useful.

Ahhh!  I didn't know any of these, and they are excellent suggestions.  I've been on the NHS site a lot - in the baby sections and everything! I don't know how I missed these!  Thank you. I'll have lots of reading to do. 

have a look at babycentre online too- another online community/ forum place with birthclubs and other groups.  I find it really helpful

And the National Childbirth Trust! (NCT). They run antenatal classes and etc.
http://www.nct.org.uk/

The doyenne of childbirth in my day was Sheila Kitzinger. And apparently she's still active! http://www.sheilakitzinger.com/

The NCT has a pregnancy & birth book too, as well as mini booklets on their website.

The NHS tells you to read Emma's Diary: http://www.emmasdiary.co.uk/

And since you mentioned that you had some anxiety around pregnancy & birth, I really recommend Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. Written by an American midwife, but gives really empowering stories and I felt a lot calmer and stressed about labor after reading it.   

What I felt was most odd was the fact that I didn't see anyone about pregnancy until 12 weeks (most of my US friends had appts made the day they saw a +). They didn't do a pee test, or blood test to confirm. I was all: "I could just be making this up in my head- why aren't you testing me?!"

They never weigh me, as I started out at a healthy weight- they just don't seem to be as concerned about the gain- which seems very different than the US.

Also, IME you have to stay on top of your antenatal appointments. They are split between a midwife, GP and hospital and those three seem sh*t at communicating with one another. I missed a GP appointment because they forgot to mail me the appt date, and had to have 2 NT tests because the hospital wrote down my due date wrong- so I really had to step up scheduling & confirming appointments (YMMV).

My midwives are 100% awesome though and much more pro-natural pregnancy & childbirth care than you could expect in the US.

Book recs would really depend on what type of birth you're preparing for.... hypnobirth, homebirth, etc.  The most 'mainstream' UK pregnancy/childbirth book I found was: 'Expecting'. 

Enjoy your pregnancy!