The books

As aforementioned, I am quite the obsessive (I also love to shop) so when it came to the books I was in my absolute element! 

In truth, there are a million and one books out there differing in style. Some scared me half to death with tales of sadness and graphic labour stories, some comforted me with heart warming cosy memories and some just irritated me... I'm by no means a 'holistic earth mother type' so anything of that vein really grated on me.

If you're pregnant now or have been in the past you may empathise with the ambiguity of wanting to tell every random person on the street that you're pregnant, to protectively wanting to shield your secret from the world. The early stages for me were hard, especially as the Hubs and I had made no secret of the fact that we wanted children soon after marrying (error!) As you can imagine this led to constant questions from friends, family and colleagues...'when would we start trying?' 'are you pregnant now??' and so on. I actually became quite paranoid in those early stages thinking people knew and were trying to second guess me!

The books for me (specifically the experience of purchasing the books) helped to make it feel real but only really to me, it was my (and the Hubs, rents and in-laws) little secret and I sort of relished in that. I loved (and still love) going into my local bookshop and browsing the baby books. I think I became (embarrassingly) animated whilst shopping around, 'umming' and 'erring' to make my presence known to the shopkeeper! Paying was also highly pleasurable as I'm sure (well, not that sure!) that the woman at the till knew they were for me... That knowing smile (that I most likely imagined) put a little spring in my step for the rest of the day... This is probably why I did it so often!! 

There isn't one specific book I'd recommend as they all gave me something different...

I'd suggest buying one factual book about the experience of pregnancy. For me, 'What to expect when your expecting' has been the most useful. I'd then suggest one book (that will become your bible) about what comes after the baby (at this stage it might seem a tad premature but I couldn't help myself), for me 'Your baby week by week' has been the best (I literally love this book, there are pages and pages just deducted the the first week!!) and one more lighthearted book about the whole experience... I quite enjoyed one by Jools Oliver, 'Minus none to One' (there's also one called 'Belly Laughs' by Jenny McCarthy which is quite good fun). 

At this stage you might fancy a baby names book too, I resisted and went with an App until I was 12 weeks (I had to have something to look forward to!)

Some people will tell you not to buy the books and magazines, read the blogs or download the Apps until you're over that 12 week milestone and they may be right... I couldn't help myself, it's who I am. Everyone is different so I'm not saying there is a right or wrong but I do think there is something to be said for being prepared for all sorts of things (good and bad). 

I did learn a lot in those early weeks which has benefited me over the past few months, it's also made my visits to the Docs more useful as I always arrive with a long list of questions in hand!!

The main thing is to try and relax through those early weeks and try to find something to get you through it and make the days go a little faster, for me the books helped... for you it may well be something different, as long as you find something it doesn't really matter!!