[ozmidwifery] pregnancy mag

[Pinky McKay]

Hi,   I have been asked to "update" (and add to) a pregnancy tips magazine I wrote in 1996 - it is fairly conservative - the brief at the time was purely "tips"  and I actually took quite a lot for granted that people naturally aspired to a natural birth - the brief at the time was for "light" info.   Whether the climate has changed  - ie Caesarean/ intervention rate increase - or I am less naieve, this time, I feel there is an urgent need to include more info re natural birth and the reasons WHY it is best, and refute some of the fear mongering - any suggestions for important topics that SHOULD be included/ will make a difference to birthing women who browse newsagents - ie not necessarily women who actively seek information - or at least anything other then the tripe that passes for informed choices!! Please tell me so I can include this - I intend to include interviews / birth stories too.   In my local A and R bookshop yesterday, there was a prominent sign of top ten pregnancy and birth books - 1) Up the Duff, 2) Babylove (not birth or preg) 3) What to Expect When you are Expecting - and so forth I cant remember the exact order from there, but it included Toddler Taming (Neither pregnancy nor birh) and did include one book from the Better Babies Series but nothing from Sheila K.  Just the same old, same old - I think it is a vicious cycle - because these are the books that shops stock these are the ones that have to sell because they are on the shelves and pregnant women arent aware what else is out there to ask for - books that arent stocked can't be sold can they???So of course these "best sellers" continue to be 'best sellers'.  VERY sad!!   Maybe we should all visit bookshops and ask -can you order??? (fill in the blank!!) there is no obligation to buy when the book arrives but it will be on the shelf - or say "I am a midwife/ childbirth educator and I am disappointed that you dont stock XYZ - can I give you a list of MY top ten birth and baby books!!! Then refer your mums to the "Birth/ baby friendly"bookshop(s).   I need to put my own brief for this magazine in "moronspeak" (according to my agent) for final approval by the publisher(he is haggling) - am hoping to begin photography next Friday too as my daughter has use of her college studio before it closes for Christmas hols, so I need to organise some pregnant women - at least have them on standby for photos. There is still the possibility that I will not get the go-ahead for this project (they could take my brief and do it in-house - I have had sneaky things like this done before).   If anyone in Melbourne has happy healthy mothers who would like pregnancy photos I would love to hear from them. There is no payment/ budget for models but they can have photo copies at cost.   All suggestions welcome.   Pinky www.pinky-mychild.com