The Parent's Pocket Checklist: An Essential Guide to Pregnancy [Paperback] Johnson, Kim Arrington

When Kim was pregnant for the first time, she had lots of extra time for reading and research. She had recently quit a demanding job and needed an intellectual outlet. She had spent her adult life racing from one action-packed environment to another--from the U.S. Naval Academy to flight school to fighter jets (as an F-14 RIO and F/A-18F WSO) to business school at Duke to corporate life at Goldman Sachs--to finally, and being at home all day with a baby. While she was thrilled and blessed to be a mom, she was also lonely and disheartened. Nobody told her that motherhood would be so complex.

Determined not to spend nap time discouraged, she created a web site and mom blog sharing what she had read about parenting topics, such as vaccine safety, chemicals in our food and household products, anxiety and depression for new parents, potential causes for autism, ADHD, food allergies, and more. As she wrote, checklists and bullet-point action items naturally emerged. 

As a Naval Aviator, Kim relied on a "pocket checklist" to guide her through each flight. In fact, the pocket checklist, or PCL, was so indispensable that it remained zipped into the pocket of Kim's anti-gravity suit for fear that it would become detached in an emergency or dynamic flight. While parenting may not be as fast paced as flying in a fighter jet, it is loaded with potential pitfalls and important yet forgettable minutiae. Who can remember all of the dos and don'ts of modern pregnancy and parenting? It was also clear from blogging that parents were longing for concise, yet trusted advice--laying the foundation for The Parent's Pocket Checklist book series and fueling the passion behind Kim's work.