If you are pregnant, you may have noticed that while people are delighted for you, they are also eager to offer you their condolences for the life you are apparently about to lose. Charming words of advice like “enjoy it now” abound, seeming to suggest that “it” means your freedom and the urgings for you to “enjoy it now” mean that said freedom is about to be taken from you, forever.
We suggest you take the phrase a little more literally and actually “enjoy it now”. Luxuriate in your pregnancy. It is a special time. A time when going to bed at three in the afternoon with a box of chocolates is not only totally acceptable, but practically encouraged. A time when you can eat your face off with not a trace of guilt. A time to indulge yourself. And just so you know this really only applies to the first pregnancy, subsequent pregnancies are a different animal altogether, requiring a totally different list detailing things like the Top 10 Places to Hide from a Toddler for a Nap While Expecting.
Reading (in bed with chocolates) was one of the things I loved doing when I was pregnant so here is my booklist for the expectant mother:
Top 10 Books to Read When You’re Pregnant
1 The Instruction Manual
What to Expect when You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff
I was obsessed with this book when I was expecting. It’s an encyclopaedia of all a pregnant woman needs to know about gestating. If something’s happening to you that stumps this book then you know it’s weird. Even at 32 weeks when a creamy substance leaked from my nipples and took The Man by surprise during a romantic interlude, the book knew what to do: back away from the boobies.
2 The Realist
Making Babies by Anne Enright
When I first discovered I was pregnant I was pretty terrified. I just didn’t think I was cut out to be anyone’s mother. Then I read this book and felt way better. Enright’s initial reaction to suspecting she’s pregnant is to get drunk. “Enright’s kids are doing alright” I told myself. The book beautifully explores the essential absurdity of parenthood and taught me that I can be a mother and still be myself. Thanks Anne.
3 The Romantic
Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother by Beth Ann Fennelly
One of my slightly older than me, infinitely wiser than me friends gave me this one. It is a collection of letters written by a college professor to a former student who is expecting, and it has a nice level of romanticism for when the hormones are raging, and you’re feeling emosh.
4 The Pragmatist
How to Really be a Mother by Emily Hourican
This is one Irish mother’s overview of the first 10 years of parenthood which may be quite a lot to swallow when the child isn’t even out yet but I loved reading it for Hourican’s practical and funny musings on family life. While at times it is terrifying (there are some things best kept hidden from the pregnant, like the fact that you may never go to the bathroom alone again) it is also very, very funny. In one anecdote, Hourican brilliantly describes arguing with her toddler son when he wanted to be fed on the DART (she was still nursing him). Hourican gave me hope that this parenting thing was going to be fun.
5 The Role Model
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
What to say on this one… if you haven’t read it? Read it. If you have? Take advantage of the bed and the bump and read it again. This woman needs a national holiday in her honor.
6 The Man’s Perspective
The Best a Man Can Get by John O’Farrell
The protagonist of this novel leads a double life. He is a husband and father who frequently lies to his wife about work and travel to escape to a grotty flat a few miles away where he indulges in all the activities people with young children can only dream about, namely lying in bed and watching TV. It’s brilliant.
7 The Mother’s Perspective
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The story of four generations of mothers and daughters, such a beautiful book.
8 The Family Saga
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
This sprawling tale of two families will get you all excited about making people of your own.
9 The Nostalgia Trip
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Pregnancy is the best time for rereading an old favourite. It vibes nicely with that all-over warm fuzzy feeling you’re experiencing, in between anxiety attacks about giving birth and how the hell you’re going to cope after the baby arrives. I love TKAMB so much that in my post-birth morphine haze I wanted to name the child Boo Radley.
10 The Project Book
Harry Potter 1-7 by JK Rowling
I would like to say that my ‘project’ was something worthy like War and Peace but actually I just reread the entire Harry Potter series. It was quite the undertaking.
And finally an IMPORTANT NOTICE – Do not under any circumstances read THIS BOOK during pregnancy:
