Nonfiction Nagging- Origins

Sometimes I feel that by calling my blog "Bookishly Boisterous" I'm pigeonholing myself into only writing about books or things of the literary nature. I do, in fact, have other interests and very strong opinions about certain things, and I still do really like to learn. My solution is what will hopefully be a monthly post about some sort of nonfiction text that will let me discuss topics I may not normally. We'll see how this goes, since I'm not in the habit of always reading the real stuff (it is part of my New Year's resolution, though). I actually thought about calling my monthly nonfiction musings "Nonfiction Ninja," but that doesn't really make sense. I would rather be a ninja than a nag, though, but I have to be realistic- there will be more nagging than ninjaing (just ask my husband).

This month I read Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives by Annie Murphy Paul. Let me quote myself from the post I wrote when buying this book, "I'm not knocked up, nor am I trying... there is no bun in the oven. The yeast has not been bought, the pan has not been greased." I really enjoy biology, including developmental sciences, and yes, as a secondary reason, some day I'd like to have a baby and I'd prefer not to eff it up in utero.

Unfortunately, this book fell short, and I still might eff my unconceived baby up.

I was pretty disappointed in this book for several reasons, including:
- The format was misleading; it was sectioned off in to nine months, making me think each month would be specific to that month in pregnancy. It really wasn't; month eight could have been told during month two.
- There were a lot of vague answers and a lot of maybes. While I understand this is still an evolving field, it didn't really make me feel very enlightened- nothing seemed that groundbreaking.
- At times it was quite boring and had too much historical information, especially the last three chapters.

There was some interesting, informative parts:
- Eating fish (shit... Omega-3 fatty acid supplements for me) and exercising (score) make your baby smarter.
- Lowers stress levels for the mother may equal a calmer baby.
- Playing classical music to your stomach doesn't do anything for it. And it's lame (okay, I added that).
- Smoking crack during your pregnancy may not be quite as bad as they once thought; alcohol and cigarettes are still frowned upon.
- Heart issues that arise later in life may originate in the womb, since this is when this vital organ forms. Studies have shown that the offspring of malnourished mothers are more likely to have heart problems later as adults.
- Depression during pregnancy is actually much more likely than during post-partum.
- The crap in the air that a mother breathes can be found in umbilical cord.
- The placenta is primarily one cell thick but does a kick-ass job of keeping a lot out.

Moral of the story- when you are pregnant, be good to yourself, because that in turn will mean you're being good to your baby.

I promise, I'm really not pregnant. In fact, I'm going to go have a cocktail with some lunch meat for breakfast, while breathing in some exhaust fumes and taking a hot bath. I wouldn't do that if I was with child, now would I?

[there are a million other hilarious helpful guides here]