Women must be suckers

Part of the beginning of this journey has been a search for information. I've been looking for books, pregnancy fitness DVDs, classes, guidance from insurance company, where to go for maternity clothes when the time comes, what kind of diapers to use... It's an awful lot of decisions to make with very little to make them on but instinct, recommendations, and advertising. So, I do what everyone does, and I google things. I (window) shop on-line. I scroll through page after page of products on Amazon.

I have read all about having an environmentally-friendly pregnancy and child, about "reducing my chemical load" (stop using bleach), I subscribe to BabyCenter updates so I know how big the baby is (about the size of a kidney bean this week), and have purchased 3 DVDs and 2 books about pregnancy fitness. We are signing up for Bradley Method classes starting at the end of May-- sign up now or the class will fill up! I also started a list for myself in Amazon of all the things I might consider buying for the pregnancy and later, for the baby.

At my first prenatal appointment, I asked the midwife if she could recommend a good book for me to read about pregnancy and childbirth. She said no. There was not a single book she thinks is decent. She says they are all designed to frighten pregnant women. She is probably right. I will probably still pick up a book or two, maybe a hand-me-down from someone who has been pregnant recently or something from a used bookstore. But I'm not likely to buy the 13 books I originally put on my Amazon list.

The point of this blog, and the reason why women must be suckers, is that once you get pregnant and start looking into the world of pregnancy and maternity, you find that it is such an industry that feeds off of a woman's (very vulnerable) emotions, the enormity of the event, the desire to be a great mother from the start. It's just like weddings, the other major event for which retailers prey on women. At first, you are in such a panic that it is difficult to figure out what you do & don't need, what you are supposed to do and not do, it is easy to succumb to the pressures of advertising of things that are going to make you and your baby healthier, more comfortable, and happier-- things that will may you perfect.

After a few weeks, though, the nerves have died down. I've stopped obsessively shopping online during work (shh- don't tell) and at home, and I haven't added anything to my Amazon list lately. There are a few things I know I'll need, and I plan to look into those as best as I can. But the rest of it, I am going to put my blinders on and try to ignore it.

There are a couple of question marks for me though with these products. Maybe you can help. I'm not sure if these are actually useful, if they are gimmicks, or if they just depend on the person.
1. A "body band"-- this is supposed to help you hold off longer on getting maternity clothes. The idea is that you don't have to button or zipper your pants. You hold them up with this band and it makes them look smooth under your shirt and you can't tell that they're unbuttoned. Some people swear by this, others think it's stupid. The jury's out.

2. A body pillow-- The current recommendation is that after 14 weeks, you sleep only on your left side. Yeah, right. This pillow is supposed to support your fat belly and help you not roll over onto your back or your right side. While I think that the sleeping on the left side is pretty much bunk, I have slept with a pillow between my knees since high school because it alleviates pressure off your lower back. So this body pillow might be a permanent thing, not just a pregnancy thing. (My midwife's excellent take on the sleeping position issue: "If all it took to end a pregnancy was sleeping on your back, we wouldn't have the abortion rate in this country that we have.")

So, thoughts, suggestions, recommendations for things that no pregnant woman can do without? Stories from the previously pregnant or people who know someone who was pregnant?