Today we bring to our pages a book that I found very funny, "The unexpected when you are waiting". The work deals with the openness, with impudence and humor, the symptoms of pregnancy and situations related to the impending motherhood and the newborn. It is a counterpoint, a parody of the "serious guides" about pregnancy that are so abundant, so do not expect to find advice to carry out (at least, no serious advice).
“The unexpected when you are waiting” He talks to us from the pregnancy test until the first six months of the baby, with advice like what to do and not do with the pregnancy test or the possible dangers that the baby can find at home at Christmas. The author laughs at everything, how we get involved when choosing the baby's name, how diaper packages have been considered potential danger at airports, how childbirth develops in different settings ...
As many of you will have recognized by the title and by the cover image, we are facing a parody of a well-known book of literature for pregnant women, "What can you expect when you are waiting", a guide on the pregnancy I analyzed Blank Paper.
"The unexpected when you are waiting" is a very fun read for pregnant women, but also for those who are thinking about being it or those who are already moms and who, as in my case, we are more relaxed and we will see reflected in many situations of the book. In a way it reminded me of the hilarious "Dad, the child is also yours", although this time more focused on future moms and with a more sharp and burlesque touch.
In fact, we have to erase from our mind any serious reference to our way of carrying out pregnancy or motherhood, since the author laughs at everything, taking the worst of each style to the point that it falls into danger of being offensive if you want to read from a serious perspective. Who chooses to give birth at home? Or in the water? Or in a specialized maternity center slow? What disasters happen to us if we decide to give birth in the hospital? Do you decide to take care of your child at home? Kindergarten? Baby sitter?
Whatever our option, we will see ourselves criticized and somehow ridiculed. And although it seems that motherhood is not seen with very good eyes, Mary K. Moore, who has a daughter, confesses that "she is secretly in love with motherhood."
I liked the blatant answers to the doubts that assail us pregnant or recent moms, and the classification of the mothers that performs, a quick guide to recognize different types of moms and that should not be taken very seriously (like everything, in the book): the mammalian mother, the ecological mother, the disaster mother or how to meet the mothers by the diaper bag they carry.
Also, when we go to the stage after birth, instead of finding the typical table with the development of the baby we will find the section of “How far is your baby lagging compared to others”. For example, I leave a fragment of what is in the sixth month:
I SHOULD BE ABLE TO: Keep your head up and still even when you're telling another embarrassing story about your bowel movements.
YOU CAN: Fight with your pets for anything that falls to the ground and that, according to your child's / pet's standards, is considered edible (for example: anything that succumbs to the law of gravity).
YOU MAY EVEN BE ABLE TO: Say “mom” and “dad” to any of your parents, pots or the fridge.
That is, we have to forget guides, concerns and seriousness to face this reading where all the questions we ask during pregnancy and with our babies do NOT get scientific or professional answers. What we will get with "The unexpected when you are waiting" is an ironic and very current look with exaggerations and deformations, but also with a certain realism that does not make us totally disconnect from our experiences.
I leave here also some curious titles of the sections that we can find that account for the parodic tone with which the book is written and that I have found especially funny:
- Stay healthy while losing eye contact with your feet
- Morning sickness: hug a surface on which someone has sat on the butt.
- Gifts: the art of hiding disappointment
- The nasty stump that will eventually become a beautiful belly button.
- The diaper guide: is the Elmo doll from Sesame Street going in front or behind?
- Play daycare detective.
- The field guide of the unexpected to make the baby's tiny brain grow.
- Information about the fever that passes from mothers to daughters ...
“The unexpected when you are waiting” it is a title of Mary K. Moore, and it is 272 pages. The work is published by Editorial ViaMagna (in the Infinity seal) and costs 14'95 euros. From here you can take a look at the first chapter (pdf.), I recommend it if you want to look at pregnancy and motherhood from a different point of view and laugh a little at yourself (and with others).
Official Site | ViaMagna
More information | Blank Paper
In Babies and more | “The book of mothers”, beautiful compilation of literature on motherhood, Comic: “Guide for desperately inexperienced parents”, A touch of humor: six things that a baby does not let you do
