Are there any specific sites you recommend? I’m really not enjoying the Babycenter atmosphere. It would be great if I could find a SDMB-like place, where people try to write clearly and do a little research before throwing information out there. One of the Babycenter girls is going gluten free for the pregnancy because she doesn’t want her kid to have acne later. And most responses are along the lines of “OMG really, maybe I’ll do that too!!!1!” But perhaps my standards are too high. I know the mothers of the SDMB will be a great resource, but I feel funny peppering the boards with questions. It’s not really a pregnancy board, you know?
Mayo Clinic guide is the only pregnancy book I kept, after actually going through a pregnancy.
I enjoyed my due date club on twoweekwait, but I think the site may have slowed down a lot in the last 3.5 years. There was a little bit of stupid, the way there always is, but smaller groups of people tend to self-regulate the hysteria better than large ones. We still have a Facebook group to keep in touch and ask questions about how our babies–now almost three years old–are progressing.
If there are times when being pregnant turns out not to be the most wonderful thrilling thing ever for you- during each of her pregnancies, my wife had approximately nine months’ worth of such times- you might also check out Pregnancy Sucks. It was my wife’s favorite. As the title suggests, it dispenses with all the talk about joy and miracles and so forth and offers a sympathetic view of the crappy parts.
Also find Be Prepared for dad. (Father’s Day gift!) I kept mine long after I’d figured out the fatherhood thing just for the humor value. Its title is the Boy Scout motto and it’s written and illustrated in the style of a scout manual, except hilarious.
Congratulations! Parenthood really is just the coolest thing ever.
And, go ahead and ask the board all those questions.
I kept up with my date club on What to Expect. It definitely isn’t the SDMB-- it’s a real cross section of the US. I wouldn’t go there to ask difficult questions. But it was great for “OMG is it normal for my fingers to hurt?” and “Am I the only one whose baby doesn’t sleep?”
My favorite pregnancy book was “The Expectant Father.” It is smart, well organized, and low fluff. I also enjoyed having a big pictorial book on week-by-week baby development.
