As you all know, I teach childbirth classes in The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth®. Even though I’ve only given birth once and am not pregnant (just wanted to get that out there in case people thought I was sending a subliminal message), I try to keep up with new books about pregnancy and birth and parenting. So when I got an e-mail from MomCentral asking for reviewers for The Hot Mom to be Handbook, I immediately asked to be part of the book tour!
I started the book on Wednesday and finished it by Friday afternoon—it was a quick, light-hearted read about pregnancy. The book discussed what you might be feeling during each month of pregnancy, from even before you’re necessarily sure that you’re expecting to when you are two weeks past your due date and everyone’s asking “Are you still pregnant?”
The book was written by a blogger and member of the Hot Moms Club, Jessica Denay. I had not been to the website before reading the book but my interest was piqued and I checked it out after finishing. I found a lot of different sources: sections for communities of pregnant moms, articles, blogs, etc. It looks like a really nice resource for both expecting moms and dads!
The book was set up in a nice modular format, with short sections and interesting headings. I remember very well the difficulty that I had concentrating while pregnant (in fact, the book talks about “baby brain”!) and think that this setup is probably great to help take in little bits of information at a time, without being overwhelming. The sections for “Bump on a Budget” and “Eco-Minded Mama” sprinkled throughout each chapter were fantastic! You all know how much I enjoy Earth-friendly things and as a mom who had her first baby while in graduate school, I distinctly remember how scary it was at times to think about affording all the things that a baby needs!
I also really enjoyed the little blurbs and quotes from famous people as well as members of the Hot Moms Club website. I’m a big fan of collaborative learning and it’s always great to have more experiences than just personal ones when a book is meant to appeal to a large group of people.
There was a section about how important it is to keep your relationship a priority and since this is something I talk about in classes, I really appreciated it being included in the book. Having a baby can definitely be overwhelming and puts new pressures on both parents but if you are prepared and have a plan in mind for how to keep the two of you a focus, it’s much easier.
Overall, the book was an enjoyable read about issues that expecting moms may be experiencing. It would be a fun book to read during pregnancy, especially if you got it at the beginning and read each chapter as you got to that month of pregnancy!
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I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of HarperCollins and received a copy of The Hot Mom to Be Handbook to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.
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2 comments:
I'd love some ideas on keeping a focus on your relationship. That is something we have had a lot of issues with. I'm still a little freaked out about leaving my little one with anyone.
I can completely understand that! We didn't leave Patrick, other than daycare (which, admittedly, was about 5 hours a day), for well over the first year. Actually, we did have grandparents watch him but since they live so far away, that was only once or twice.
What we did was a couple of things. When he was in daycare and our schedules were somewhat flexible, we would meet for lunch if Jason was close to my school. That wasn't often but it was like a special treat when it happened.
The more important part was the day-to-day part. As soon as Patrick started to go to bed at a regular time (I think that was around 3-4 months old), we made sure that we had some time for just ourselves at least a couple of times a week. A lot of nights we would put him to bed and just eat dinner together. Other nights, we'd sit and talk, play chess or other games, watch a movie, whatever. But just having Patrick (and now Melkamu) have set and dedicated bedtimes that are hours before we go to bed helps us have some time.
We don't do it as often now but it's always fun. Last night, for example, we got the kids in bed and watched a movie. It's hard to keep a relationship strong when you don't have the time for each other, and it's easy to lose that focus when you have kids!
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