What to Expect When She’s Expecting..
Men - If you’ve never thumbed through the book, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” you may still want to have children some day.
First off, we are not pregnant. I was at a used bookstore the other day and it was on the clearance shelf. Since the Mrs is out of town, I have plenty of time to kill reading deep discount books.
The book is helpfully divided into sections approximating what each month is like for the prospective mother. It goes into great detail explaining the hormone-induced mood swings, unique bathroom issues, etc.
If a man were to read this prior to conception, there’d be a lot fewer children coming into this world. Women can be difficult enough to deal with one week every month, but the descriptions in this book indicate that it’s a nine month ordeal. It’s enough to make you want to get your own do-it-yourself vasectomy kit.
July 19th, 2006 at 8:09 am
First of all, “Hi, Lou!” How come none of us see you, talk to you, etc.?
The WTE books *are* pretty awful. However, there are plenty of good books out there that don’t treat pregnancy/labor as diseases/disasters waiting to happen. (Now we just have to encourage OB’s to do the same. The c-section rate is so high, one might wonder how the human race survived for thousands of years without the possibility of that surgery.) Check out those by William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N. They give a more normal portrayal of these normal,natural expreiences in life. A list of things that can go wrong at each stage just encourages moms-and-dads-to-be to freak out. Also take a look at www.mothering.com. They have tons of articles and a discussion board. So, when/if parenthood starts looking like something you’d like to get into, check them out.