Books and Your Bump #1: Prayerfully Expecting by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle

When to Read: Not while battling raging morning sickness, let me tell you. All this sacred vessel, divine calling business does not sit well with a girl huddled in the fetal position nibbling a piece of string cheese (but maybe you are holier than I am). It’s designed to be a nine-month novena, which is cool in theory, but doesn’t actually work. You have all this catch up to do when you find out you’re pregnant, because you’ve already missed at least a month! So now you are unholy and sick and behind on your reading.

Pregnancy Fun Scale: Huddling in the fetal position nibbling a piece of string cheese.

Representative Passage: I won’t make fun of the prayers, as I clearly don’t need to get unholier, but here’s a pretty typical bit of prose:

“You and the little one hidden inside you have passed through another month of growth, both physically and spiritually. You have grown over the past weeks, and your body may now be taking on a new shape!”