Today, single parents head nearly 30 percent of all families in the United States. There are many ways to raise healthy, happy children outside the "traditional" two-parent family structure, but most pregnancy guides don't address the special needs and concerns - medical, social, financial, emotional, and legal - of single moms.

Two of Us Make a World will guide you through the many challenges single mothers face - whether you are unmarried, divorced, or widowed; employed or unemployed; gay or straight; in a relationship with your baby's father or without ties. With clarity and compassion, it tackles such important issues as enlisting family support for your decision, negotiating a fair child-support and custody agreement, dealing with discrimination and anxiety at work, planning a secure financial future for two, and establishing a support network - including community groups, health professionals, and child-care services - that will nurture both you and your child. Practical advice from experts in nutrition, finance, and family law, as well as testimony from more than a hundred women who've been there, makes this a uniquely usable and reassuring volume that no single mother can do without.