Rating: 
Summary: Informative and easy to read
Review: This book was a pleasure to have. It was great to know what to expect, and how the baby was progressing each week. This book had the added benefit of being informative without being frightening. Also, the week-by-week format made it easy to digest.
Rating: 
Summary: an anti-woman book
Review: Of the 20 books on pregnancy that I read during mine, this was the worst one. It's obvious intent is to scare women into unquestioning submission to their doctors rather than give them accurate and empowering information to make wise pregnancy and birth choices for themselves. Giving ample information on very rare and serious complications, Curtis ignores the very real dangers of the common interventions he is so fond of. For instance, the only mention of fetal monitors is that they will be used in labor, but he fails to mention that studies show no improvement in maternal or fetal morbididy and a 25% increase in c-sections when monitors are used! He gives scant attention to prepared childbirth, and his only definition of pain management is drugs. I was most disgusted with his discussion on episiotomy, a normally unnecessary and universally-loathed surgery. I wouldn't recommend this book to any 1st time mom. Better to choose a more realistic book, like one by Sears & Sears.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference
Review: This book is a wonderful resource for, especially, first-time moms. For those first 20 weeks, when the pregnancy still seems theoretical, it's great to see a picture of what your child looks like, even though you can't feel it. It makes the experience more real and reassuring. It was amazingly accurate. The very week I would start to experience a change, Dr. Curtis would often address that very change in the week's chapter. The medical information about possible disorders is useful, too. Some of it can be skipped, unless your doctor suspects a problem. Nonetheless, it's good to have the information. I highly recommend this book to first-time moms.
Rating:
Summary: I looked forward to this book every week.
Review: I really looked forward to reading this book every week. I found it very informative. Although there are many descriptions of what can go wrong, I didn't feel that is was negative or threatening to my pregnancy. I loved the start of each chapter, that talked about how I might be feeling, and the changes in my body as well as how much weight I should be gaining.It made me feel as if everything was in check. The pictures of the growing baby, made me feel as if I could really see my baby inside of me. I read it through my first pregnancy and will continue to read it through my second. I highly recomend this book, to mothers and fathers.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of information - Easy to read
Review: I read Week by Week during my first pregnancy. I really enjoyed reading about the changes that were happening to both me and the baby as each week progressed. The book covers a great deal of information and is easy to read. A great companion book to Week by Week is We're Pregnant! by Cindy and Eugene Kappler. We're Pregnant! provides a more personal look at the whole pregnancy experience from the perspective of both the expecting mother and father. It is candid and often humourous. These two books together provide a comprehensive and detailed look at pregnancy and the delivery.
Rating:
Summary: Paranoid Pregnancy
Review: A friend gave me this book when I learned I was expecting. Being someone who wants to be well-informed of what I might expect, I welcomed it. However, when I'd sit down every week, counting week by week, and read what joys, yes, and risks, exist, I found this book HIGHLY unnecessarily negative and focused on what seems will probably go wrong. Glade Curtis, ending each weekly chapter (and reading each weekly chapter started out as a joyous ritual to me) with subjects like hydrocephalic babies, chlamydia, teratogens, whatever could POSSIBLY go wrong, has caused my husband to hide the book to keep me from reading what charming thoughts Dr. Curtis might have for me, in what should be a positive and hopeful experience. I am NO pollyanna, wanting only hugs & good news. BUT this author has created a book highlighting your worst nightmares about pregnancy, and particularly effective, he chooses to end each chapter with the most horrible news you could be looking forward to hearing each week. Anyone who finds this book just "telling it like it is" must enjoy wallowing in her own paranoia. Find another book, written in an honest, truthful manner, but one that allows you to keep whatever positive thoughts and energies you might enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: don't use this as your main reference
Review: This book has way too many "what ifs" of how things could go wrong. Week 10 begins with 3 pages about molar pregnancy (the implantation turns cancerous), Week 19 spends 90% of the baby development section on hydrocephalus (a serious nervous disorder), and Week 30 has a double whammy: a full page drawing and description of a baby suffering from a knot in the umbilical cord, plus three more pages on cancer during pregnancy. Whenever I read this book after nightfall I got really spooked, because almost every week details some rare complication or condition. It's probably a nice book for a medical resident but not a companion for a pregnant woman. I preferred the Sears' book "Your Pregnancy" - being a monthly format it covers relevant topics in greater detail, and they wisely chose to put brief descriptions of various complications in a glossary in the back. What week-by-week has that most others don't is detailed descriptions of baby's development; but you can get the same weekly descriptions at babycenter.com without getting spooked, and have a more positive pregnancy book in the house. And good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Excllent reference for my first pregnancy!
Review: Originally I bought What to Expect When You're Expecting because that's all I heard about. When a friend recommended this book I was really excited. I think the week by week illustrations are great. Unlike What to Expect, with this book I actually felt I was learning about my baby's development as the weeks went on, i.e. the size, changes in my body etc. For those who have critisized this book by saying it puts too many worry and unnecessary information in your head, what you would you prefer: knowing what could go wrong or being totally ignorant throughout your whole pregnancy?!?! Of course not everyone will get vericose veins or have dizzy spells, but wouldn't you want to know about it if you did? I don't smoke but every pregnancy book I read had a huge section devoted to the dangers of smoking - should I therefore think the book provides me with useless information? No, instead I glanced over it and moved on. I bet these people would also complain if the book wasn't comprehensive enough when they actually did have a problem with their pregnancy. This book, combined with what to Expect (and of course my doctor) is more than enough information for me to feel educated and prepared for my pregnancy.
Rating: 
Summary: A Decent Book, But Not to Be Used for a Single Reference...
Review: As a first time mother-to-be, when I saw the title of this book, I was so excited that I purchased it without even reading the reviews. Now that I have it in my possesion, I really wish that I would have read them. I appreciate the illustrations that show the progress of a baby's development week-by-week, but the text leaves a lot to be desired. After reading about my baby's progress each week, I was still left with a lot of questions as well as slight paranoia from reading about all that could possibly go wrong with one's pregnancy. A little warning is good, but don't beat me over the head with it. I have found "What to Expect When You're Expecting to be a much better reference as well as "The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" by Vicki Iovine. My advice, save your money and only purchase the latter two books that I mentioned.
Rating:
Summary: A neat concept, but it doesn't really work all that well
Review: I bought this book because I liked the idea of the book: having a blow-by-blow guide to what would happen during each week of my pregnancy. What I didn't realize until I read the book was that the author had to arbitrarily shove material into the various weeks. I mean, we don't all get urinary tract infections during the same week, now do we? That made it hard to find the information I needed when I needed it. I far prefer the month by month structure of What To Expect (even though I detest the book's tone!) and the trimester by trimester approach taken by both The Unofficial Guide to Having A Baby and The Pregnancy Sourcebook. What I did like about the book, however, was its comprehensiveness. Curtis does do a decent job of packing a lot of valuable content in. I just wish she'd had more information on coping with pregnancy aches and pains (something The Pregnancy Sourcebook does well) and nitty-gritty stuff like a list of drugs that are and aren't safe to take during pregnancy (like what you'll find in The Unofficial Guide to Having A Baby).
| 
