Rating: 
Summary: Great for obsessive types like me
Review: I tend to be slightly obsessive about everything I do, and getting pregnant was no exception. Once I decided I wanted to have a baby, I wanted to arm myself with the facts on what it would take to conceive quickly and increase my chances of giving birth to the healthiest baby possible. I also wanted a book that would get inside my head and know the kinds of things I would be obsessing about in the middle of the night -- like whether the particular type of cold cuts or soft cheese I'd eaten at lunch that day were going to be harmful to my baby, or whether it was safe for me to break down and take a painkiller for the headache that was driving me to distraction. This book delivered the goods on all fronts, anticipating all my obsessive mama questions from preconception through postpartum, and doing a particularly fine job of battling my labor jitters. Highly recommended for my fellow obsessive types!
Rating:
Summary: Anticipates and answers your questions
Review: What has impressed me most about the books in this series is the fact that the author is able to anticipate the types of questions and concerns that are likely to be on your mind at a particular point in your life (when you are trying to conceive, newly pregnant, or waiting to go into labor, for example) and then makes a point of providing you with the very types of information you need to address those concerns. I have been particularly impressed with this title because it is both comprehensive and reassuring. No matter what I happened to be worrying about at the time, the author always seemed to have something reassuring or encouraging to say on the subject.The book covers more ground than most pregnancy books. You'll find chapters on preconception health, fertility, infertility, maximizing your chances of giving birth to a healthy baby, and preparing for life after baby, in addition to all the pregnancy and birth-related chapters you can expect to find in any pregnancy book. There are charts and checklists galore, which means that there is a lot of information packed into the 582 pages of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but charts are annoying...
Review: I bought this book on the recommendations of the reviews at Amazon. I agree it is a good book that covers many topics, but I don't like the layout. So much of the book is charts that require you to turn the book, so it doesn't make very good in-bed reading, or in public places. I kept feeling like I was looking at the centerfold of a magazine! I think they could have presented the information within the chapter, and not with a chart. This is more of a reference book than one you can read from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: My pregnancy bible...again
Review: This book lived on my bedside table during my first pregnancy a year-and-a-half ago and it will be by my side during this pregnancy, too. It was the book I turned to every time I had a question and most times the answer I needed was there. (No one book is going to have the answer to every question, after all.) I kept a running list of the questions I didn't find answered in the book and e-mailed them to the author, who is intending to try to answer those questions in the next edition in a few years' time. She was really friendly and answered my e-mail personally, by the way. So if anyone else has suggestions about things that should be added to the next edition of the book, you might want to do what I did and e-mail the author. Her e-mail address is in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very informative - which is good and bad!
Review: This is the first pregnancy book I bought and I actually bought it before I was pregnant. I found it very informative at that time. Now that I'm actually pregnant, it seems that every time I pick up the book I read about something bad because this book does cover a lot of the bad things that can happen when you're pregnant. So be careful of that. But the book is extremely informative and complete and is the only one that I have needed. The writing is very clear and concise. The book also contains quotes from different women which are very interesting to read.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for those planning to get pregnant
Review: My husband and I have decided to start a family shortly and as is typical with me, I want to be as prepared as possible, so I bought a couple of books on preparing for your pregnancy, including this book. While I haven't read the whole thing yet, I'm already impressed. Granted, I'm not even pregnant yet, but I am already learning so many things that I didn't even know about in order to prepare for the most healthy conception. The charts in this book are great and there is so much information in here that I know I'm going to need a second copy after all of the thumbing through this book that I will do even after we are actually pregnant. So I'd recommend it for those who are even planning but not yet pregnant, and hey, you've already got a great source on-hand when you do reach that wonderful stage in life... :)
Rating:
Summary: Informative, perhaps too much so
Review: This is the fourth pregnancy book I've purchased, and I was a bit disappointed. Yes, it contains a lot of information not found elsewhere, but honestly I could have done without reading about all the potential birth defects, fatal complications and generally bad things that can happen. Not for the weak of heart, or the hormonal.
Rating:
Summary: Answers all your first-time questions
Review: ... and some you didn't even know you had. The information in the book is very comprehensive. I'm at the beginning of my first pregnancy, and for a person that used to be relatively worry-free, I've found myself worrying a lot about my activities and so on and how that affects the baby. Douglas gave a lot of detailed, sensible answers to almost any question that I could think of, and when there was some discrepancy between women / care providers on an issue, it was noted, and I appreciated that (i.e. it laid out the facts, rather than preached on what a person should or shouldn't do in those circumstances). The only drawback, and this I can't completely see as a fault, is that the book was SO complete that I ended up worrying MORE about things that I never even dreamed would be an issue.
Rating: 
Summary: Father bashing
Review: I don't like the way men are portrayed in this book :(
Rating:
Summary: father bashing
Review: After reading the book, as preparation towards OUR pregnancy the book seems to only concentrate and point out that men (future fathers) are not interested in their wife or their kids - other the finance, sports and yes even other women. From a male perspective this book treats them at a very low level despite the fact that we all women and mothers know that a successful pregnancy is done by BOTH parents. Not to mention of how personally depressing it can be to read that I would be on my own, without any affection or support from my husband, it motivates you NOT to have a child at all!
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