Customer Reviews

What to Expect When You're Expecting

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(39)
2 star:		(45)
1 star:		(79)

 

 

This book is quite high-level and gets into very little detail. The Q&A format is not my favourite and I found the style a bit patronizing. It is also a U.S. book and doesn't provide any information on Canada-specific options. The Mother of All Pregnancy Books is a better resource and I recommend it for anyone seeking this "overview" kind of literature. Unlike "What to Expect," it is Canadian, and a more detailed book that covers an equal or greater breadth of topics. It is also less focused on the negative, though it covers issues and fears in detail.

The drawback for this book is it clearly explains almost every possible complication. With the monthly format it is a lot to read at a time. The list of complications and possible symptoms each moth can be very daunting. Yet with all of that the book is also a great resource. It gives you many things to consider that you may never have thought of. It is much more comprehensive than many other pregnancy books. It has some nice charts in the back to help you keep track of weight, size and other notes for the Doctor's or Midwives. It also has a section for coping with pregnancy loss and also preparing for the next child. A good resource for any couple expecting a child. With over 12 Million copies sold this book now, in it's 3rd edition has been trusted by many people. The authors have also written:
What to Expect the First Year
What to Expect the Toddler Years
What to Expect Eating Well When You're Expecting
The What to Expect When You're Expecting Pregnancy Organizer

This book did more to stress me out during my pregnancy than anything else I experienced in those nine months. Yes, it's true that some women do experience rare conditions explained in this book, but most women won't, and throwing every possible complication into a book on general pregnancies probably needlessly frightens many of women. Our babies don't need that added stress! My certified nurse midwife laughed out loud when I asked her if I should avoid deli meats and goat cheese (as advised in 'What to Expect'), telling me that I'd be better off not reading it, and our doula told me she wished she could burn every copy she came across. And the way the authors gloss over c-sections really gets my goat. It's *major* surgery, one with many, many more risks for both mothers and babies, not something to be taken lightly. I'd recommend books like Henci Goer's "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" instead.

I'm not too sure what all the negative comments are about regarding this book because I think it is wonderful. If you're a first-time mom, this book explains absolutely everything you're experiencing. If you have difficulties, before you run and call your ob, check out this book first. Plus, it really tells you when and when not to worry, and when to call the doctor if there's a problem. I really could not have been without this book. I used it throughout my entire pregnancy and was extremely grateful that I had purchased it. It makes a great shower gift or just a new announcement of someone who is expecting. It offers guidelines on nutrition but it's best to follow your doctor's advice. You don't want to gain too much weight but you have to be sure to eat things that are healthy and not potato chips. Ginger snaps are awesome in helping getting rid of morning sickness. No herbal tea though! There's tons of helpful advice in this book and it really is a great resource especially for new moms. I just loved it!

Pregnancy should be fun, and wonderful. It isn't always. Some problems are merely uncomfortable. Others are much more serious. This book describes the good and the bad.

It's important to know what's normal what's not, and how best to determine which is which.

Granted, it's not warm and fuzzy to learn that excruciating cramps and bleeding might mean an ectopic pregnancy. But such advice--which this book contains--could very possibly save your life. In my experience, the book precisely and accurately described the symptoms of that condition. Fortunately, I lived to tell the tale.

This book is a potential life saver. Get it.

---Alyssa A. Lappen

We are halfway through our first pregnancy. Four months ago, we bought this book, along with Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn (Simkin) and Your Pregnancy Week-by-Week book (Curtis). Of the three, we like Simkin's book best, and Curtis's book the least. The What to Expect book, while not as informative as the Simkin's book, is in our opinion very good.

Many of the things the other reviewers said about this book are true: the authors' diet suggestions border on the fanatical (it seems as if they are writing for obese parents-to-be), and the tone of the book is definitely patronizing. The amount of knowledge about the biological aspects of pregnancy is also minimal---the book is very light on technical terms and diagrams.

However, if you click on the image of the book at the top of the screen, you will notice a sentence that highlights the strongest point of the book: "...reassuringly answers the concerns of mothers- and father-to-be." We couldn't agree more.

Several times throughout the pregnancy, my wife has had various symptoms that, while quite normal, were alarming for a first-time pregnant couple. Neither of the other two books said very much about these symptoms, but the What to Expect book reassuringly and accurately helped us evaluate whether the symptoms were anything to worry about. Examples are: Is extreme fatigue a sign of danger? Are nosebleeds anything to worry about? What about abdominal cramps during the second trimester? In most cases, the What to Expect was the best book of the three, allowing us to quickly find these concerns in the index, and read about them at length.

Most importantly, the What to Expect book described the symptoms in sufficient detail to allow us to distinguish them from the truly serious.

In short: there are many problems with this book. The month-by-month organization is not very useful, and there just isn't very much information about the biological aspects of pregnancy (Simkin's books provide that information very well). Sometimes, though, some of us just need to put that little bit of worry in our heads to rest. And this book helped us do just that.

