The birth book that feels like having a doula in your pocket.
Most pregnancy books fall into two categories: dense medical textbooks that read like instruction manuals, or fear-based bestsellers that leave you more anxious than informed. This book is neither.
Madeline LeBlanc is a registered nurse, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, birth doula trainer, ICEA faculty member, and nursing professor who has supported hundreds of families through pregnancy, birth, and the messy, beautiful weeks that follow. She wrote this book because every family deserves access to the kind of honest, evidence-based support that has historically only been available to people who could afford it. No jargon. No judgment. No leaving you with more questions than answers. Just real talk that helps you make real decisions, across every background, birth setting, and circumstance, because good birth support does not have a single face.
Throughout the book you will follow Jasmine, a first-time mom navigating every fear, question, and unexpected twist that pregnancy brings. Her story unfolds chapter by chapter alongside yours, from the first positive test through those hazy postpartum weeks, showing you what this whole experience really looks like when someone is honest about it. Her questions become your questions. Her journey becomes your roadmap.
The book takes you through the entire experience in three parts. Pregnancy first, including how your body changes, what warning signs to never ignore, how to choose the right provider, and what a doula actually does and why you might want one. Then birth, covering every stage of labor, comfort measures that work, honest explanations of pain management and interventions, everything about cesarean birth, and why the Golden Hour deserves to be protected. Then postpartum, the part most books rush through, including what your body actually goes through after birth, how to recognize when emotions go beyond baby blues, how to take care of yourself while taking care of everyone else, and a full chapter written specifically for partners because they need real guidance too. Woven throughout is the B.R.A.I.N. framework, a practical decision-making tool that helps you evaluate your options and advocate for yourself no matter what room you are sitting in.
This book is for first-time parents who want real information without the overwhelm. It is for partners who want to actually understand what is happening. It is for nursing students and doulas in training who want a resource that speaks to the whole person, not just the clinical picture. It is for anyone who has read three other pregnancy books and still has questions, or anyone shopping for a baby shower gift who wants to give something that will actually get used. It is for every family who deserves to walk into their birth feeling prepared, supported, and seen.
Your body already knows how to do this. This book just helps you trust it, ask the right questions, and navigate the system with confidence. Plus, you will finally understand what a mucus plug is and why everyone keeps talking about it.

Approved for 16 ICEA Continuing Education Units toward Doula Recertification.

When a family loses a baby, the clinical team knows how to manage the medical crisis. Almost no one knows how to manage what comes after. Bereavement Doula: A Comprehensive Guide to Supporting Families Through Pregnancy and Infant Loss fills that gap.
Written by Madeline LeBlanc (MHA, RN, IBCLC, IAT-BD), labor and delivery nurse, founder of Mary's Hands Network, and one of Louisiana's leading voices in evidence-based doula training, this is the most comprehensive bereavement doula training resource available. Every framework, protocol, and clinical communication approach was developed in collaboration with an expert review panel that includes morticians, obstetricians, social workers, and labor and delivery and NICU nurses. The result is a resource that reflects the full reality of pregnancy and infant loss across every setting where it occurs, the delivery room, the NICU, the funeral home, and the months that follow.

This is not a book about what to say. It's a book about becoming trained well enough that the right response becomes instinct.
Madeline LeBlanc has trained over 254 doulas and supported more than 450 families across Louisiana through Mary's Hands Network, achieving a 22.1% cesarean rate, compared with Louisiana's state average of 36.1%, outcomes that reflect what happens when support is treated as a clinical discipline, not an afterthought. This book is for doulas seeking bereavement specialization, labor and delivery, and NICU nurses wanting to expand their practice, social workers supporting families through pregnancy and infant loss, and anyone called to show up with skill, not just sympathy, for families navigating one of the most devastating experiences of human life.

You're choosing sacred, harrowing, heartbreaking, beautiful work. This workbook is for anyone willing to walk alongside families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss—whether it's an early miscarriage, a stillbirth, a neonatal death, or a termination for medical reasons. You won't find sanitized language that distances you from the reality of loss. You won't get platitudes about everything happening for a reason. Instead, you'll get honest, practical, evidence-based training from someone who's held hundreds of babies who never took a breath and sat with countless families saying goodbye far too early. Through eight chapters and five composite family stories, you'll learn the medical reality families face, how to support them through impossible decisions, what words actually help, how to honor their babies, and how to care for yourself in work that will change you. This is training in presence, not therapy. In witnessing, not fixing. In the profound difference that showing up with compassion and clarity makes in someone's darkest moments. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be present. This workbook will teach you how.

Pocket Doula delivers 50 practical, evidence-informed comfort strategies to help families prepare for labor and birth. Compact and easy to use, this guide empowers partners, friends, and loved ones to actively support the birthing person with confidence and clarity. Use it as a conversation starter with your provider, a planning tool for your support team, and a reminder that informed, compassionate care makes a difference. Discover more about community-based doula care at maryshandsnetwork.org.

The EVERYTHING Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Postpartum

Take a breath. You're not alone in this.

Whether you're staring at a positive test in disbelief, counting down the weeks until your due date, or somewhere in the messy middle of it all, this book is for you. The EVERYTHING Guide is the supportive, knowledgeable friend you wish you had by your side, walking you through every stage from pregnancy through the fourth trimester and beyond.

This isn't a clinical textbook that talks at you. It's a warm, honest guide that talks with you—covering what you actually need to know in language you can understand. You'll follow Jasmine, a first-time mom navigating her own fears and triumphs, whose story weaves through each chapter as a reminder that whatever you're feeling, you're not the first and you won't be the last.

Inside this comprehensive guide, you'll find:

- How your body changes during pregnancy and what's actually normal
- Warning signs that need attention and when to call your provider
- What really happens during labor—all the stages, explained
- Pain management options from breathing techniques to epidurals
- The truth about interventions, inductions, and cesarean birth
- Your first hour with baby and why it matters
- Physical recovery after birth (the stuff no one tells you)
- Emotional health, baby blues, and when to get help
- Dedicated chapters for partners and support people
- 100+ glossary terms, trusted resources, and a complete index

Written by a certified birth doula and childbirth educator, this evidence-based guide is designed to inform and empower—never to judge. Whether you're planning an unmedicated birth or a scheduled cesarean, whether you have a village or you're building one from scratch, this book meets you exactly where you are.

Your pregnancy. Your birth. Your postpartum. Your way.

You've got this, and now you've got the guide to prove it.