Product Description

A definitive guide for expectant mothers, organized in month-by-month chapters covers topics ranging from the emotional effects of pregnancy and bodily changes to fetal development and what to expect during delivery. Simultaneous. 200,000 first printing."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8506 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.com Review
The Pregnancy Book is an excellent all-in-one guide to pregnancy from William and Martha Sears, creators of the concept of "attachment parenting." Each of the book's chapters represents a month, and deals with physical and emotional changes, describes the growth of the fetus, and discusses common concerns. The authors also focus on nutrition, exercise, information and support for home births and birthing centers, traveling while pregnant, how to avoid episiotomy, and so on. The approach is gentle, thorough, and includes more information than some month-by-month guides, which makes The Pregnancy Book an excellent choice for pregnant couples.

From Library Journal
The Searses, popular childcare experts and authors (e.g., Parenting the Fussy Baby and High-Need Child, LJ 8/96), have teamed up with obstetrician Holt to give us this work. Using a month-by-month format with nice illustrations that show normal fetal development, they discuss a wide range of pregnancy options without judgmental bias. Scattered throughout are helpful hints and stories from other pregnant mothers that give the book a comfortable feel. Unfortunately, adequate information on possible problems is missing from the text itself, though the preface does note that rare conditions are covered in an appendix (not available for review). A nice supplement to Arlene Eisenberg and Heidi Merkoff's What To Expect When You're Expecting (Workman, 1995. rev. ed.) and The Mayo Clinic Complete Book of Pregnancy & Baby's First Year (LJ 1/95). Given the popularity of the authors, expect requests.?KellyJo Houtz Griffin, Auburn, Wash.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

the BEST pregnancy book, by far
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
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
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.