Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Baby books

As I wrote yesterday, one of my goals for before the baby is born is to read, read, read.  Since I have absolutely NO experience with labor and delivery or taking care of a new baby, I thought I should maybe... you know... learn something.  Fortunately I know plenty of new moms who had plenty of suggestions for books to read, all of which were at our local library.  


Although these are just a subset of the approximately 2938473928 books about childbirth and baby care that are out there, my selection seems to range in perspective from the super all-natural "give birth in a flower garden/ nurse 'till he's 5" side to the "just knock me out for the birth/ this child is not going to (completely) run my life" side.

I think it's good to get some perspective on the range of options out there.  While I'd love to be perfectly flexible and do everything on my baby's timing, I'm going to have to go back to work when he's still pretty little, so he's going to have to get on some kind of schedule.  And while I'd love to be tough enough to give birth naturally, I know I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to pain, and - knowing absolutely nothing about it- I'm honestly kind of terrified of labor and delivery.

That's why, having just finished The Happiest Baby on the Block, I'm forcing myself to read Easy Labor, which is about options (natural and chemical) for dealing with labor pain.  I'm only on chapter 2, so I don't yet know if the title is an oxymoron or not.  Unless I drop the book on my face, at least the reading part won't be painful and require any stitches...

Just like the "preparing for baby" list I'm sure I'll add other books to this one.  I'm thinking that if I read both Mayim Bialik's book about attachment parenting and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother I'll have covered all my bases.

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