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Summary: The Staple book for expecting mothers. GREAT book!!
Review: This book is a lifesaver. Keep one handy at all times during pregnancy. Nearly every expectant mom I know used this book because it is so good. Helps also to prepare you for doctor visits by making you more informed and helping you to ask good questions. Great! Also read EFFORTLESS WELLBEING: The Missing Ingredients for Authentic Wellness, by Evan Finer, for an amazing book about overall wellness -- can easily be applied to keeping calm and centered during pregnancy and parenting.... Highly recommended!! Great gifts!
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Summary: Great Primer to Parenthood
Review: There are more than 1000 titles in Amazon under parenthood, and I feel this is the best-written, most helpful guide to the beginner parent. Every Mom and Dad will have a few key chapters they return to over and over, and large portions of the book they ignore. Here are two more books you can't live without--first, the funniest and most insightful book ever written about parenting, "I SLEEP AT RED LIGHTS: A TRUE STORY OF LIFE AFTER TRIPLETS," by Bruce Stockler, a really amazing and unique book about how parenthood changes your life forever; and Operating Instructions, by Annie LaMott, the first and best-written of the parenting memoirs.
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Summary: Excellent book - well worth it
Review: I got this book when I was about a month pregnant and found it to be a really useful, compassionate, sensible and informative guide all the way through. I don't really understand the negative reviews - it seems to me people are a. immediately assuming just because the book discusses problems in pregnancy that the book is implying that you should be worried about these things, and b. upset because the book doesn't discuss in detail things that come at the end of the pregnancy like breast-feeding and C-sections (this is because it is a book largely about pregnancy!) The only reason that I gave it four stars rather than five was because of the relentless emphasis on their Pregnancy Diet, which I thought was ridiculous. Obviously, you don't want to be eating a lot of junk food through the pregnancy, but the diet they propose is completely unrealistic. Otherwise, I would recommend this book highly!!!
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Summary: Misleading - do not recommend!
Review: As a childbirth educator, I found that even though this book is well organized and is easy to read, it does not provide risks, side affects, and natural alternatives for many medical procedures presented. It encourages kind of a wait and see attitude in terms of preparing for labor and birth instead of really providing the information in a factual way so that women and think about and make the best informed decisions regarding procedures and meds. I found that to be quite irresponsible. I think this may be one of the reasons we have a 25% ceserean rate in the US.
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Summary: Don't get this book!
Review: This is a book that tells you evetything that can go wrong in your pregnancy. I found it to be filled with many questions that just indice fear. I asked my doctor and he said it is the worst pregnancy book ever written. He said "Pregnancy Weekly" is much better and I found it to be so helpful and informative,unlike this book. I know it is incredibly popular, but it scared me half to death with all of its do's and don'ts. I say get another book. This one is terrible.
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Summary: What to Expect from this book
Review: What to Expect from this book......... A simplistically written book which assumes the reader an ignoramus.
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Summary: Wordy, but lots of information
Review: I found this book to have a lot of useful information, but it starts off very wordy. I read a little bit each night, instead of sitting down and trying to read large sections of the book. I would get bored and forget what I'd read. The Pregnancy Diet
There is a recipe section, that if I had the time, may be of some use. However, making cream of tomato soup from scratch is time consuming and more expensive that buying the can and adding milk. All of the recipes in that section need to be made from scratch, even the French fries, not a practical suggestion for someone who has a job. Part 2 - Nine Months & Counting
The Question & Answer format was really helpful. Most of the questions give you about half a page of really useful information, with facts, but not overstating the answer to the question presented. Part 3
From postpartum to breastfeeding to Daddy, the section mixes the Q & A format with the informational format from the 1st section of the book. This section is very useful for understand your postpartum 1-6 weeks and tips for breastfeeding holds. The "Expectant Father" section is in the Q & A format, and may have some things that Mommy hasn't realized about Daddy. You're husband or partner may not read the whole book, but is 1 chapter really gonna hurt him? Part 4 - Special Concerns
This was something that had never even crossed my mind until I read this book. From common colds to measles, as well as how to deal with symptoms of illness. "I have a fever, should I take aspirin?" and a bunch of other questions like that. It is an informative section that some may not even think about when they are expecting. Pregnancy Notes section
I think that this is a very creative section because you have 2 pages to write down your personal notes for each month. The book also suggests that you show the notes to your doctor, so they know what's going on, since they can't be with you 24/7.
Rating: 
Summary: I've read worse, but I'm glad I didn't spend money on it.
