Hi there. Welcome to “I Preg,” my--you guessed it--pregnancy blog.
By the way, I’m well aware that the world doesn’t need another preggo chick inanely rambling on about her pregnancy. But I figured I’d start a blog anyway. For one thing, I happen to be pregnant, and I happen to like to write. But the real reason I wanted to start this is because I couldn’t really find any pregnancy writing online that resonates with me. While I am thrilled and excited to be having a baby, I am also kind of sarcastic (I named my blog after this, for example), and I just can’t relate to a lot of the ooey-gooey mommy stuff.
Whenever I google stuff about pregnancy, I seem to stumble upon two types of websites: What to Expect When You’re Expecting--or as I like to call it, “All the Reasons Your Baby Could Die--In Fact, Your Baby is Probably Dead Right Now.” And then there are the message boards. Oh, how I loathe message boards. There’s the whole flaming thing, which I never understood. But also, with pregnancy message boards, they seem to stoke your worst fears, even though they are often filled with totally bogus information (“My doctor said you can have a miscarriage from drinking two cups of coffee a day”).
Either that, or, if you’re like me, you just can’t relate to many of the women who post on them. I have lurked on many of these message boards, looking for like-minded broads, and while I’m sure they’re all perfectly nice women--and I truly wish them the best in their pregnancies and beyond--the posters seem to be the kind of chicks who name their kids things like Bradyn or Jadyn and already have their nurseries decorated before they’ve gotten past their first trimester. And really, there’s nothing wrong with that. It just ain’t my style.
Pregnancy books are even worse. I already mentioned how I feel about the detestable “What to Expect.” And then there are the psycho “you’re a terrible mother unless you breastfeed your child until he/she starts preschool/make their own baby food/spit your food in their mouths/quit your job and devote your entire life to slavishly indulging your child’s every whim”-type books.
One book that was recommended to me was “The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy.” This book is slightly better than most, but it’s still not quite right. For starters, it was written in 1995; I’m reading a really old edition and it’s probably been updated since then, but some of the information is hilariously outdated. She frequently extols the virtues of stirrup pants, for example.
Some aspects of the book are refreshing--such as her take on natural childbirth (which is basically, “You’re not going to get a trophy for turning down an Epidural, so why torture yourself?”) and exercise (which is basically “fuck it”). She also reveals lots of information that I had never read anywhere else--and while it’s terrifying, it is good to be prepared in advance (one example: you basically have to wear diapers for a couple days after giving birth because of all the shit that comes out of you. Like I said: gross, but good to know).
But there are other things about it that kind of bother me. She happens to be the wife of a really rich and successful music executive--and while I think this is unintentional on her part, her writing seems really targeted to women who have the financial option of staying home with her kids. There are also some passages that just struck me as being slightly sexist and regressive, not least of all her assumption that your OB/GYN is going to be a man. (Again, I’m reading an older version, so maybe she updated this stuff in later editions.)
Apparently she wrote her book because she didn’t feel like there was any pregnancy literature that resonated with her. I do think her book is an improvement over much of what’s out there, but for me, it’s still just not quite right. So this is where I’m going to vent my experience, and hopefully someone out there will read it and like it.
Some more about me, if you’re interested: I’m in my late 30s, happily married, I work as an editor for a trade magazine, and I live in Brooklyn. I’m 13 weeks pregnant. This is my second try after having a miscarriage earlier this year (more on that in a future entry). Above all: I’m psyched to be pregnant, I really am. It just may not show on my face all the time. Like I said, I’m a bit of a smartass; I’m just not the rah-rah type. If that sounds like you, I hope you will enjoy reading this.
By the way, I’m well aware that the world doesn’t need another preggo chick inanely rambling on about her pregnancy. But I figured I’d start a blog anyway. For one thing, I happen to be pregnant, and I happen to like to write. But the real reason I wanted to start this is because I couldn’t really find any pregnancy writing online that resonates with me. While I am thrilled and excited to be having a baby, I am also kind of sarcastic (I named my blog after this, for example), and I just can’t relate to a lot of the ooey-gooey mommy stuff.
Whenever I google stuff about pregnancy, I seem to stumble upon two types of websites: What to Expect When You’re Expecting--or as I like to call it, “All the Reasons Your Baby Could Die--In Fact, Your Baby is Probably Dead Right Now.” And then there are the message boards. Oh, how I loathe message boards. There’s the whole flaming thing, which I never understood. But also, with pregnancy message boards, they seem to stoke your worst fears, even though they are often filled with totally bogus information (“My doctor said you can have a miscarriage from drinking two cups of coffee a day”).
Either that, or, if you’re like me, you just can’t relate to many of the women who post on them. I have lurked on many of these message boards, looking for like-minded broads, and while I’m sure they’re all perfectly nice women--and I truly wish them the best in their pregnancies and beyond--the posters seem to be the kind of chicks who name their kids things like Bradyn or Jadyn and already have their nurseries decorated before they’ve gotten past their first trimester. And really, there’s nothing wrong with that. It just ain’t my style.
Pregnancy books are even worse. I already mentioned how I feel about the detestable “What to Expect.” And then there are the psycho “you’re a terrible mother unless you breastfeed your child until he/she starts preschool/make their own baby food/spit your food in their mouths/quit your job and devote your entire life to slavishly indulging your child’s every whim”-type books.
One book that was recommended to me was “The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy.” This book is slightly better than most, but it’s still not quite right. For starters, it was written in 1995; I’m reading a really old edition and it’s probably been updated since then, but some of the information is hilariously outdated. She frequently extols the virtues of stirrup pants, for example.
Some aspects of the book are refreshing--such as her take on natural childbirth (which is basically, “You’re not going to get a trophy for turning down an Epidural, so why torture yourself?”) and exercise (which is basically “fuck it”). She also reveals lots of information that I had never read anywhere else--and while it’s terrifying, it is good to be prepared in advance (one example: you basically have to wear diapers for a couple days after giving birth because of all the shit that comes out of you. Like I said: gross, but good to know).
But there are other things about it that kind of bother me. She happens to be the wife of a really rich and successful music executive--and while I think this is unintentional on her part, her writing seems really targeted to women who have the financial option of staying home with her kids. There are also some passages that just struck me as being slightly sexist and regressive, not least of all her assumption that your OB/GYN is going to be a man. (Again, I’m reading an older version, so maybe she updated this stuff in later editions.)
Apparently she wrote her book because she didn’t feel like there was any pregnancy literature that resonated with her. I do think her book is an improvement over much of what’s out there, but for me, it’s still just not quite right. So this is where I’m going to vent my experience, and hopefully someone out there will read it and like it.
Some more about me, if you’re interested: I’m in my late 30s, happily married, I work as an editor for a trade magazine, and I live in Brooklyn. I’m 13 weeks pregnant. This is my second try after having a miscarriage earlier this year (more on that in a future entry). Above all: I’m psyched to be pregnant, I really am. It just may not show on my face all the time. Like I said, I’m a bit of a smartass; I’m just not the rah-rah type. If that sounds like you, I hope you will enjoy reading this.
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