This book was given to me on the military base when I first found out I was pregnant. Along with other useless information like pamphlet on why it's not OK to get drunk while pregnant. I found the book in a stack of papers the other night.
Things It Addresses:
- lists important doctors numbers & visits
- week by week guide to your pregnancy, warning signs, weight and blood pressure
- space to fill out how your pregnancy is going
- delivery & how to feel after
- list of discomforts of pregnancy
- risks of drug use and STDs
- how to feel during pregnancy
- baby stuff to buy
Of course all to those things are useless to me. This book is for a healthy pregnancy. In fact the only to possible problems it addresses are Downs Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis. Not even the basic mention on gestational diabetes or preeclampsia. Nothing about miscarriage, stillbirth, or any of the other many many problems that could arise during pregnancy. It tell you how to feel during and after pregnancy, but not after you lose your baby. In fact "miscarriage", "pregnancy loss", etc. are not even mentioned in the glossary.
Things I Have Learned From the Book:
- drinking, smoking & using cocaine can cause miscarriage & stillbirth babies (the only mention of pregnancy loss)
- if you don't use any birth control for a whole year then you have a 85 in 100 chance of getting pregnant (my ovaries didn't get this memo)
- infertility doesn't seem to exist (because other than the page about twins it doesn't mention trying for a baby)
- I'm obese (according to the height vs. weight chart)
- my insurance won't pay for an abortion if the baby has a health defect and will pass away before or soon after birth (not sure how my D&C fits into that)
- I dislike this preggo guide and probably everyone that has a healthy pregnancy to go along with it
I'm a drug addict and fat cow, but don't worry I'll get knocked up again soon because I'm going to be irresponsible and not use any birth control (probably for the rest of my life).
This book looks like a good source of info and a way to track your pregnancy. I'll throw it in the baby bin in the basement with all the other pregnancy books for now. I need to order some infertility books, something that is more useful.
-Selbe
Isn't it interesting how there are books everywhere about healthy pregnancies, but you really have to seek out the ones for infertility?
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I definitely did not get the memo about the 85% chance of getting pregnant in a year. If we did, our bodies must have just decided to be in the 15% that doesn't want to give in.
Sounds like a nice fairytale-ish book for those fairytale pregnancies. On the other hand, my pregnancy guide (which I actually really like - well, LIKED past tense, pre-miscarriage) has a chapter on problems like infertility and miscarriage. As I was already pregnant when I bought it, I just skipped by those pages, la la la la la, nope, not going to have a miscarriage so never mind reading about all that! Joke's on me, I guess.
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