Before I became pregnant, books on pregnancy seemed like such a reasonable purchase. I’m a big believer in books, as well as a big believer in educating yourself on topics that you’re unfamiliar with. As this is my first pregnancy, a book or three seemed like a great idea.
Now that I’m starting in on my 19th week, I am more inclined towards the belief that some books on pregnancy would better serve the world as doorstops, shims for leveling furniture and coasters. This is not because they don’t have any useful information in them. This is because they have too much information that can wreak havoc with the susceptible and paranoid pregnancy brain.
They talk about alcohol, soft cheese, sushi, mercury, household cleaners, cat boxes, too much exercise, not enough exercise, dehydration, deli meats, raw eggs, age, genetic predisposition, random diseases and on and on and on until you’re wondering if something you did in your early 20′s is now going to affect your unborn child over a decade after the fact. Or worse, you do everything right (ie. according to the book) and there’s still a problem because of factors outside your control.
And the best part? After all of that? They tell you stress is bad for the baby so don’t worry. Well I wasn’t worried…until you told me about the thousands of things that could go wrong with my child. And all of these before he or she even leaves the womb. (I won’t even start on the stuff that can go wrong after the fact.)
This is not to say that you shouldn’t educate yourself when you’re pregnant…you definitely should. Part of being a responsible adult is knowing what can be harmful to your baby, avoiding potential risks and being prepared for problems. But seriously…take the books with a grain of salt and talk to your doctor if you’re really worried about anything. That’s what they’re there for, after all.
In the end, it’s all about probabilities and potential risks. None of the bad things are guaranteed to happen and, in my opinion, if you spend all of your time reading and worrying about the things that could go wrong, you won’t be able to take pleasure in all of the things that go right.