Review: My copy of WTEWYE (the second edition, not the new third edition) was handed down to me by a friend with a box of maternity clothes and a bunch of books on pregnancy and breastfeeding. She said, "I want the rest of the books back, but you can keep that one, or give it away, or recycle it -- I don't care." After I read it myself, I understood why. I wanted to give this book 1 star for annoying me so much, but I have to admit, there's some useful stuff in there, so I'm compromising on 2 stars. First, the good stuff: It is really interesting to read about what's happening at different stages during your pregnancy. I'm sure a lot of people are comforted to read how common their uncomfortable or weird symptoms are. And, yes, it is a good idea to eat nutritious foods and take vitamins while you're pregnant. However ... I found the month-by-month format really annoying, (a) because pregnancy is measured in weeks, so I could never quite figure out what month I was in and (b) it gets sooooo repetitive. The question-and-answer format was also irritating, also for two reasons: first, the questions are so maddeningly specific that the odds are very few will apply to you; second, if the question is even halfway serious, the answer is always "ask your doctor". Well, you know what? If I wanted to ask my doctor every single time, I would just do that. The book is supposed to help you find some of the answers yourself. Then there's the "Best-Odds Diet" (which I call the "In What Universe Could I Stick To This? Diet"). I've heard other women complain that with their horrible morning sickness, the BOD's expectations are ridiculous. I'm here to tell you that even if, like me, you are lucky enough to have almost no morning sickness, they're still ridiculous. Despite having an enormous appetite, I simply could not eat that much food in one day. Still less could I force myself to forgo ice cream and consider a bagel once a week a "treat". I am by no means a junk food addict, and I voluntarily eat brown rice and beans and whole-wheat bread, but following the BOD was just beyond me, and I can't tell you how much I resented that smug little phrase, "Ask yourself: 'Is this the best bite I can take for my baby?'." I gained 35 pounds; by 6 months postpartum I'd lost it all; and my daughter was born on time, healthy, and gorgeous. Just relax and eat sensibly. The section on why you should breastfeed is at best half-hearted, and it's "balanced" by a section on why you might not want to breastfeed. OK, I realize some people *can't* breastfeed -- but this isn't what the authors talk about. They're interested in people who don't *want* to, and they do nothing to dispell foolish myths like "my breasts will be saggy if I breastfeed." Yeah, they will. They'll also be saggy if you don't, because you've already been pregnant for 9 months and they've doubled in size. Get over it. Finally, and most annoyingly, this book encourages you to refer all concerns, questions, and decisions to your OB. There are times when this is appropriate, but there are many more situations when you really should do your research and take responsibility -- for your own sake and your baby's. If you are naturally inclined to do that, this book is going to cheese you off. If you aren't, you will get no encouragement whatsoever to change your ways and think for yourself. For example, I did not appreciate being told that if my practitioner allowed it, I might be able to drink some water during labour, or that if my doctor said it was OK I could try labouring in a position of my choice. All prenatal testing is treated as mandatory, although in reality it isn't. If you have any interest in non-medicated birth or "extended" nursing, you'll need to look elsewhere for support. In my edition, a lot of the prenatal tests I was offered are simply not discussed; presumably this has been rectified in the new edition. In general, there was insufficient medical detail for me (except in the sections on all the horrible things that could go wrong), but then, I'm an information junkie. If you get this book as a gift, try it before you toss it -- it's not all bad. But don't waste your money buying it new.
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Summary: I found this book to be completely useless
Review: This book was given to me by someone as a gift. I found it to be no help at all. Often, it didn't address any of the questions I did have and was packed with a lot of information that I felt was pretty much common sense. I also found it odd that certain areas had a lot of information and other areas had relatively little or nothing. For example it had roughly three pages on the ill-effects of smoking but only about one page combined on alcohol and narcotics. Honestly, I would find a different resource for my questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Doom and Gloom
Review: I was very excited to get this book and to get reading about what my first pregnancy would be like and while it did give me the basics as to what to expect during my first doctor's visit and what was the cause behind initial cramping for example, it also scared me terribly. Now, I am not a "La La" type and need things sugar coated, actually I am pretty realistic but this book has you not making a move without consulting it and everything that you may do is absolutely going to result in a miscarriage. I am an older mother-to-be so have those concerns anyway so didn't need them compounded by the book. My doctor disagreed with most of the recs - flying, massage, cold medicines etc - and said that while she was pregnant she had bed rest and read about 20 of the books and this one should be dumped. She recommended, "The Girlfriend's Guide..." I will keep this book on hand because it is a good reference but I will also get "Girlfriend" to see what real women are feeling and ask my doctor if I have concerns. If I kept up with this book, I would never leave the house.
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