Hey I'm Lacey...

[Eastofoz]

I hope things work out for you Lacey :) It's no doubt hard for you without the dad regularly in the picture but maybe you can have a fun pregnancy nonetheless with baby shopping and looking forward to your cutie's (or cuties'!) arrival :)

You seem to have a lot of good pregnancy books already. I'm on my third pregnancy so I've read a few books in the past few years :) If you'd like any recommendations feel free to ask. My pregnancy books are on my non-fiction shelf. I'm currently reading Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank. It's excellent and hilarious and totally frightening when you read about the history of obstetrics. Makes you very happy to be living in this century.

[Anastasia]

Hi Lacey, congratulations on your pregnancy. Even if it was unintentional, if you're going through with it, you might as well make the best of it, right? This can be a good opportunity for you to grow and find a lot of strength within yourself. There are a lot of great challenges for women nowadays, but I think being pregnant and giving birth are still two very special experiences that really test your mettle. I am in the "women's bodies are made for childbirth (among other things)" camp and think that pregnancy and labor can be very positive, empowering experiences (kind of like training for and participating in a marathon!). Still, it's tough to be 100% positive and confident when you don't have much support or information.

Here are some resources I can recommend for you (how far are you from Summertown?):
http://www.thefarm.org/general/visit....

These are some books I loved that really impacted my pregnancies and my parenting style and all are very woman-friendly and empowering:
-Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Wechsler (good for after pregnancy, whenever your cycle returns)
-Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
-Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Prep... by Pam England
-Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood by Sandra Steingraber
-Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent
-Active Birth : The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally, Revis... by Janet Balaskas
-Homebirth (Hardcover) by Sheila Kitzinger
-Spiritual Midwifery (Paperback) by Ina May Gaskin
-The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth (Sears Parenting Library)
-Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We ... by Meredith Small
-Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene by Ingrid Bauer
-Sign With Your Baby: How to Communicate With Infants Before They... by Joseph Garcia
-Living Simply with Children: A Voluntary Simplicity Guide for Mo... by Marie Sherlock
-Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit... by Richard Louv
-Naturally Healthy Babies and Children: A Commonsense Guide to He... by Aviva Jill Romm
-How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (Pape... by Adele Faber

I wish you well and invite you to contact me if you wish. I hope your fiance continues to be involved and supportive.

Sincerely,
Anastasia

[Anastasia]

Oops! This is the link I meant to paste: http://www.thefarm.org/midwives/index...