To think that GPs shouldn't be promoting this sexist, outdated rubbish?!

[NotTheNiceLadyDoctor]

I've namechanged for this, for reasons that will become obvious!

I'm a GP in the Midlands. I'm also currently 23 weeks pregnant with my first child. When I had my booking appointment with my midwife back in July, she gave me a big pack of stuff, which included Emma's Diary. For those of you who haven't had the grim experience of reading this particular publication, it's a booklet which mixes medical information about pregnancy with the fictionalised pregnancy diary of an idiot called Emma. The diary is peppered with all kinds of offensive comments and attitudes. The diary section normalises unhealthy attitudes towards weight gain and body image, and promotes pregnancy breast growth as a happy perk because it'll make men fancy you more, rather than because your boobs are preparing to feed a baby. Emma becomes so forgetful at work that she can barely do her job and wishes she'd gone on maternity leave as early as legally possible. It also promotes very dated attitudes about gender and relationships.

If you don't have a copy to hand, my Twitter thread last month gives a flavour of the kind of crap Emma's Diary is filled with: twitter.com/DrHFRyan/status/1025280307015168000

Incredibly, this offensive, misogynistic, outdated publication is still being officially endorsed by the Royal College of General Practitioners. I have a huge, huge problem with this as a GP. I don't think that family doctors should be normalising these kinds of attitudes about pregnancy, body image, and gender roles.

Personally, I'd like nothing more than for Emma's Diary to fall off the face of the earth, but as a compromise, I'd feel a lot happier if the Royal College of GPs wasn't associated with it in any way. Can I please ask you to sign my petition if you feel the same way?

www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-rcgp-endorsing-emmas-diary.html

If you happen to be a doctor - I know there are a few of us on here! - you can also read my blog for Pulse magazine on the subject: www.pulsetoday.co.uk/views/blogs/dr-heather-ryan/a-right-royal-mess-why-is-rcgp-still-endorsing-emmas-diary/20037467.article

(To be clear, I am very much speaking in my personal capacity here, and not as a representative of my GP surgery or any of the organisations I'm involved with.)

I am so sorry to hear that, @ellisandra.

Really interesting to hear about the contrast between the two systems, @soupforbrains !

Love your Twitter feed.
Emma is a total moron and Nick kinda hovers in the background as a macho Superman.
Wonder what she does when she gives birth. Who's going to change the first nappy? Emma will probably be asking her Mum for advice (or the nurse) and Nick will move to another room so he's not disturbed because he needs to get up for work every day.
She will keep having her baby brain but she won't moan to Nick after he tells her that he can't listen to her whingeing anymore. She'll just quietly martyr herself to motherhood for the next 4 children till he leaves her for a younger and prettier model.

@fridgepants, you make a really good point. Sadly, that means that educated, literate women will get better information as they'll access other resources as well, while poorly-educated women will only be exposed to this sexist, infantilising crap. And so health inequalities will be perpetuated further

I don't rememebr Emma's Diary when I had my wee ones. (admittedly over 10 years ago now)I don't think it was in Scotland then. Sounds like a lucky escape.

Luckily we don't get subjected to this crap in Wales because Emma didn't translate her shitty diary into Welsh. Thank fuck.

Bounty rep in hospital was told to f'off by me too.

@NotTheNiceLadyDoctor I myself had been unaware of the differences until my sister had her first child and my friends then started to have children as I was the first by a few years. I had assumed that the french system was comparable to here.

As an example, the unit I was in had a number of labour rooms, EVERY single one for these rooms was equipped with soft matted area for using gym balls and other such apparatus AND had a birthing pool in addition to the rather enormous corner bed type thing. Giving EVERY mother the options of water birth/bath during labour, gym balls and other assorted options for during the labour and the birth. The giant bed made it easier to get comfortable at all times AND made changes of position for labour much easier.

After the birth EVERY mother had their own private room WITH an en suite toilet and sink AND a specially equipped 'nursery' which had a built in sink perfectly shaped and sized for bathing the baby in addition to all the 'stuff' you could ever need for a new baby. At the end of the corridor was an actual nursery which was staffed by kind and friendly nurses 24/7 and mothers could trundle their babies in their versos (the little cots on wheels that you have in hospitals, I don't know the english word) down to the nurses at any time if they needed to take a shower, wanted to pop out into the courtyard for fresh air, or if they just needed a short nap to recover. Additionally the nurses in the nursery were on hand for a chat if you just needed that AND were happy to help you learn any and all aspects of parenting a newborn including how to breast feed OR bottle feed. expressing, changing your baby, bathing your baby, fitting a carseat and even how to tie one of those flaming papoose things.

