Your Workout and the Baby Race - Heidi Murkoff

Tampoco tiene ocasión de degustar las primeras dosis de independencia entreteniéndose y sabiendo estar solo (capacidades esenciales para construir su autoestima). Finalmente, tampoco tiene ocasión de aprender otra lección que resultará valiosísima para su desarrollo como ser humano generoso: que las personas, incluso los padres, tienen derechos que hay que respetar. Como los bebés son por naturaleza y por necesidad egocéntricos, este concepto será difícil de asimilar al principio. Pero si ya lo introduce ahora, más adelante no tendrá un hijo que siempre anteponga sus propias necesidades a las de los demás; en otras palabras, un hijo malcriado.

Researchers have found that a woman’s brain-cell volume actually decreases during pregnancy (which could explain why you won’t remember what you just read about in that last paragraph). And — for reasons unknown — women pregnant with girls are more forgetful, on average, than those carrying boys (who would have guessed?). Fortunately, the pregnancy brain fog (similar to what many women experience premenstrually, only thicker) is only temporary. Your brain will plump back up a few months after delivery.

For Dads
Helping Ease Her Quease Morning sickness is one pregnancy symptom that definitely doesn’t live up to its name. It’s a 24/7 experience that can send your spouse running to the bathroom morning, noon, and night — and hugging the toilet far more than she’ll be hugging you. So take steps to help her feel better — or at least not worse. Lose the aftershave that she suddenly finds repulsive, and get your onion ring fix out of her sniffing range (thanks to her hormones, her sense of smell is supersized). Fill her gas tank so she doesn’t have to come nose-to-nozzle with the fumes at the pump. Fetch her foods that quell her queasies and don’t provoke another run to the toilet. Good choices include ginger ale, soothing smoothies, and crackers (but ask first — what spells r-e-l-i-e-f for one queasy woman spells v-o-m-i-t for another). Encourage her to eat small meals throughout the day instead of 3 large ones (spreading out the load and keeping her tummy filled may ease her nausea), but don’t chide her for her food choices (now’s not the time to nag her about eating her broccoli). Be there for support when she’s throwing up — hold back her hair, bring her some ice water, rub her back. And remember, no jokes. If you were throwing up for weeks, you wouldn’t find it amusing. Not surprisingly, neither does she.