Lazy lazy

I'm reading another pregnancy book for the pure and simple reason that I find it difficult to give attention to anything that isn't baby or dissertation related.

This one is entitled "The Lazy Girl's Guide to a Blissful Pregnancy" by Anita Naik. I paid £4.99 for the kindle version and so I am determined to finish it. But grr indeed. It is annoying me something rotten with its vague generalisations and frankly patronising attitude. The Lazy Girl in question would appear to be the author as this is a very superficial book. It doesn't cut to the essence of pregnancy or whatever it claims, it simply misses out most of what other books have and sticks to the simple.

The budgeting section had me prickling with riled indignation. Hints to save money by looking at a better credit card or consolidating loans. Ooh, really, is that possible? And the case study of the lady who saved £300 a month by looking at what they spent on eating out and take away.

THREE HUNDRED POUNDS A MONTH??? that's £10 every single day of the month (because it was June, ok, for ease of maths). That's most of my wages. I mean, really, if you have that sort of money to spend on eating out in the first place, you probably don't have serious money worries. £300????

Oh, and of course, breast feeding is free. Yada yada. Let's hope nobody wastes cash hand over fist by being unable to breast-feed, the spendthrifts.

I have just read the section on birth. Which is a joyous and straightforward process that all women do and the baby more or less pops out of you. Having done antenatal classes you'll be prepared and supple and all will be simply marvellous. And onto the newborn.

Hold on. Aren't there other less simple births? Intervention? Drugs? Surgery? No? Really, no?

So, having had few symptoms other than nausea and a bit of tiredness in the third trimester, we've popped out the baby and naturally automatically shone at breast feeding immediately. What awaits us with our newborn?

I can hardly wait to find out.

Other people's words

Weeks: 23+3.
Time remaining: 15+6

Ooh! That looks better written down. I'm so on the home run.

I'm a bit appalled by my own spelling/grammar/writing at the moment so I'm reading more by people who can write.

More pregnancy books: I love Christine Hill. I got a sampler kind of thing free with a baby mag earlier in the year which has the "best of" her pregnancy and parenting books. Her style is fab, just my cup of tea, not preachy and you-must-be-a-natural-mother-or-you-will-be-cursed at all. I have the sample of her pregnancy book on my Kindle to try and ascertain how samply the sampler is and I think the netmums book may be returned post haste to the library and swapped for Christine Hill's previous edition. Well, I'm past the scary bit and past halfway, I can't really justify buying a pregnancy book.

I pretty much know what happens from here on in: regular urine and blood pressure tests, chat with consultants at 34 weeks and then at 39 weeks I'll have a little girl taken out from my tummy.

Meantime I'll get vaster, steckier and less able to move and will spend from mid august on in a state of readiness expecting to go into labour at any moment.

But I'd still like to see what Ms Hill says about it...

As I haven't had the baby yet, I feel completely justified in new baby user guides. I already have Gina Ford, Dr Spock, the Baby Whisperer, the hideously-not-me Dr Sears, my favourite Kaz Cooke, the Baby Whisperer and the charmingly old fashioned Miriam Stoppard. All 6+ years old. On order is a used copy of Christine Hill's A Perfect Start, alongside the updated Kaz Cooke.

I have been following the blog of the awe inspiringly lovely Julia Boggio, which she has written during her pregnancy and birth of her first child. Unlike yours truly, she retained the ability to form proper sentences while cooking her baby. Today's blog is fabulous, not least because it reassures that disposable nappies aren't at all bad. Rather than stealing her words, I shall point to her blog at
icarriedawatermelon.co.uk

I'm a reader not a writer

9 months of reading fodder

I am reading my favourite pregnancy book again, having unearthed it in a decluttering session (nesting?). It is The Rough Guide to Pregnancy by Kaz Cooke and I think it is marvellous. It doesn't presume loads of cash, nor does it promote natural birth et al as the be all and end all of parenthood. My copy is a bit out of date with regards to maternity rights and what not as it is the 2001 edition, purchased a good two years before I ever attempted to become pregnant. Broody, moi? There is another updated edition from 2010 which I would wholeheartedly recommend.

This is informative and down to earth, as well as being an amusingly good read. It has a semi-fictional (names/backstories are fictional) diary throughout which reads like that of a normal girl, unlike the nauseating "Emma's diary" which mostly beggars disbelief that someone so wholesome managed to become impregnated in the first place.

For checking symptoms and alleviating concerns, there is no better than the oft mentioned What to Expect When You're Expecting. Any worry or curious symptom, it's in here, along with reassuring statistics as to the unlikelihood of any complication arising. There is an iPhone app that accompanies the book which is probably the best of the free apps for pregnancy, but it's a bit lacking in comparison to the book.

For straight facts, the Pregnancy Bible is invaluable, full of photos of stages and things that are of much fascination to a first time mother and much less so apparently to a second timer (a fact corroborated by other mums).

I have many other books but those are the "key" texts. Most of the others are woefully old fashioned (hello Miriam Stoppard), terrifying in their negativity or guilt inducing with their strong opinions on what is "best".

I have Netmums' "Your Pregnancy" out from the library and while useful, it expresses such statements as "If you decide, as some mums do, that's there's no way you want to breastfeed, or if you're in the tiny minority of mums for whom it's an impossibility (because of prior breast surgery, for example), then bottle-feeding will give your baby all the nutrients and calories he needs to thrive as long as you follow the the formula manufacturer's instruction to the letter and are scrupulous about hygiene".

Because clearly, if you are neglectful enough to "choose" not to breastfeed, you're obviously a bit slovenly about the whole thing. Breastfeeding mothers who express aren't reminded about hygiene. Nuff said.

Also "much as you probably hope and imagine you won't be one of the mums that ends up having a Caeserean delivery..."

You get the picture. I don't feel the need to be judged by a book.

I have the Mumsnet (I don't know the difference, no) guide on Kindle - oh how much easier to read without a bulky book to accommodate in my discomfort - and I found it more palatable but not really groundbreaking. If you have a kindle though, gets yourself this one. Other ones I've read on kindle have been rather HIDEOUS and wayyyyy too American. No offence to Americans in any way, but the whole pregnancy experience appears to be a different thing altogether, from the constant cervical prodding and 8 week dating scan to the very nature of US medical goings on. Issues such as "do you pay $800 dollars for an epidural?" are kind of alien.

I've definitely touched on books before. My memory isn't what it was and I've read a lot more since I mentioned it earlier on. Or maybe I just thought it before. I dunno, I don't REMEMBER things. I'm PREGNANT!!

Much later I'll think about baby user guides. I need new ones this time, obviously. I have Kaz Cooke's Kidwrangling, which is ace, but missing, and she's subsequently written (2009) the Rough Guide to Babies and Toddlers - an updated version of Kidwrangling I believe - so that's on the way. Come on, I resisted the updated version of the pregnancy one, I'm doing well! I'm a big fan of Rough Guides, I used to consult them in the (preparenthood) days when we had passports and travelled abroad.

Local holiday today, no school run, no work. Sooooo much better.