Before You Were Born: The Inside Story

by Ann Douglas

Imagine what your life was like before you were born. What did you hear? How did you eat? What did you do to keep busy? Following up on the success of her first book for children, Baby How Babies Really Work! author Ann Douglas explores the beginning of life from a new perspective. Looking at the world of an unborn baby as it grows in it's mother's womb, young readers are taken on a fascinating journey to see where they all began. For every child who is curious about his or her own beginnings, or who is expecting a younger sibling, Before You Were Born is the perfect guide. Vivid and engaging full color photographs and thoroughly delightful illustrations make this book as much fun to look at as it is to read. Before You Were Born is filled with interesting and informative baby

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Ann Douglas sparks conversations that matter about parenting and mental health. She is a bestselling parenting book author and the former parenting columnist for The Toronto Star and CBC Radio. Her most recent book -- Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women -- has just been published in Canada, the US, and the UK.

Ann is also the author of Happy Parents Happy Kids, Parenting Through the Storm: How to Handle the Highs, the Lows, and Everything in Between, and the creator of The Mother of All Books series: The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, The Mother of All Baby Books, The Mother of All Toddler Books, The Mother of All Parenting Books and The Mother of All Pregnancy Organizers.

A passionate and inspiring speaker, Ann delivers keynote addresses and leads small-group workshops at health and parenting conferences. If you've already met Ann via one her books, you know what you can expect from one of her presentations: to be inspired, informed, and entertained. Not only will she shift your thinking about parenting: she’ll move you to action as well—and in a way that leaves you feeling confident and capable as opposed to anxious, guilty, or overwhelmed.

You can connect with Ann on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Reviews

[Noor]

The poet opened the poem (Before the birth of one of her
children)by saying all things to indicate that the world is
ephemeral and everything will end and everything she has
will also end. In this poem she expects that she will die when
she gives birth to her child. In the seventeenth century,
medicine was not great, so we are talking about something
dangerous when a child is born.

The tone in this poem is dominated by pessimism, as the
writer knows the truth that death will always come no matter
how strong and close human ties are.
The writer says that the pain of childbirth is the punishment,
in the Bible they believe that Eve was the one who tempted
Adam to eat from the tree, so God punished her with the
pain of giving birth to a child.

The writer immortalizes herself by writing her will, as she
asks her husband to immortalize his love for her and to keep
thinking in a positive was and thinking of virtues, forgetting
the idea that women are the source of temptation and if her
husband loves her, he will love her children and protect them
from harm.

[Michelle Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how relatable this book was for kids. It talked about the growing baby and birth process in easy to understand terms and gave examples of things you could do to see what it was like as a baby in your mom's womb.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using a combination of photos and illustrations, this book covers different aspects of pregnancy in language an elementary school child would understand. Enjoyed it as did the kids.