Felicia: Reading Material

Posted on 21/02/2014 in Pregnancy & Baby & Well-Being

There is plenty of reading material out there for pregnant women to read and in fact pregnant women probably read A LOT! I don’t think I’ve ever read so much before – or at least consciously done so.

But where do you start and what do you believe?

When I first found out I was pregnant, I started looking online – Google is like your new best friend, if it wasn’t already.

I visited sites like: babycenter, essential baby and huggies to read up about my current-week-of-the-moment on foetal development or whatever site that popped up when I searched for things like “9 weeks pregnant” etc. It’s so fun looking at how your little baby is growing from one piece of fruit to another...

There are also a lot of forums where mums-to-be will join one of the sites and ask their question to find out if what they’re going through is normal and/or if it’s happened to anyone else. You can read all about it if you relate and other mums-to-be will give their input to show their support as well – it’s nice for the support part, but I felt it’s always good to check it with your doctor – after all, they are the experts!

When I had my first obstetrician appointment, he gave me a folder with all the important info, like numbers to keep handy, pamphlets and guess what? MORE reading material! A4 pages on certain topics and even a reading list of books and specific websites. He did say to me that I should be careful of googling anything online as the info might be based on ‘forums’ rather than facts.

Two really good books that I was given (and were on my obstetrician’s reading list!) were “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” and “Up The Duff”, so these two books have predominantly been my go-to books and reading what’s happening to you and baby each month or each week. I particularly like Kaz Cooke’s “Up The Duff”, it’s week to week and a little bit comical – you’ll have a chuckle too when you read it.

Besides the typical ‘pregnancy’ book/website – I’m well aware of making sure my mental wellbeing is in a good place - I make sure I read blogs/inspirations online and do things (like meditation and yoga) that keep me happy, my stress levels and anxiety levels down. I also write a personal blog, Happy Being Felicia, on happiness and being which is also a consistent reminder to check in with my mental state of mind/being. Of course, it’s not always easy to try and control your thoughts, moods and feelings, but for me, I feel it’s important to be consciously aware of my moods whenever I can. After all, how I’m feeling affects baby – so I’ve read… so why not keep your moods high?! Always try to laugh each day, I say!