If you're looking for a book about dealing with diaper rashes and colic, this is not it. If you're looking for a book about the ups and downs of having a little one, about finding your mama support network, about becoming a parent but not losing yourself-- this is for you. I randomly found this book in a sale bin late in my pregnancy nine years ago, and I can honestly say that it changed my life. Up until that point I was terrified that I was going to have to turn into some kind of suburban June Cleaver supermom to be a good parent, and this book (and the other Ariel Gore books I then read) reassured me otherwise.

The brand of feminism expressed in this book is a bit more hardcore than my own, and upon flipping through it again recently it felt kind of dated and "90s". But it's still a great book for new (and new-ish) moms, and parents who are freaked out by conventional parenting/baby books filled with pictures of hetero white nuclear families. ( )

This is the first baby/parenting book I read cover to cover. It was a great introduction to what motherhood might be like, even for someone who once thought she would never want kids! I highly recommend it to anyone considering having a baby. ( )