Rating: 
Summary: It's very informative and complete!
Review: I got this book from my OB doctor, and I like it a lot!. It has a lot of information of what is happening in your body and with your baby, and tips about what to do to improve normal conditions during pregnancy and how to prevent things that could go wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Way Over-Rated!
Review: While this book has some essential information; other pregnancy books do, too, and they'll probably be better written. This book has some built-in biases that are hard to get around, and the major question-answer format of the book means that if your question does not exactly match the one in the book, you might feel frustrated wanting a complete answer. Furthermore, the word choice of this book may leave a pregnant woman feeling much more alarmed than reassured. Likewise, if you're not married and you're gaining average weight or more, you're going to feel slighted. Although this book is often called "The Bible" for pregnant moms, it's got its problems. It's inflexible and uncompassionate, and a sensitive woman with raging hormones might feel it. This book doesn't seem to recognize the varieties of ways a woman can get through a pregnancy, and it doesn't encourage a woman to think for herself. As a first-time mom, I was really relying on this book, and I was really let down. Buy any book but this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Try other books
Review: Everyone I know recommends this book ... probably because it has been around the longest and people didn't bother researching other books. There are MUCH better pregnancy books out there! Don't spend your money on this one unless you want to hear all the possible complications with pregnancy. Try "Your Pregnancy Week By Week" by Curtis instead! :)
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the worry warts!
Review: This book is very informative. It covers everything you need to know while pregnant. However, if you are one who constantly worries if you or your baby are o.k. This book is not for you. It tells you everything that could possibly go wrong with your pregnancy. I found Pregnancy Week By Week just as informative and not as scary.
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Summary: Excellent book for expectant moms and dads
Review: This book provides answers from A to Z about pregnancy issues. I read every page and found all of it useful. I also must recommend Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self to give all us expectant moms the mental tool to stop self-sabotage, be our best and make the most of every day. If you read these books, you'll have everything you need to bring a baby into the world and make the most of life.
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Summary: Good, but preachy
Review: I got this book when I first found out I was pregnant. Overall, it's a good book & worth having, but it's a little heavy on the absolutes. For instance, it says that a woman who selects peanut butter over tuna fish as a source of protein is doing her unborn child a disservice, because tuna has more protein & less fat per ounce. Well, when I read that, I was eating peanut butter & not tuna because I was dealing with morning sickness & the mere thought of tuna made me physically ill. But having someone tell me- albeit in print- that I was not making wise choices for my child made me feel very guilty. I really could have done without that. That's just one example.Overall, I'm glad that I have the book, but it didn't have to be so heavy-handed about what you eat. There's good info about the growth of the child, what's going on month-by-month, & I'm very glad I have it. Just take it with a grain of salt.
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Summary: saved my life
Review: i am the mom of a 3yr old girl that was born at 30wks at the time of pregnancy i lived about a hour away from the best womens and childrens hospital of my area and a good 30 from the hospital it was this book that helped me be aware that i was coming down with a bad case of preeclapmsia and by the time i found out what was going on i was being rushed off in a ambulance in less then 4 weeks of finding this out me and my baby almost died any way it is a very bad thing to come down with and i knew nothing about this dieseas if it was not for this book i would be dead my doctor never told me about this and i had just been to a doctor appt. and they said i was fine but i was not fine
i would love to give all my thanks to the author of this book if it was not for your book i would never had known mine and my baby's lives where in danger
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Summary: Not for the independent, educated woman in her 30's!
Review: This book was given to me with the best of intentions by my sister-in-law who remembered this book from her high school days when one of her friends was pregnant. Apparently, it was considered informative and an excellent resource back then. But high school was almost twenty years ago, and with the amount of health information available to us now, and people's just plain being more educated nowadays, I don't see much use for this book anymore. Overall, I think the information is too simplified and simplistic, which gives it a condescending, "cause I said so" sort of tone. For example, there is no real medical explanation behind the Best Odds Diet this book puts forth; the only thing that could be said is that it's a relatively sensible diet given what we already know about nutrition. As for the previous reviews describing this book as opinionated and preachy - I agree. If you don't want to get aggravated, stay away from the section on the Pros and Cons of Breastfeeding, which offers all the usual Pros, blah blah blah, but when it comes to the Cons, there are explanations such as some women feel it gets in the way of their sex lives, some women simply have an aversion to breastfeeding, etc. So in short, you're a good mother if you do, you're a selfish woman with "issues" if you don't. Hey, I'm all for breastfeeding, and I plan to do it as long as I can once my baby is born, but there are other more legitimate reasons why some women don't or can't. In general, I would recommend this book only for: a) anyone who for some reason does not already know most of what this book tells you to expect, b) someone who for some reason has no other resources, or c) someone who needs a reality check such as a pregnant, uninformed teenager who needs a slap upside the head.
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Summary: Did not live up to it's reputation
Review: I rushed out and bought this book the day I found out I was pregnant because it has a good reputation. Once I got it home and started into it, I found it to be uninteresting and not a good preparation for the coming months. The authors focused way too much on diet- which during your first trimester when morning sickness runs rampant, diet advice is not what you need. Also, there was a lot of "what if this happens.." and moms-to-be do not need more things to worry about. There are far better books out there for pregnant women who don't want to worry about everything for 9 months.
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Summary: A patronizing, judgmental and condescending travesty!
Review: I don't know how on earth this book got its reputation as "the place to go" for pregnancy-related information. It preys on women's fears about pregnancy, using scare techniques to convince them not to question the outdated "facts" presented. The science is overly simplified, the "best odds diet" is exaggerated (apparently because the authors don't believe women will take all their advice, so some is better than none) and the answers to the hypothetical questions posed are guilt-mongering and almost uniformly worst-case-scenario. For example, the beginning of the book presents three personality types: she who puts blind and unquestioning faith in her doctor; she who wants to make informed decisions and take charge of the experience; and she who lets the doctor make all the big decisions while leaving the smaller ones to her. There's nothing wrong with the second type. But the authors manage to imply that any woman who dares question a doctor's wisdom is misguided at best, self-destructive at worst. This is so wrong! Today's health care consumer needs to educate herself and make up her own mind instead of blindly relying on one person for all her information. Unfortunately, this patronizing, condescending tone dominates the book. I got so sick of feeling like the authors were patting me on the head and saying, "Oh, don't worry your pretty little head. Just put all your faith in your doctor; he'll take care of you." This is NOT what today's informed consumers need to hear. If you're looking for a *real* book of information on pregnancy, I recommend Dr. Sears' "The Pregnancy Book." His information is much more factual, and he treats women like human beings with brains instead of talking down to them.
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