I had zero complications during or after my labour but was kept in for 6 days just to allow the nurses to support me as much as possible and to enable me to rest as much as possible in those critical first few days.

Btw, I had a colleague who would have swallowed all the Emma crap like a bible.
She was a university educated woman with the views on woman's role in society straight from a Catholic priest's wet dream. Not sure why she went to university then, probably as a backup option in case she doesn't find a man.
She referred to her her abdomen as her "little belly" (and she even wanted me to make photos of them and compare them as we were pregnant at the same time).
We were also preggers and men (not men, hubbies!!!!!!!!!) were some kind of strange creatures only good to go to work and deal with their male stuff but at home, bar doing the heavy work like chopping wood and killing the deer for dinner etc which comes handy in urban areas, they were totally incapable so they were supposed to put on slippers, read newspapers and wait till the dinner is served.
She didn't go back to work when her maternity leave has ended. I think she's doing some kind of a mystical "women are Goddesses of fertility" rituals as a part of pregnancy care right now, massages and seminars on the miracle that's a child-bearing woman.

@soupforbrains That sounds amazing! I think there used to be more postnatal support in the UK in days gone by - MIL is a retired Norland Nanny, and during her training she used to look after babies at a London NHS hospital in a set-up similar to that which you describe.

yes I'm aware that in the 70s some areas still had what they called "convalescent homes" where new mothers would be transfered after birth and receive care and education but I'm sure it's not been around in the UK since the 80s. which is a great great shame.

I'm aware this makes me sound like I'm rather older myslef. I'm not, I'm 32 and my son was born in 2007 I've known others to give birth in the same place as me in the last few years and the facilities are still the same.

Couldn't agree more.

I read the first page or so then put it in the bin.

I asked my midwife for a list of foods to avoid, compared it to lists from other developed countries and cracked on eating almost entirely as I had done before (apart from the odd craving).

I ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was full. I also ate more frequently because of the frequent puking and subsequent hunger 20 minutes later.

I largely ignored the fact that I was pregnant (apart from the obligatory midwife appointments obviously) until I couldn't tie my shoelaces.

I decided that there was no point worrying about the state of my tits until I'd finished feeding the baby as there was cock all I could do about it anyway.

Not only is it s steaming pile of shite, OP, Emma’s diary have also been caught selling user data in dodgy ways:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/technology-44794635

My midwife filled in my details for the first Bounty pack. I had absolutely no idea it was optional at that point. I wish tripe like this wasn't legitimised by official endorsement.

Luckily enough I had neither Emma's Diary or Bounty pushed on me by any HCP during my pregnancy and labour in my part of London. The nearest I've got is when I registered the birth when the birth certificates came in a nice Emma's Diary sponsored folder with random leaflets advertising crap. I have to send off to join up but am keeping the entire folder and leaflets for my child to "enjoy" once she gets older.

OP your Twitter thread is hilarious. Though some women I know earn 60k+ on their own so are ineligible for child benefit due to their own earnings - oddly a few are doctors.

@bluebug45 I probably wouldn't qualify for CB myself (I'm a GP partner so don't know which of the many numbers my accountant gives me would count as my income!). I didn't mean to imply that women all earn less than their husbands, or that higher earners are better than lower earners - I have acknowledged upthread that that tweet was ill-judged.

Your Twitter feed it excellent, when given this last year i read a couple of pages before it was thrown in the bin.

can't believe this is stll in print. I was given a copy when my eldest was born 27 YEARS AGO!!
(It was f*ing tosh then! )

Lol I imagine Nick will change the occasional nappy whilst Emma notes what a ‘hands-on dad’ he is for doing so

I’m so glad that in my three pregnancies I’ve never bothered to read Emma’s diary to be honest I find the whole pregnancy pack absolutely useless and haven’t even bothered to open it this time.
I also hate that Bounty is pushed on you moments after birthing your baby, if I wanted to sign up to that rubbish I would have done it before baby was born, not in hospital whilst trying to work out which way of the nappy is up or attempting to establish breastfeeding... reading your Twitter with a grin!

@bbefchowmein you have just summed Nick up in a nutshell!!! I bet he refers to looking after his child as "babysitting", too!

@beefchowmein, sorry!

So this Emma's diary story is really old then?? I'm 25 and I was given this a few years ago now maybe 3. My friend had it when she had her baby 7 years ago I thought it was very recent still

I cannot believe this is still going. It was outdated sexist crap over 20 years ago when I was first given it.

Petition signed.