What to Expect When You're Expecting

Complete beyond the point of usefulness

I believe this is pretty much a complete book about pregnancy. It is addressed to both moms and dads. It's an alright book, it is meant for everyone, so you probably won't go terribly wrong picking it up.

And that is also it's fault: it is for everyone.

"What to Expect..." will address every possible situation and will cater to every opinion. Everything is possible, nothing is wrong, there are only opinions, everything is normal. So you will come across statements like this (paraphrasing):

"In the 3rd month you might get morning sickness. Which is not necessary in the morning, nor must it be real sickness. Don't worry, this is normal. Although some women don't go through this. If you are one of them,

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don't worry. That is also normal, just enjoy your pregnancy!"

The book is riddled with bad puns and not because of a weird sense of humour the author might have - it's because simple wordplay is for everyone. And the goal is to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You will get entire pages dedicated to the use of drugs during pregnancy. Again, there is no judgement. Nothing is completely wrong. You should give up on drugs. You might consider drinking less. If you are a victim of domestic violence, you should probably seek help.

This is usually dubbed "America's Pregnancy Bible", but I believe that is only applicable to the thickness of the book. "What to Expect..." is unopinionated and for everyone. show less

Not pregnant.

But all the pregnancy advocacy books (and reviews of said books) I read reference this book in some way (clever pun, basic manual, etc.). So I figured it was the birthing bible was curious about it.

I came away with three thoughts.

1: There isn't much here that you can't find on Google. That being said, before the advent of google and Baby.com and all those other sites, this probably could have been helpful. Specific stats and studies would have been interesting. But, given the fact that this book has been through multiple updates, I can see where the writers were coming from.

2. It seemed like half of the reviewers of this book, the birthing bible, hated it. I guess one side-effect of pregnancy is anxiety? The set up of show more the book didn't help much. The long list of possible complications listed at the back should have been listed as an appendix. But then, given the current anxiety level of women rushing to hire OBGYN's instead of taking advantage of the largely-out-of-US-more-popular midwife, this probably wouldn't really help much anyway.

3. The authors are definitely lightly biased in favor of a hospital birth though, after reading the calm section on "how to give birth by yourself," I'm not sure why. It seemed like something that would be pretty easy, actually. Does that make me a hippie? Probably not because, as mentioned earlier, I also read the extensive list of possible complications that was listed after that page and am now convinced that I will die of preclampsia, giving birth to twins hideously deformed by mumps and the chicken pox. show less

There was definitely some useful info for those looking to learn about the whole pregnancy process, though I didn't find the format as useful as other books I've read. I also thought there was some info for less-common (and more worrisome) symptoms/issues that were further upfront than they needed to be, which probably caused some readers unnecessary stress/worry. Take what you need from this book, but I wouldn't worry too much about the rest—definitely supplement with other books as needed.

This book has been updated obviously... When I was pregnant with my first child I received this as a gift, and for a person that's had NO experience whatsoever with babies or pregnant women... it has helped. The other reviewers naysay it, but I felt pretty well informed reading it. I'd rather know about what's happening, the good and potentially bad, then be left in the dark. I still flip through it sometimes, being pregnant again, just to refresh my memory of what's going on.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff

★★★

This book has been around for an astounding 28 years (and have been through several revisions) and is known for many as a staple in the genre – in fact it was the first book I thought of when I found out I was pregnant.

This book has a lot of good information – but a lot for me to skip over. I’m not having multiples (thank goodness), I’m not over 35, etc but obviously it’s a good overview for people of all ages and all types so it’s good info to have, even if I didn’t need it. Some of the sections made me roll my eyes, such as “What if I am taking cocaine or other hard drugs while pregnant?” 1 – If you don’t know the answer, you probably should not be show more pregnant and 2 – I have a feeling those that are into hardcore drugs probably aren’t too antsy to buy this book, probably not the top of their priorities (I could be wrong in my assumptions, but come on), but hey whatever, can’t say the book doesn’t cover it’s bases. With the use of internet today many of the questions and concerns can be found just as quickly on one of the thousands of pregnancy sites as it is to sift through this book. And of course, never take a book as the know-all of everything, always best to consult a doctor with any serious questions – telling your doctor “well the book said…” will only lead to eye rolling. An informational book but best taken in small chunks. show less

this ubiquitous book is pretty good. some women feel that it has made them feel more nervous about pregnancy & birth. it doesn't offer a balanced, comprehensive view of birthing options nor does it portray birth as a natural, normal process. it has some helpful information but you would be wise to balance your reading of ultra-mainstream and fear-based titles like these with books by: sheila kitzinger, henci goer, ina may gaskin, and penny simpkin. having said that, this book is unique in that it offers so much detail about each month and it was fun/informative for me in each of my pregnancies to refer to it often. in my second pregnancy, i found that this was the only pregnancy books i looked at; i felt i already knew most of what i show more needed to know about pregnancy and especially birth. but i really enjoyed reading about how my baby was developing and what he was up to in the various months. show less

This seems to be a pretty ubiquitous pregnancy manual, so I got it from the library, but thought it was awful. Although this is the British edition, so the spellings are (mostly) British (this hasn't been thoroughly checked) and references to medical care are to the NHS, it still comes across as overwhelmingly American. There are confusing bits where the information seems to be more from a US medical point of view, than a British one. It's written in a really twee style, that mostly made me want to throw up (and no, that wasn't morning sickness) and instead of having straightforward sections of information is written in more of a 'problem page' style. I didn't find it particularly helpful. And it really need a proper editor.