MotherTalk Blog Book Tour: From The Hips
The moment I laid eyes on the cover of From The Hips: a comprehensive, open-minded uncensored, totally honest guide to pregnancy, birth, and becoming a parent, I was struck with serious book envy. Other writers will understand the “Why didn’t I write that?” feeling. I had it, big-time. And though I don't consider myself the jealous writer type, I tend to be a tough critic when it comes to books I wish I'd written myself. So when I say I liked From The Hips, I really mean it!
As somebody who’s been immersed in pregnancy, birth and parenting topics for the past ten years, I’ve been many times disappointed, sometimes even angered by the books I’ve read. From The Hips is different from so many of those pregnancy "bibles" that leave me cold. For one thing, you can tell the authors are in the trenches of early motherhood now, with their fingers on the pulse of what other moms are thinking and talking and worrying about—not far-removed experts whose point of reference is off by a decade or two or whose perspective is clouded by too much education (yes, there is such a thing!) and not enough recent, relevant experience. This allows authors Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morris to address both sides of issues that moms today are talking about--like “breastfeeding Nazis”, drinking alcohol during pregnancy, and co-sleeping and other sleep issues—with candor and without hysteria or judgment.
I also like how the book addresses outside-the-mainstream choices, like co-sleeping and home birth—as valid options instead of writing them off as wacky and unsafe, or acting as though they don’t exist. This is a rare thing in most books unless they have an agenda to promote a specific type of parenting or birth or feeding choice.
The book does have its limitations. For one thing, it’s basically impossible to cover all the issues involved with pregnancy, birth, postpartum care, feeding and becoming a mother in one book—especially when you’re striving for balance, as the authors here seem to be doing. From The Hips gives some issues—for example, different ‘sleep training’ methods or birth options—a cursory “she-said, she-said” overview, then directs parents to other books and sources for more comprehensive information. Some readers might see that as a failing on the book’s part, but I think it could be a good thing. No book can be everything to everybody, and there is such a thing as too much information at the wrong time. From The Hips helps moms wade through the options and at least get an idea of what they might want to choose themselves before they move on to heavier reading. If the reader wants more info, she knows where to get it; if she doesn’t, no sense suffering through information overload.
There are also a lot of candid quotes from "anonymoms" and "anonydads" representing both sides of sensitive topics like working vs. SAHM and breastfeeding vs. bottlefeeding. That gives the book a "we're all in this together" and "there's no one right way to do this parenting thing" feeling. I like that kind of tone for myself, but readers who are looking for a more authoritative figure to tell them just what they SHOULD do might only feel more confused by the notion that they actually have so many choices, and no one choice is likely to make or break a baby's health or development!
If you aren’t a “hip mama”—or hip mama-to-be—you may be scared off by the edgy illustrations on the back cover or even the photo of the authors, which looks like it was snapped between sets during an after-bedtime gig as singers in a punk band. But though the design might be off-putting to some, and the book’s look and tone is definitely catering to a certain hipster set, the information in it is accessible to anyone. And after being pregnant and giving birth four times, working with midwives and pregnant women for five years and reading nearly every book I could get my hands on for the past ten years, I really thought I'd read it all--but I learned a few new things from From The Hips. And that's really saying something.
To read more reviews in the MotherTalk Blog Tour, check out www.mother-talk.com.
