A reading book and I are not really a match, I fall asleep nine out of ten times even before I reach the bottom of the page. Until I got pregnant and about the only thing I wanted to do was: read. The book ‘Mama'en’ was recommended to me by several friends, so it was quickly shopped. By the way, it is a hefty volume with about 430 pages and weighing around 1.5 kilos, so it's not just a little reading book. It is the bible of pregnancy books, because you can find everything in it. From (yoga) exercises, recipes to honest payment stories from among others Romy Boomsma, Kelly Weekers and Ellen Hoog, podcast tips and more than 50 experts from the field (think of: midwives, gynecologists, doulas, doctors, lactation consultants and so on) give tips for during your pregnancy, everything around birth and the postpartum period, all bundled and written by Nina Pierson. I have really read this brilliant book, except for a few pages like the recipes, twice already and there is one introduction of a chapter that I want to share with you: ‘The wondrous workings of your body‘, on page 219:

‘In that same hospital, a pregnant woman lay in a coma. The child in her womb continued to develop until the day came when her body initiated the birth itself. Without her consciousness or medical interventions from outside, she gave birth to her child completely independently. The dilation phase, the expulsion phase. It all happened because her body did the work…’

Bizarre, right? You would almost have to read it, even if you are not pregnant. Not just for women by the way, as a man you can also benefit a lot from understanding everything just a little better and possibly helping your girlfriend. After all, you do it together, right?