Pre-pregnancy / pregnancy books and resources

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LittleFlower

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Hey everyone, šŸŒ·

Iā€™m looking for pre-pregnancy and pregnancy books and resources that tell it from a Catholic (and if doctrinal okay, Christian) perspective.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

God bless,
LF
:pray:t2:
 
Do you mean books about pregnancy itself, or about ethical questions that might arise during pregnancy?
 
Either really! I like reading, and I like theological questions so it doesnā€™t have to be merely practical in nature. šŸ˜Š
 
I think pregnancy pretty much goes the same way regardless of your religion. Whatever you do though, donā€™t ask the internet!
 
I have to fess up to getting so bogged down in What to Expect When Youā€™re Expecting (which is an amazingly judgy book) that I wasnā€™t caught up by the time I had my first baby. I took a childbirth education class, but it was still like having to take the exam when youā€™ve been skipping the classā€¦(Big Girl was born at 37.5 weeks and I went to the hospital without a bag, because I wasnā€™t expecting to have the baby yet.)

I would say mostlyā€“get a doctor that you trust and like and be aware that he or she may not be the person delivering your baby.

I would suggest getting a list from your doctor of symptoms that warrant calling the office immediately.

Iā€™ve gotten a lot out of my doctorsā€™ nurse lines or emergency lines. That can be an amazing resource. With my last baby, I got a lot of good support over the phone while I was working on helping my jaundiced baby to get well.

Thereā€™s a LOT of bad advice about pregnancy in the mom community. I think itā€™s actually one of the worst things that women do to each otherā€“encouraging each other to ignore medical advice and do dangerous things.
 
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Not pregnant yet, just wanting resources! ā˜ŗļø

Thanks for steering me towards medical professionals. šŸŒ·
 
Xantippe said:
Thereā€™s a LOT of bad advice about pregnancy in the mom community. I think itā€™s actually one of the worst things that women do to each otherā€“encouraging each other to ignore medical advice and do dangerous things.
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Yeah I am currently about 30 weeks and thereā€™s so much misinformation out there. People who are like ā€œwell Iā€™m a mom, I just know whatā€™s right!ā€ No you donā€™t, theoretical mom. Youā€™re the same brain you where before, being a mom doesnā€™t give you better critical thinking or scientific skills.

Listen to your doctor. Get a good obgyn or highly qualified midwife to answer your questions when you get pregnant, because anyone can just say whatever they want in a book. And even if the person is ā€˜correctā€™ the answer may not apply to you.
 
Many of my friends have found these Documentaries of interest:

The Business of Being Born
More Business of Being Born
Pregnant In America
In Utero

This is a beautiful book:

A Catholic Motherā€™s Companion to Pregnancy: Walking with Mary from Conception to Baptism
 
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I have heard very good things about this book as well, but I havenā€™t read it myself yet.

Mom wisdom is real to SOME degree, but keep in mind (as I say this on the Internet) that lots of people have Internet access and not everybody is who they say they are, or even if they are, they might not be entirely truthful.

I only have one pregnancy resource book anymore and itā€™s the Mayo Clinicā€™s Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. The link is to a different, newer edition than mine, but I found it succinct, informative, and non-judgy.

I think itā€™s a good idea to start looking at midwives/OB practices, especially if you live in a large metro area. I suggest ā€œreal lifeā€ reviews rather than anonymous online ones to start. Knowing what realistic options you have before you even get pregnant will help you be happy with what you have, rather than being blindsided after the fact.
 
I remember reading some sort of ā€œwhat to expectā€¦ā€ book before my first and almost going into labor early laughing at some of the advice in there. It must have been an ā€œearlier editionā€ Iā€™d gotten second hand somewhere. Itā€™s been a while, but the part I laughed at the most was the list of things you should have packed for the hospital. My favorite item was a curling iron. How on earth could anyone ever manage to survive in the hospital without that? Iā€™m just picturing some extremely pregnant lady spending every morning waving her curling iron around frantically, trying to cool it down enough to stick in her bag just it case today is the day. The next item after curing iron was an extension cord. Donā€™t you hate it when the cord on your curling iron doesnā€™t reach your hospital bed? The last item on the list was cash for the cab ride home. What the heck?! Youā€™re telling me I just pushed out an infant and I canā€™t find anyone to give me a ride home? Even after I just curled my hair and everything!? Ironically missing from the list were several things that Iā€™m assuming were missing because they go without saying. (car seat, clothes for baby to go home in, pants with elastic waist band, antacid-because-the-nurse-wonā€™t-give-you-any-until-she-talks-to-the-doctor.)
 
My bag has gotten smaller with every baby. I also have less baby stuff. I ā€œknewā€ that I didnā€™t need everything the store said I did, but I still ended up with too much. I tend to give stuff away while still pregnant, when I get the box out and say, ā€œWhy on Earth did I keep this?!ā€
 
My What to Expect story involves the way they make it sound like theyā€™re doing you a huge favor to allow you to eat a bagel while pregnant (I bought my copy new in 2001 or so), but I like the curling iron story even more.
 
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When I had my second, I was informed by my baby-catching facility of choice that mothers were now allowed drinks and snacks in while in labor! It was literally the best news Iā€™d heard in months! I felt like I was getting a favor then! The hunger was the worst part of my first delivery. I didnā€™t get to eat anything for 28 hours and she was born during the world series. My family members kept coming in my room with wings and cookies and stuff and I was starving!
 
Allegra said:
When I had my second, I was informed by my baby-catching facility of choice that mothers were now allowed drinks and snacks in while in labor! It was literally the best news Iā€™d heard in months! I felt like I was getting a favor then! The hunger was the worst part of my first delivery. I didnā€™t get to eat anything for 28 hours and she was born during the world series. My family members kept coming in my room with wings and cookies and stuff and I was starving!
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I have a lot of reservations about them allowing snack in labor (because itā€™s apparently hazardous if they have to do anesthesia), but I have to mention that when my sister had her oldest in Germany, they served her goulash while she was in labor.

Your relatives deserve to spend their time in Purgatory hungry and next to a Mrs. Fields.
 
They probably donā€™t allow it if they believe anesthesia is likely. But people go into emergency surgery every day after eating a plate of nachos and asphyxiation is fairly rare.
 
At what point did having a baby turn into a spectator event where the spectators need to come fortified with popcorn and hot dogs?

Thatā€™s another consideration for the OPā€“figure out who you want with you and who you donā€™t, and how soon you want to see different people. (For example, mom a week after baby is born and MIL a month laterā€“if theyā€™re both long distance.)

But this is all down the road.
 
I donā€™t know, but I suspect it coincided with the advent of the ā€œbirthing suiteā€ which includes rocking chairs, two futons, a giant plazma TV with video games, and a hot tub that seats three! To be fair, no one except my husband and medical personnel were in there when I was actually in legit labor. I was on Pitocin for nearly 24hours before we began pushing and the ā€œbirthing suiteā€ was much nicer than the waiting room. I was also the first woman in three generations of my maternal family to have a vaginal delivery, so the family wasnā€™t really aware of how long theyā€™d be waiting. When my sisters have babies, they get a date, they show up, they hug and kiss, sis gets wheeled back, they go get coffee, they come back in and hour and get to hold a baby. I didnā€™t have nearly as many eager visitors with my second, since Iā€™m stubborn and have to keep doing things the ā€œhard wayā€.
 
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