A review for MotherTalk

The Pregnancy Journal by A. Christine Harris

I received this book in the mail a couple of weeks ago and set it aside: This won’t take long to review… a few thought-provoking paragraphs about pregnancy amid lots of empty space.

Yesterday I opened it. Oops. There’s tons of great info in this book.

This is a day-by-day guide to pregnancy with space for journaling every week or so (and a larger writing space every month), which sets a much more realistic expectation for pregnancy journaling than I was prepared to find in this book. The back of the book has an extended journaling section for “Labor and Delivery Details.” The format is perfect for people who want to record a few pertinent details but don’t have the time or inclination to get into extended meditations on pregnancy. (If that’s your thing, then get this book and supplement it with a good spiral notebook.)

Each day includes a short piece about the baby’s development, a paragraph about changes in the mother, tidbits about nutrition, childbirth in other cultures, and fascinating pregnancy trivia (do you know how fast blood travels through the umbilical cord?*). Towards the end of the journal, parenting tips are sprinkled throughout. The book has great information in it but is also easy and soothing to read. This would be a good choice for women who are anticipating pregnancy and childbirth to be profound rites of passage, but who might find Birthing from Within (a book I adored) a little too woo-woo.

The challenge with books organized chronologically is that the reader might be wondering about a topic in week 8 that the author doesn’t address until week 15. Thankfully The Pregnancy Journal has a good index.

*Four miles an hour.