Sunday 8 August 2010

Week 7

Last Christmas, Dan's mother put under the tree a pregnancy book for me YOU: Having a Baby by Dr. Oz (you know, the Oprah doctor that seems to talk about poop every time he went on her show). This BIG book is supposed to be my way to a happy and healthy pregnancy! So I started to learn about the miracle of making a baby.

I know that pregnancy is much more complex than the "birds and the bees" and that it is very important to have as much knowledge as possible on the subject...'cause you know, knowledge is power! However, with great knowledge (DNA, placenta formation, invasive tests, toxins in food, etc.) comes great fears and many "what if" that could ruin the life of my future child.

And then I looked at the many animals that we have this weekend (we have Mr. Poon - cat and Brian - dog but we are also babysitting Molly - dog, Criquette - cat and Maurice - fish) and I asked myself if I should give more power to my natural instincts, my "animal" instincts and forget a bit about the many (many many many) books that I want to read?

And I'm pretty sure that cats don't perform perineum massage!

9 comments:

Lin said...

It's important to have faith that your body knows what to do throughout the entire pregnancy. And can I say - good for you for sharing your good news so early. A baby is a baby is a baby - no matter how early! It's great that this baby is being celebrated regardless of what lies ahead in the future. Best wishes!

Ali said...

I read it all first time round - pregnancy books and baby books became a bit of an obsession. Did it prepare me? Well, I wasn't scared of giving birth, which was good. But really, it didn't. I don't know that anything can. So read if you want, and if not, toss the book without guilt. There's a lot to be said for going with your gut.

Elizabeth said...

1. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is good. Knowledge makes us feel like we know what is going on.
2. There is only so much knowledge a pregnant brain can store (and remember to save twice as much storage as you used to need for things like...everything...because baby brain is for real)
3. Women have been doing this...forever...and the body will naturally do what it will whether you have a name for it or not.
4 a) Whatever the books tell you to expect...it won't happen that way. And that will be a-ok.
4 b) "Massage" makes that sound so much more pleasant than the reality and I don't think it helps (but that's just me..and we've established that aren't any rules right?)

*unrelated, but am I wierding you out by commenting on your baby news. I've always been such a fan of your crafty and Flickr material that I guess the excitement is contagious. But then it occured to me that maybe I've crossed over into stalker ville. Honestly, tell me to shut the door behind me if I'm intruding.

Elizabeth said...

1. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is good. Knowledge makes us feel like we know what is going on.
2. There is only so much knowledge a pregnant brain can store (and remember to save twice as much storage as you used to need for things like...everything...because baby brain is for real)
3. Women have been doing this...forever...and the body will naturally do what it will whether you have a name for it or not.
4 a) Whatever the books tell you to expect...it won't happen that way. And that will be a-ok.
4 b) "Massage" makes that sound so much more pleasant than the reality and I don't think it helps (but that's just me..and we've established that aren't any rules right?)

*unrelated, but am I wierding you out by commenting on your baby news. I've always been such a fan of your crafty and Flickr material that I guess the excitement is contagious. But then it occured to me that maybe I've crossed over into stalker ville. Honestly, tell me to shut the door behind me if I'm intruding.

Pauper said...

I think it's good to prepare yourself and be well-versed with having a good general idea of how to have a healthy pregnancy and what labour and delivery will be like, but at the same time, I think you can read too much and really frighten yourself! In the beginning I read many, varying books but came to the realization that you can't prepare yourself for every eventuality.. In the end, we sort of just fell into a 'go-with-the-flow' mentality and let things happen as they would. You sound like you're already doing a great job nurturing your little baby! Best wishes!

Jennifer said...

Ummm, Claudia --- there must be something in the water. Everyone is expecting! I'm currently about to hit week 26. It's been a rollercoaster road for sure.

I have one pregnancy book, but for the most part I just go with "everything in moderation" as my only rule. If you get too deep into things, the world becomes a very very scary place where absolutely everything will give your offspring antlers lol

UK lass in US said...

Congratulations!

I don't know if pregnancy guide books help or not - I used to use one that I was given to check if I was having some weird symptom, but that was about all. It's nice to have reassurance that so and so ache and pain is normal. I didn't want to read on and find out about 'what ifs', though.

Having said that, I had an unheard of test result, so spent most of my first pregnancy having almost daily blood tests, ultrasounds plus an MRI. Well, my son was born absolutely fine and normal. My mum loves to say that, without all the testing that they do these days, they would have had no inkling that it was anything but a normal pregnancy and I could have skipped all that testing and worry...

Mon Petit Lapin said...

How is the baby coming along Claudia? hope your well x

Liane said...

yes, trust your natural instinct. i've had 3...and with the first, when everything is an "unknown",there is a tendency to not realize how your body is made for this and it generally knows what to do. also, medical care is pretty good and most pregnancies go perfectly normally.
trust yourself. when i finally had this realization and felt like i was the expert....by nature, it went more smoothly.
you look beautiful!