The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy

I've read quite a few pregnancy books lately, and this was one of my favorites. It is a light read that addresses all of the ups and downs of our crazy nine months with brutal honesty and humor - the 'Sex and the City' of pregnancy guides. Most books of this genre barely gloss over or omit entirely the crappy and embarrassing side effects that crop up during pregnancy, and the more 'serious' books (What to Expect) have a preachy tone to them. From morning sickness to diet to skin weirdness to birth this book offers the reader practical and realistic advice. I can't think of another pregnancy manual that details what REALLY happens to your hoo-ha following labor...haha! Some prudish readers might be offended by some of the content and show more commentary (and its against the grain view of the whole 'magical' experience), but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm definitely not one of those women who 'loves being pregnant' (no hearts and flowers here!), so this book really helped me realize that I am not alone and not a bad momma for feeling this way! show less

I'm at that early stage in my pregnancy that has me diving into all kinds of research. This is my first pregnancy and I have no idea what to expect, so I'm buying as many books as I can and devouring them, one by one. I started with THE GIRLFRIEND'S GUIDE TO PREGNANCY because it came highly recommended, and seemed to be less panic-inducing than WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING. I have enough panic in me for a dozen other pregnant women, and I don't need anyone else adding to it. I found this book to be comforting, informative, and written in a very easy to read style. The author clearly has her biases and beliefs, and I took some of what she said with a grain of salt, but overall I found the book a great addition to my prenatal library.

I read this guide from cover to cover a decade ago now, and I decided to revisit it as an older person thinking about having another baby. My original score for this book was somewhere around 4 or 5 stars, but now it's 3. The first time along I was a very young woman who was very taken in by the humor and the way the author encourages women to do things whatever way that they need to. It's very much a calm down, everything will be fine, even if you're a little crazy right now book. I still like the humor and the message to just get it done whatever way you need to, but older me has more reserve. I know now that she is a bit misinformed about some things, and that there are things that you can do to screw the pooch in pregnancy. These show more days I'm more of a there's very little that you can do to really mess things up person. So my overall opinion on this book is that it is good for the humor and calming yourself down when you're about to melt down, but I wouldn't advise taking all of the information inside to heart. This is feel-good reading, not hard hitting research. Treat it accordingly. show less

Vocki Iovine puts a hilarious spin on pregnancy. Now, having had three kids, I probably wouldn't recommend it for it's usefulness, as what I know about pregnancy and childbirth and the highly medicalized industry it's become has changed vastly, but when I was pregnant for the first time I really enjoyed it. For the mainstream population out there it's probably a good selection.

I really should have waited until after I was pregnant to read this book. This book is brutally, terrifyingly honest. I had no idea about all these crazy things that happen when you are pregnant, give birth, and have a newborn. Anyway, a friend of mine is expecting, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. This book has a candid, humorous way of giving pregnancy tips and discrediting myth and superstition, and outside of my overwhelming fear of reproduction now, I enjoyed it. If you’re pregnant, definitely read it.

Despite my childless status, I loved this book--it's laugh-out-loud funny. I've given it as a gift too.

A lot of women seem to swear by this book, but it wasn't my cup of tea. For one thing, I have an interest in natural childbirth, which plenty of women recommend, and this book is very mainstream and utterly dismissive of the natural route. It also says that you shouldn't exercise. For another, I just didn't like the tone--it's very sarcastic and tends to assume the worst. I tend to take things seriously and be sincere about them. The chapter on (ahem) intimate relations during pregnancy was pretty entertaining, but otherwise I didn't feel like I would have been missing anything by note reading the book. It just irritated me.