Previously Publishe Review: From the Hips, Rebecca Odes

As someone not particularly interested in pain and hospitals (or even children) I read this book more for reassurance than any other reason. For that purpose, I'd suggest that others are better off with a grade-school textbook which glosses over all the unpleasant bits.

There are scads of comments from pregnant or recently pregnant women splashed about the book discussing everything from conception to sore nipples, and amazingly enough, most of them were negative.

I can't imagine why, in this modern, image-overconscious, sexually laden, instant-gratification, pain-killing society, women would feel negatively about their bodies distending, erratic sex-drives, 9-month "baby vessel" status, followed by a painful labor process (where 10 hours is still considered short...) and then a loss of personal space, sex-drive (again) and sore nipples. Oh, wait. Yes I can imagine. Ouch. Yikes.

All that scary commentary aside, this book really is useful. There is an amazing wealth and variety of information presented in a strangely bias-free (mostly) environment, usually with comments from parents who tried it, with varying results.

Nausea remedies, natural birth options, water-bith discussions, hospital information, introduction to different epidural styles, the use (and general uselessness) of a "birth planning" document - its all in there.

Also in there are reams of info on new babies - you know - the ultimate wrinkly shrieking goal of the whole enterprise. Yeah. There's the requisite breast-feeding vs formula debate, a how to get your baby to sleep section (co-sleeping, SIDS, how many hours of sleep mom will lose (300 in the first year) whether they should be on a sleep-schedule...) and many references to the necessities of work, daycares, nannys, au pairs, and all that "alloparenting" information needed in this 2-income society of ours. Strangely, since all of this is so culturally "hot-button," treated in an amazingly unbiased manner.

So, all in all, despite me being a wimp and easily traumatized by their candid treatment of it all, I can see that this is an amazing resource, and one I'll be glad for when (if) I ever take that plunge.