On a side note, I noticed that many reviewers accused this book of being alarmist. I found that the Curtis book was much more alarmist than the What to Expect book. Curtis's book might as well be named "What Could Be Wrong with Your Pregnancy Week-by-Week." The What to Expect book at least groups the most fear-inspiring stuff towards the end, in a separate chapter.

This book is a guide to pregnancy and childbirth for women who really don't care to be truly informed. It is only slightly more information than the average doctor will divulge, and glosses over many of the risks of some of the procedures discussed. In particular, it doesn't give an adequate description of the risks a cesarian has for the mom and baby, and also for future pregnancies and deliveries. It also has misinformation regarding breastfeeding. When I was pregnant with my first, I bought this book thinking it was the "bible" of childbirth books. After my first birth, and my subsequent research, I won't even *give* it away-- I don't want anyone else running around with this kind of misinformation at her fingertips. A much better book for those who truly want to be informed is Henci Goer's "Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Childbirth."

When we decided to get pregnant, we read something like 25 books. One year and one baby later, I kind of feel like an expert in baby books. So let me say that this book is far and away the best pregnancy book and it is no surprise that it has been a bestseller for many years.

This book is a complete, professional, non-judgemental reference. A lot of books try too hard to be funny or cute. WTE is not humorless, but it deals with subject matter in a refreshingly straightforward way. The advice and help given echoes what our doctors have said and answered most of our questions before we even saw our Obstetritian (no, it's not a substitute).

This book covered EVERYTHING. It answered all our questions about diet, medication, flu shots, cat ownership, false labor, vitamin supplements, cramps, ultrasound, breastfeeding or how to judge your OB/GYN. All the answers were in here, along with tons of other stuff we didn't think about until we came across it here.

Most importantly, this book isn't judgemental. There are a ton of controversial issues associated with pregnancy (medication, breast feeding, circumcision). Lots of books out make a lot of assumptions about religion, single parents, "modern times" or they just avoid some issues entirely. This book assumes you can make up your own mind once you're presented with all the information. This book wasn't a replacement for our doctors, but it gave us a lot of really useful information without taking a side.

If the book has a flaw, it is the diet section. Do yourself a favor and skip that section. In all fairness, this is a flaw of a lot of the books we read (some of them reading like 1950s "Keep Young And Beautiful" rants). Our doctor gave us a 10 page handout that gave us all the information we needed.

Like I say, we read a lot of pregnancy books. It's pretty shocking how many we found to be completly WORTHLESS! I don't want to name names, and I've already written a couple of negative reviews, but I'm thinking particularly of the ones full of Erma Bombeck-esque anecdotes about La Maz classes, the "staying chic while you're pregnant" fashion mag type, the old-fashioned preachy church-lady books, or--worst of all--the "nutrition" books that focused almost entirely on weight. Some of these books are written by people with no medical qualifications at all!

A good rule of thumb: if the author has no medical qualifications, the book will be useless from a medical standpoint. Would you allow a fashion magazine editor to make up your mind about having an epidural?

Just about every pregnancy book uses the "What Nobody Will Tell You" tagline. Once you've read this book, there will be very few surprises left. There isn't a topic that isn't touched on and just about everything you need is covered in depth. That's not to say this is the only book you need, but it goes a long, long way.

I'm only harping on this because I was pretty shocked to read some of the negative reviews that complained about WTE containing a lot of information on rare pregnancy situations, saying that such information was "scary" and "unnecessary". WTE gives plenty of information on what is serious as opposed to what is a false alarm. Nobody PLANS on having a troubled pregnancy! Aren't you better off knowing what's involved and how to detect and prevent such things? I suppose for some people ignorance is bliss, but we were MUCH happier being prepared. When we went into labor 5 weeks early, we felt at least somewhat prepared for it because it was extensively covered in the book!

If you're looking for entertainment, pick up something else or rent a movie. But if you're looking for a complete, professional, and useful reference book, What To Expect While You're Expecting is THE BEST and it will be the standard for years to come.

I would like to recommend this book especially to first time mothers because it has detailed month by month pictures and information detailing the monthly changes in your body. The authors present "everything" in a step-by-step format, which is very useful and easy to follow. This book will answer most of your questions. It provides also a lot of information about what may go wrong. I guess that this specific information could be presented in a milder way because more anxious mothers-to-be may get worried.Being a sexual therapist as well, I advised my daughter to buy in addition to this book "scientificlly guaranteed male multiple orgasms and ultimate sex". Pregnancy is a tough period for sex no matter how much you strive to be intimate with your husband. That's why he most probably will feel bad or even rejected from the serious decrease in your intimate contacts. Now she reads "What to expect when you are expecting" while her husband reads Ritz' book and prepares for "ultimate sex" after the delivery. I recommend both books!

this is a wonderful book, especially for first time mothers. it answers all your questions and questions you wouldn't even think of. definitely recommend it!