Glad you are enjoying the game.
I get the harshness of having to give up a child especially if it's the first one between your characters. Getting started in the mage guild and getting enough money is not intended to be easy, especially early on in the game. Giving up a child having a penalty to loyalty and obedience to the mother could be a great idea.
Having a head-girl will inform you in the end day notices if someone is pregnant. Otherwise, you'll need to check on your slaves every few days if you've had sex that could potentially result in pregnancy, after a few days 5 or so they should start to be noticeable.
An option down the line might be if you have given up a child you might run into them again in an event and be reunited.
The potions have descriptions once you have brewed one to see what they are. Descriptions in the lab screen when selecting potion so that you can see what the potion does before brewing will be in the next update.