Pregnancy, Birth, Baby, and Beyond: The Quick Guide

NEW ! If you're at the "I'm thinking about getting pregnant" stage rather than the "I'm already pregnant" stage, I just created a new lens just for you.

If only home pregnancy tests were re-useable - or a little less expensive. We antsy mamas could test away to our hearts' contents without worrying about committing a $10 faux pas each time. Testing would be part of the daily post-ovulation regime - a way to while away the days until a test result could officially be declared.

Being caught in pregnancy limbo - that reproductive holding pattern between ovulation and a positive pregnancy test result - is the grownup equivalent of waiting for your birthday to roll around again, the school year to end, or the holiday season to begin. The agony of knowing that you have to wait this many days is almost unbearable. (Read rest of my article @ ClubMom)

1350 BCE
One of the earliest written records of a urine-based pregnancy test can be found in an ancient Egyptian document. A papyrus described a test in which a woman who might be pregnant could urinate on wheat and barley seeds over the course of several days. Read more...

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If you have a lens that focuses on some aspect of pregnancy and parenting (say one of the lenses listed here!) and you haven't already discovered our group), come join in the fun. We're a group of lensmasters who enjoy creating top quality lenses for parents. And if we haven't found you yet, all the better! We'd love to find out what lenses you've created and what you're working on right now. Here's where to find us.

John Hoffman made an important point in his column in the April 2006 issue of the popular Canadian parenting magazine Today's Parent.

"When you peruse parenting tomes, watch for signs of inflexible single-mindedness. Trust those who seem to understand that kids are different, and that there are few one-size-fits-all rules for raising them."

Hoffman's words really resonated with me because they reflect my parenting philosophy and the perspective that I bring to my work as a pregnancy and parenting book author. I actually feel quite passionately about this topic.

In my book THE MOTHER OF ALL PREGNANCY BOOKS, I write: "There's no such thing as a one-size-fits all pregnancy experience" and in my book THE MOTHER OF ALL PARENTING BOOKS, I write "There's a growing backlast against advice givers who have lost touch with the needs of real families....parenting experts who offer highly simplistic, formulaic solutions that don't take into account the countless messy variables that are the very essence of family life and who refuse to accept that one-size-fits-all parenting solutions fit most kids as well as one-size-fits-all jeans." And I have been using the phrase "There's no one-size-fits-all sleep solution" ad nauseum during the campaign for SLEEP SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR BABY, TODDLER, AND PRESCHOOLER.

But that's because this is really important to me. I've always hated it when people have tried to serve me a "five easy steps" bill of goods so I refuse to take that approach in my writing. Nothing about parenting is that easy or straightforward, and there's no across-the-board formula that applies to all parents and all kids. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods. (A very seductive bill of goods that may be just what you need on a very bad parenting day, but a bill of goods nonetheless.)