“LITTLE DISASTERS” by Sarah Vaughan

When I was pregnant with my first child, there weren’t any courses about pregnancy and babies. But I had learned from all my young friends how good it was for them to attend these courses when they had their first child.

In her novel “Little disasters,” Sarah Vaughan presents four women: Mel, Charlotte, Liz, and Jess, who bond over their first pregnancy.
“- Let’s begin by introducing ourselves properly and explaining why we want to do this course.”

Mel:
“- I’m a primary school teacher, and I want as natural a labor as possible with minimal intervention. Ideally a home birth.” 

Charlotte is a corporate lawyer:
“- I suppose one always wants to prepare for things: finals, law exams, marriage, children.
Parenthood’s a major change, isn’t? But no one learns how to do it in any detail. And I just want to get it right.”

Liz:
“- I’m a junior doctor, so I’m not too anxious about the birth itself: I’ll take any pain relief, including an epidural, I’m offered. I’m here to meet other mothers with babies the same age.”

Jess is a housewife:
“- I just want to be the best mother I can,” Jess says.

When they met at the course, all they could compare was how much weight each of them gained or how radiant their skin looked.
But after their children were born and while raising them, they became close friends, and they extended their comparisons to <<Who is the best mother?>>
And this contest seems to be lost by Jess when she brings her baby with a suspected skull fracture, and the doctor on call is her friend Liz:

“Because when any parent presents with a child with an injury, I’m trained to be alert to the possibility that it may not be accidental. 
That the parent may have harmed their child.

Of course I don’t want to think this of my friend.
I’ve trusted her with my own children; I know how she parents; but still, I’m conditioned to ask that question, and it nudges at me, at the back of my mind.“

Sarah Vaughan did a very insightful job when she wrote the difficulties that every mother has, regardless of whether she has a career. And she did a brilliant job by showing us, mothers, that the inevitable comparisons between us end up founding all of us lacking.

Kindle, 2022