Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
You might think that someone who somehow plays tennis during her third trimester (yes, really) might have the whole pregnancy thing down, but it turns out that even pros like Serena Williams need a little help now and then.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the tennis champion admitted that she, too, could use some advice on adjusting to pregnancy and the journey toward motherhood. Where does she find it? In her pal Kelly Rowland's book, Whoa Baby! A Guide for New Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed and Freaked Out (and Wonder What the #*$& Just Happened).
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"It's just raw," Williams told Entertainment Tonight about the pregnancy guide: "It's everything that no one wants to tell you. I highlight things in it. I study it. It's been really, really good for me."
The book, which Rowland described to InStyle as a "post-pregnancy book," focuses more on how to handle life's changes soon after you've had a child. In a Facebook Live interview with Refinery29's own Laura Norkin, the Destiny's Child singer talked about what inspired her.
"For me, what made me want to write the book was the fact that I feel like nobody warned me about the whole change that comes with your body and yourself mentally, physically, spiritually post-pregnancy, and no one kept it completely 100," Rowland said.
Rowland said that despite having read books like Heidi Murkoff's What to Expect When You're Expecting, nothing seemed to give her the honest truth she craved about life immediately after having a child. So she consulted with her OB/GYN to come up with a concept for the book she always wanted, but never had.
"I said, 'I want to write a book where moms feel like they know what's going to happen,' and this book does that," she said.
Williams, who has won more awards than we assume she has shelf space for, may be a bit nervous to have her first child with fiancé Alexis Ohanian, but she also seems to be having a lot of fun.
In addition to looking like a literal goddess in her Vanity Fair cover (above), Williams has been making fans giggle with honest interviews and social media posts about her experiences, including taking six pregnancy tests to verify she was actually with child and joking around with her family about the sex of the baby.