As mums-room is a parenting website for mums and mums to be, I thought I would have a yak about the media’s offerings on pregnancy and birth. After all, I’m sure that most of us have seen one or the other at least and it still interests me quite a lot as there is so much of it about lately.

Birthing TV Shows

Not for the faint of heart! From the moment I got pregnant I said to myself, “No television shows about labour and birth – my baby is going to be willed out!” But of course, about an hour later I was hooked. I can’t even say that I enjoyed it, in all honesty it made my legs cross, and my toes curl but at the same time was compulsive viewing. As for my husband – well! He will sit and watch the goriest of films, but if he came in and I had one of these shows on, you could see the colour drain from his cheeks!

I do think that it’s good being able to see how other women that are in labour cope both physically and emotionally. Further more, for me it brought home (with a thump might I add) the blood curdling fact that, yes, it is possible to push something the size of a melon through a hole the size of a small tangerine!

Looking back, I would have loved to have had my labour and birth recorded though. It still irritates me that all I have are lots of blurred slightly drugged memories. The brave women that have done these shows now have the crystal clear (if not painful with a similar amount of blood and ‘eeew’ as a Tarantino movie) happenings of their babies being born. In my opinion, I salute them and wish I had thought of it myself.

Pregnancy Magazines

Yet another fright riddled, pregnancy ‘must-have’ that I got hopelessly addicted to. Every single one of those nine months I bought one, and consequently, every single one of those nine months I thought I had something different wrong with me. As I found out the panicky way, a lot of symptoms that you get for this that and the other are very similar to the usual things that are experienced throughout pregnancy.

Admittedly, aside from the fact that I nearly lost my bladder every other page, they were very informative and, of course, just keep reminding you that you are going to have a beautiful little baby. They normally have a really cool freebie too…in one of the magazines I bought there was a toiletries bag that I found very useful for keeping my toothbrush etc in when I went into hospital.

So, if anyone out there is ‘umming and ahhing’ about getting the pregnancy magazines then I would recommend them to a point, but remind everyone to take some of the stories in your stride. Helpful, yes, but sometimes made alarm bells ring that I would have appreciated not having to stress about.