In Gloria's Place I can be a mom, a woman, a daughter, a wife, a writer, a customer, an observer and a person all at the same time, without judgement or remorse.
I would like to begin by apologizing for not completing reading this book. It isn't that it wasn't interesting. On the contrary it was very interesting and informative, but within the first week and a half or so of reading this book I discovered I was pregnant. That's right I'm pregnant and this and the nausea have kept me very distracted from finishing it.
The news of the pregnancy came as a shock to me. I was initially angry about it. The timing I thought was just terrible since I will be on my own while my husband is in Iraq. But between this book and a close call (a car accident I could have been in) I realized how much I want this baby.
This is my third pregnancy. Of my 3 pregnancies I've been pregnant twice while working outside the home. My first pregnancy while working was in a very high stressed environment and my boss was not the kindest man. Though he had children and a wife of his own he could have really cared less about anyone else's. My second pregnancy while working outside the home only requires part time work from me, has a daycare and is very family oriented. Still initially deciding to tell my boss and his boss I was pregnant was a bit scary. I was afraid they'd think I wouldn't stick around or not be able to stick around and therefore not continue helping me progress in my career as a fitness instructor.
So The Working Woman's Pregnancy Book came just at the nick of time for me. It was a lovely coincidence. It was this book that helped me realize that I was pregnant in the first place. It was then the book (chapter 8 and 9) and an accident I had on a stationary bike while at work, but not while working (I blame my clumsiness on the baby:)) that helped me decide to tell my immediate boss about a week and some after I found I was pregnant. I just went up to him and told him. It was surprisingly well taken and knowing my situation at home he even said, "If there is any way I can help, let me know". I thought it was very sweet and a much better reaction than the last time I was pregnant and told my previous jerk of a boss that I was pregnant.
What I liked best about his reaction and my boss’s boss's reaction (I told her a few days ago) was that neither of them looked disappointed or worried that they would need to find someone else. On the contrary they already have it all planned out for me. When the current pregnant fitness instructor comes back from maternity leave she'll cover for me until I come back just like they are planning on me covering for her while she's out on maternity leave. Yep! Another pregnant instructor is about ready to pop and she's still working. She doesn't participate in the exercise as much anymore but she still instructs very well. She even gave me some pointers to teach exercise without always having to participate. I considered myself to be blessed working here.
The approach to this book is wonderful. The author is right. There are very few pregnancy books out there that provided detailed information for mothers who work outside the home. I enjoyed the quotes from other mother's included in the book too. It helps to know what other mother's working outside the home must go through.
The chapter and section divisions are great. It makes it easy to skip around the book and find specifics you maybe looking for. For example I wanted a refresher on how early or late I could receive an epidural during labor if I were to choose to go this route again. I quickly found the information on page 342.
The pictures in the book are also very detailed and I love that. It made explaining to my girls that I was having a baby much easier. They were so happy and loved to look at pictures. They wanted more though. I will admit I wanted more pictures too. More week-by-week or even month by month pictures would have been great. I am a very visual person. I like to read the information and then see it in a picture.
I would have also liked to have had more in depth examples of what to do when you are pregnant and have a job that requires physical labor like mine (fitness instructor) does. Though there was some description on jobs that required some physical labor, the information provided for jobs that were completely physically labor was very brief and vague.
I also noticed that there was nothing on pregnancy clumsiness, armpit skin darkness (I forget the name of it) or above the abdominal skin rashes. I understand everything can't be covered in one book, but these are the things I tend to go through in my pregnancies so that 's what I look for.
I look forward to reading the rest of this book. It's the kind of book you keep on your reference shelf to keep going back to every time you need a refresher about what's going on with your body when you're pregnant.
Buy it here http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300113242/mothertalk-20/.
