Rating: Summary: Not for me Review: I got about a third of the way through before I put the book down and walked away. I'm as sensitive new age guys as most Left Coast urban guys, but this one just rubbed me the wrong way. The author is pretty pedantic about the baby-making process, since evidently he slept through sex-ed and thinks us guys did, too. I can probably summarize the book this way: 1. Sperm + egg = baby! 2. You're the father of the child. Let's get in touch with that feeling. That's... OK. I can accept my fatherhood. 3. Your wife/girlfriend/woman having your baby is having a horrible time. This is because she's having a baby. Please see #1. 4. What mother wants, mother gets. Do not question #4. Ever. 5. Let's return to that getting in touch with that feeling thing again. What I want is a guy's book written from a guy's perspective that isn't sappy, trite, or just tells guys to sit down and shut up. I wish someone could create something that's funny, interesting, informative, and relatively short, something like Kaz Cooke's Up The Duff (aka Bun In The Oven). Wish someone would write one....
Rating: Summary: Good info but.... Review: This book has good information that is useful to me when my wife and I were having our first baby. Thanks to the author. But he tends to portray too much of himself as the perfect husband/father... I am sure he is not the kind of husband who only sits on the sofa watching TV and farts while the wife is laboring in the kitchen, neither am I... but he should just sticks to giving important information instead of adding 'I did this' and 'I did that'in the book. It makes some people wanna puke....
Rating: Summary: Fills a gap Review: This is an important book, as it seems to be the only one available on this topic. There are many of these sort of month-to-month guides for expectant mothers, but for some reason expectant fathers seem to have been left out of the equation. In the past, I guess expectant fathers needing advice had to use one of the guidebooks for expectant mothers - surely leading to potentially dangerous birth situations, since women's biology and anatomy is so different from men's. It's all very well for expectant mothers, who are, after all, just following a fairly standard and well sign-posted path. Expectant fathers, however, surely need as much guidance as they can get!
Rating: Summary: Would you like a doggy bag for that? Review: Absolutely terriable. This book seems outdated. From how he describes his pregnancy test it doesn't sound like he's gone through the process since the 1970s. In many cases his comments just seem stupid. I quit reading after he devoted a whole page to saying that he took his placenta home, stored it in the freezer (along with some of his friends placentas...) then buried them and planted a tree over them. Hope he doesn't grab the wrong item when going in for leftovers...
Rating: Summary: Look Someplace Else.... Review: As natural childbirth advocates we found Mr. Brott's advice decidely slanted against the use of midwives and unmedicated births. The mention that most women who hold no religious affiliation choose midwives was enough to turn my protruding belly! I have a religious affiliation, work for a religious institution and still have chosen a midwife in birth. I would not mind his book so much if he provided a balanced view of both sides of the coin but he seems only comfortable with what he knows which is why he is not anti-doula (used in his wife's last birth). I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking unbaised advice nor would I recommend it to anyone who has no knowledge of birthing options as he makes his uneducated case very strongly. He is borderline scary.
Rating: Summary: Takes you through month-by-month Review: GREAT BOOK! This is my first baby and I am much more knowledgeable as a result of this wook my wife bought me! I like it because it "gets real" about the hormonal changes in your spouse and yes, YOU!!!! I'm not walking around in the dark with my wife's experiences anymore. I understand a lot of her moods and a lot of her needs better as a result of this easy to read, insightful book. I recommend it to anyone going through a pregnancy!!!
Rating: Summary: Mom Having her First Baby Review: I bought this for daddy at about 3 months. He isn't a big reader, I've read it, and during each month I find key important facts, and have him read a paragraph or two. It's cute how they put it in mens perspective. It tells the changes mommy's body will be going through and how daddy should react to her. It's cute, I would recomend it to all new daddys.
Rating: Summary: Mostly good but soured, in places, Review: It seems so long ago I got this book - my wife brought it back from a business trip hoping that it would be "necessary"; she had instructed me to go to the pharmacy to pick up the pregnancy test ready for her. Luckily the book was needed and prooved to be most useful. If you are the to-be-Dad and are annoyed that in these days of sharing, there aren't any books aimed at you, here is the book you need. Along side a lot of stuff you'll find in the standard maternity books, are some thoughts about what you might be feeling, about how your life will change and ideas about how to help out. Probably the best pieces of advice I got from this was to make sure you would be a father, not a surrogate mother. For instance, Armin makes the point that often a Dad having to stay home for the day with their child(ren) will say they are babysitting. No, Armin says, you are not babysitting - you are being a father. This philosophy has been very helpful as I have helped my daughter grow. My wife stays at home and so gets the lion share of the attention, but I've re-arranged my workday so I now leave in the wee hours and get back home by 4.30 - which gives me a lot of time with my daughter. I think reading this book really helped me to make those sort of choices. My one grumble is that Armin can be a bit dismissive of us men. OK, seeing some of my family members, perhaps he's right but they would never have read this book anyway! It seems to me that us Dads reading this book probably don't have to be told that it would be helpful to do some cooking or cleaning when our wife / girlfriend is pregnant or the baby has recently arrived because we are already doing so!
Rating: Summary: Too neurotic Review: While the book spends a lot of time trying to convince fathers that the feelings they have are normal, it went overboard. My husband couldn't get past the first chapter because of the overabundance of discussions on paternal jealousy, envy, etc. etc. Not enough discussion of what's going on with the baby early on to balance it out. By the time they get to anything useful, he was thoroughly disgusted with the book. Just have him read your books.
Rating: Summary: You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! Review: I got this book for my husband, hoping it would help him to understand and participate in our pregnancy. Instead, it has turned out to be a source of comic relief! That anyone can take this book seriously is laughable. I was amazed to find that it had been updated in the last 10 years, with many references to outdated hospital procedures and research. Not to mention that it simply does not appeal to its target market - recommending men "cool off" from frustrating encounters with their pregnant partners by "writing in a journal" and other such atypical male behaviors. Men who are that in touch with their partners and themselves should read more informative selections that are not watered down for naive fathers-to-be! All in all, if you need a laugh, this is the book for you. If you are serious about understanding the pregnancy, go for something else, perhaps "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin.
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