The world is not in need of more pregnancy guides, yet they keep publishing them. The latest gives us a “millennial’s” take on the classic questions and choices of every pregnancy. Leslie Schrock mixes it up by breaking the pregnancy not just into different trimesters, but different months. She includes everything you could possibly need to look up in BUMPIN’. For that reason alone, it may be a good purchase for your first pregnancy—especially if you want to avoid the abyss of the internet. Even though everything is in the book, you will still look up it again. Trust me.
While the guide includes all the standard medical questions and terms from fertility all the way to the fourth trimester (yes, newborns and recovery), it also includes some great tips on what to buy or not to buy and a good recipe for padsicles.
One thing I love about BUMPIN’ is that obvious lack of BS. I could hug Ms. Schrock just for that. BUMPIN’ has no talk of pain-free or even orgasmic childbirth or even the glamorization of so called “natural childbirth.” Yes, the internet is full of women that claim their birth was easy and not too painful—but are they real humans? Maybe they are trolls from anti-feminist internet farms? I have no idea, but I do know there is nothing glamorous or painless about breaking your body apart. If you successfully had an unmedicated birth, good for you. You are tougher than the rest of us, but don’t preach.
Similarly, I love the author’s clarity around the birth plan. There is no plan, only hopes and dreams. I can plan to win the lottery, but it makes no difference to the man selling me the ticket or the numbers already printed there.
If you want to pregnancy guide to hold in your hand and cover everything like a friend might – this is your book.
*We received a review copy of this book and the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. We still encourage you to buy from your local bookstore instead if you can.