OurColony.net

the BEST pregnancy book, by far

Customer Rating:
This book helped me both enjoy and understand my pregnancy. Each time I hit the first day of each month of my pregnancy, I would sit down and read that month's chapter. There were times when I felt like I was reading an auto-biography! The authors really understand what pregnant mothers are going through. It gave me peace of mind about what was happening. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Informative, entertaining, honest without being scary. Perhaps the best thing of all was that it lead me to buy The Baby Book, which turned out to be the greatest resource once my baby was born.

Wonderful book- First pregnancy, 25 y/o

Customer Rating:
I agree with the other reviews that say this is better than "What to Expect When You're Expecting"- this book is more concise, speaks directly to the mom-to- be, and is worded in a way that is concise and joyful. It has places for pictures, comments, feelings, tracking your information from your doctor visits for each month, and it breaks down the info for each week. It also has pictures of the baby's development, which I just Loved to study for each week, and suggestions to deal with pregnancy symptoms. Wonderful, and will definitely recommend to my friends as they concieve :)

Written for the lowest common denominator

Customer Rating:
I read the rest of the reviews of this book and of one of the others by the same authors (The Birth Book). I am fairly disappointed in both books, and wish I had purchased other titles.

Both books are written at about the 8th grade level, and are, frankly, rather cloying in their tone. The authors seem to have very little respect for the intelligence of their audience, which I find irritating. Some advice offered in the 4th/5th month chapters includes "If you're having trouble getting your husband to be interested in you or the baby while you're pregnant," one chapter chirpily suggests a range of options, such as "encouraging him to exercise with you, since he's investing in his future Little Leaguer" or "the fifth month is a great time to get maternity lingerie and set up a photoshoot!" (*gag*)

Periodically, the authors drop the third-person, instructive tone, and incorporate first-person perspectives from unattributed women about this or that. I'm not sure if this is meant to seem real and unforced, but the lack of any names after these comments makes me wonder just how real these responses actually are. Then, again, the authors also occasionally diverge into chirpy little he said/she said segments. For example: She says "Oh, we had 'laying on hands' time every night starting the fifth month with all our kids. My husband would touch my stomach for twenty minutes and talk to my stomach, so he got to bond with the baby early!" He says: "at first I felt odd talking to someone I wouldn't meet for months, but now I wouldn't trade this SENSUAL experience for anything in the world."

It's a sad thing when the authors feel they need to couch an *emotional* experience like that one as a "sensual" one. Sensual, while it can certainly mean simply 'of the senses,' tends to mean 'sexual' in American society. Dropping this word into such an unsual setting almost comes off like, well, using sensuality to sell any other idea, from beer to cars or anything else. Do they think so little of their audience, that *sensuality* is the only thing that will sell us on emotionally bonding with a child to be? Sheesh.

To be fair, there *is* some good information in each chapter, if you have the patience to mine for it. The stretches and exercises offered, for example, in the 4th/5th month chapter are decently illustrated and explained.

I will probably finish reading mine, and then donate it to the library.

smitchum

Customer Rating:
This is the best pregnancy book I have. My coworkers have a baby bag that they pass around to the prego mothers. This bag had 5 different books on pregnancy but none were even close to The Pregnancy Book. When I was experiencing something new or had concerns I could turn to this book and find the answers. It cleared up a lot for me.

Great amount of Info

Customer Rating:
This book has been the most helpful, though I didn't get it until 1/2 way through my pregnancy so I don't know much about the early info. The month by month format can be helpful, but is also less organized that way. Don't try to read about your month in one sitting or you'll be on information overload! There is some bias, especially regarding labor and delivery, but still very helpful. Great resource for your first pregnancy.