Alison's Diary: The Nappy Years by Alison Craig

Review by Kirsty McLuckie in the Scotsman

CATEGORY HUMOUR/SCOTTISH
PUB DATE NOVEMBER 2003
ISBN 1 902927 98 2
EXTENT 256 pp.
PRICE 9.99
FORMAT 234 x 156 mm, PAPERBACK
FURTHER DETAILS



ON DISCOVERING that you are pregnant, your health visitor will present you with a copy of Emma's Diary, a handy fictionalised account of one woman's gestation and confinement. In it, the eponymous heroine discusses all aspects of being with child and doles out handy hints to her two friends, who seem to cover most possibilities, being a 40-year-old black mother of twins and a 17-year-old single mum. Emma is perhaps the squarest mother in literature, stoically handling all the minor niggles of her condition, while her husband cleans the house.

The tome infuriates mothers-to-be more than pregnancy-related piles ever could and it was only a matter of time before someone wrote a real pregnancy diary.

In her first book, journalist and broadcaster Alison Craig has done just that. Alison's Diary: The Nappy Years manages to be highly entertaining while addressing some of the more pertinent questions the modern mother may have, such as whether the booze-fuelled weekend enjoyed before the pregnancy was discovered will have any ill effects on the unborn (Craig's doctor is reassuring abut he advises her not to repeat the experiment).

While fictional Emma puts on only the recommended amount of weight, Craig piles on four stone almost immediately on discovery of her interesting condition. Her hormones rage and she veers dangerously between tears about the size of her bottom and ranting about traffic wardens while trying to hold down her radio job.

But Craig doesn't just experience difficulty through her pregnancy. The birth, planned as natural and holistic, ends up involving the whole gamut of drug options, ending up with an epidural.

The book, as its full title suggests, follows the progress of her son Louis through breastfeeding and the resulting mastitis, the short-lived weaning on to organic foods, crises such as dropping him (twice), locking him in the car and what sounds like one of the worst holidays ever. Throughout it all is the genuine feeling, shared by many highly competent professional women, of finding yourself adrift when faced with a new baby.

Craig's book has a foreword by Elaine C. Smith, in which she claims , 'This is what happened to Bridget Jones after she married Mark Darcy and got up the duff.'. The comparison made my heart sink but the Nappy Years is actually a very funny book for women who are about to or who have experienced motherhood and need a light-hearted book to make them feel normal again.

29 November 2003