Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Extract from Pregnancy for Beginners by Roni Jay. Copyright 2009. You realise when you'Re expecting a baby that as everyone keeps reminding you this is probably the most important thing you'll ever do. Well, yes, so it's doubly worrying that you keep being expected to make decisions you feel ill equipped to make. You know that many of the decisions are vital, and yet you ve no idea what s for the best.
Other decisions may be less essential in the grand scheme of things (when to decorate the nursery, for example, is not actually a life and death matter) but they're still important to you. This is a very emotional time and lots of things that maybe shouldn't be that important will seem so to you. And that's a good enough reason to give them proper thought so that you feel happy and comfortable. I realise that not every woman goes through pregnancy with a partner. For the majority who do, this book is intended for both of you. The decisions you'll be making will affect both of you and your child, so it's only right you should both be involved. If you don't have a partner, you may find it useful to show the book to the friends or family whose advice you ll be asking to help you take these big decisions. I've selected the biggest decisions you're likely to face during your pregnancy and set out all the information I can to help you choose the right course for you.
There isn't a definitive right or wrong answer and I haven't attempted to steer you in any way. if there were a clear right or wrong there would, by definition, be no real decision to make. So all the options set out here are potentially right. You're just choosing the best one for you. It's your pregnancy, your baby, and only you can know what will work best for your family. All I have done is: -set out relevant facts -clarify the options -explain the pros and cons of each option -add any other useful things to think about -give you the deadline by when the decision has to be made -run through the worst case scenario (a useful decision-making tool) -suggest questions to ask yourself to help you decide.