When I was pregnant with Little Bro I searched around for books to explain to Big Sis what was about to happen and how it would change her life. I found some good ones, which I will review later. This pregnancy she is 2 years older and needs slightly different books. The thing is, Big Sis has got all technical on me!
She’s been asking lots of questions, for example:
- How does the baby come out? (a particularly good one!)
- Does it hurt if the baby kicks you?
- How does the baby eat?
What I need is a book that gives us a jumping off point to talk about the reality of the baby in my tummy. The closest I’ve found is “What to Expect When Mummy’s Having A Baby” by Heidi Murkoff.
Heidi Murkoff is the co-author of the “What to Expect” series of grown up books, and let me say I am no fan of these! I dutifully bought “What To Expect When You Are Expecting” and “What To Expect In the First Year” when I was pregnant with Big Sis. The tone of the books are judgmental and prescriptive with all the fun and magical bits sucked out, information is delivered with thinly veiled prejudice. It was like being informed about the whole thing by a particularly sanctimonious old Aunt who you never got along with! I would read them in bed and invariably sigh and abuse her, in the end DSO hid them from me for the remainder of my gestation!
Having said that this kids book is very good! It deals with all the technical questions simply and clearly and has good illustrations. For some reason she has this weird dog called Angus who introduces everything. Neither Big Sis nor me see the point in the twee dog (we have discussed it at length), so we just ignore him. All in all its a good book for curious kids.
Now my explanation of the placenta, umbilical chord and the baby eating through its belly button has been backed up by a book I think Big Sis believes me, she was looking very skeptical before, and who can blame her? The whole thing does sound a bit like a fairy story!
What to Expect When Mommy’s Having a Baby (What to Expect Kids)
