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Summary: Promotes a healthy pregnancy lifestyle without being preachy
Review: Some pregnancy books come across as preachy or patronizing, but this one is deliciously down-to-earth and funny: you feel like you know the author (or you want to). She "gets" what it's like to feel queasy or exhausted or to secretly crave a glass of wine (but to be too embarrassed to admit it for fear of being pegged a bad mother). But don't be fooled: the book is overflowing with facts on all kinds of important pregnancy topics. It's a great resource -- one I recommend to my prenatal fitness clients along with Pregnancy Fitness and Buff Moms-to-Be.
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Summary: Shares your excitement of being pregnant
Review: Unlike a lot of pregnancy books that seem to get bogged down in the biology of pregnancy, The Mother of All Pregnancy Books really captures the emotions of pregnancy. Something else that really impressed me about this book was the format. The book is structured by subject so that you can easily find the information you are looking for (e.g., preconception, fertility, nutrition, fitness, aches and pains, worries, preparing for labor and delivery, postpartum, etc.) I also appreciated the fact that the book contains detailed appendices such as a glossary, a directory of pregnancy/birth/baby-related organizations, a list of useful Web sites, helpful documents such as a birth plan and a list of emergency childbirth procedures (hope I don't ever need those, but you never know!), and a list of recommended readings so that expectant parents can do some additional reading to round out their knowledge of pregnancy, birth, and baby care before their baby's due date.
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Summary: A book that expectant fathers can enjoy reading, too
Review: My wife has given birth twice in the past two years. While I found a lot of the books in her pregnancy book collection were very much geared to the mother-to-be, this book contained enough information on how having a baby affects the father-to-be's life to capture my attention and was entertaining enough to keep me reading. I'm not a huge fan of the pregnancy books that are specifically geared towards fathers-to-be because I find a lot of them to be either too "rah rah" for my liking, or simply too patronizing for words, so I'd recommend that expectant fathers check out this book as well as "From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds."
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Summary: Not worth the money
Review: Against the popular positive review of this book, I think this book is awful. The humor in the book is really humorless. It didn't tell me anything new or that other books haven't already said in a better way. And, the first third of the book is on whether you are ready to be pregnant, how to get pregnant, etc. I am already pregnant and didn't expect the book with its title to spend so much time on this topic. On the up-note, it is written at a 4th grade level, so I have breezed through most of the book in a night. I bought another book at the same time, the Mayo Clinic's pregnancy book and like it so much better. It is truly a valuable, well-researched reference book. Although a bit hefty in size, it is truly useful. The Mayo Clinic book I shall keep for a lifetime. On the hand, I am bringing the Mother of All Pregnancy books straight to Goodwill or the recycling bin.
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Summary: A book we enjoyed reading together
Review: Unlike a lot of pregnancy books that seem to forget that this generation of fathers want to be actively involved in their partner's pregnancies, The Mother of All Pregnancy Books is a book that can be enjoyed by fathers-to-be as well as mothers-to-be. We enjoyed reading it together, just as we enjoyed attending childbirth classes together, shopping for baby stuff together, and otherwise planning for the birth of our baby.
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Summary: Great reading for those sleepless nights...
Review: I spent my whole third trimester waking up 4-5 times a night with sciatica and the whole...bladder issue. I am so glad that I had The Mother of all Pregnancy Books as my husband snored away beside me. I really thought we were ready for pregnancy, but once we were in the throws of it, I needed constant reassurance...from my midwives, my doula and Ann Douglas. I felt really informed about choosing to have a home birth. And being plus-sized, I really felt good about the advice on what to eat, what to avoid, and not obsessing about my weight, but just being healthy. I would absolutely recommend this book to any couple trying to get pregnant. Hey, my husband bought it for me to tell me "he was ready!"
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Summary: Strikes the perfect balance between humor and seriousness
Review: Most pregnancy books either bore you to death by piling upon fact after fact in encylopedia-like fashion or treat pregnancy as one hilarious nine-month-long joke that you're not supposed to take particularly seriously. The Mother of All Pregnancy Books understands that while it's important to take pregnancy seriously (it is, after all, a totally life-altering experience for most women), it's also important to recognize that it can be a joyful time in a woman's life, too, and that there's nothing wrong with laughing at some of the more bizarre pregnancy rites of passage (like seeing your belly button "pop" or realizing that you can no longer see your feet when you're standing in an upright position). The book is intelligently written and packed with insider tips on surviving what is likely to be the most memorable 9 1/2 months of your life. Just think of it as a thoroughly honest travel guide to the strangest destination you've set your sites on yet: pregnancy.
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Summary: excellent guide to having a baby
Review: I read about ten different pregnancy books when I was pregnant with my twins last year and this was my favorite general pregnancy book. (My favorite twins pregnancy book is Tamara Eberlein and Barbara Luke's book on twins and triplets.) I liked it because it seemed to contain the answers to my pregnancy questions and because it was well organized and easy to read. I also really liked the author's sense of humor. Not sure why another reviewer described the author's humor as "sarcasm." It didn't come across that way to me at all. I just found her really funny in a girlfriend-to-girlfriend kind of way.
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Summary: Good if you can get pass the attempts of humor.
Review: This book was written in a easy to read simple manner. I felt that Douglas repeated herself too much throughout the book and her sarcasm was quite corny. Overall, the book was informative and provided good charts for quick referencing.
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Summary: Very realistic description of labor
Review: A lot of pregnancy books really beat around the bush when it comes to telling you what labor is going to be like. This book gives you the facts, and answers all your questions about what to expect from a cesarean or vaginal delivery. You will feel prepared (or as prepared as you can every really be for something you've never experienced before) if you read this book.
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