Customer Reviews

The Everything Pregnancy Book: What Every Woman Needs to Know-Month-By-Month, to Insure a Worry-Free Pregnancy (Everything Series)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In response to the reviewer who claims the book isn't good because Dr. Berk has malpractice claims against him, I have 2 things to say. First, Dr. Berk is not the primary author of the book. He writes bits and pieces throughout the book, but a woman wrote most of the book. It includes helpful advice on topics such as when to expect your clothes to feel tight, and what types of maternity clothes you should buy based on your due date. This is helpful information I have not seen elsewhere. Second, I don't know the specifics of these malpractice claims against Dr. Berk, but OB/GYN's have the highest rate of malpractice claims filed, and just because claims have been filed doesn't mean the doctor was provided negligent care. I work in the medical field, and have done research on this topic. Not all of the malpractice suits filed are due to negligence. Some times parents are just seeking compensation for a bad outcome that would have happened regardless of the situation. Don't let the previous reader's comments dissuade you from buying this very informative and helpful book!!

While the general information in the book is fairly good, and the writing is clear enough for even the lay person to understand easily.

However, much of the medical "facts" are very, very biased and do NOT reflect current medical studies and respected reports on the effects of, for example, epidurals, pitocin-induced labor, episotomy, and other such interventions.

The reader is advised to take the medical aspects of such medical management of labor with a good deal of skepticism, and to check elsewhere for the real facts concerning interventions and their possible side effects and complications.

I read the first several chapters of this book and found several errors and some misinformation. For example, the book warns that marathon runners raise their core temperature an average of 37.4 degrees farenheit. Really? My core temperature when running goes up to 134.9 degrees? Wow. The consulting doctor also gives a recommendation for women to only gain 20 - 25 pounds during pregnancy so they can go back to prepregnancy weight "at delivery". Not only does this go against the recommendations given by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (average weight gain of 25-35 pounds) but going back to prepregnancy weight is unhealthy and impractical for women, especially if they plan to breastfeed, in which case they NEED fat stores so that their milk is healthy. I will be returning this book and will go back to reading "The Pregnacy Book" by William and Martha Sears.

I purchased this book for my first pregnancy and referred to it on many occasions. I found it very easy to understand and though it does cover medical related topics and subjects, it is still easy to follow and understand. There are no color photos but does feature drawings. The book also features a Pregnancy Calendar so you can track your pregnancy, doctor's appointments, important events, etc. This book covers the whole nine months of pregnancy, plus Body Basics, What Can Cause Infertility, Quick Tips For Getting Pregnant, and critical questions to ask yourself if you are trying to decide whether or not you should get pregnant. If this is your first pregnancy, I would recommend this book. I know it helped assure me on more than one occasion.

What I really like about this book is not just that it covers "everything"--well at least everything most people need to know--but that it does so in a way that most people can understand. It makes the pregnancy process seem a lot less threatening than another popular book (that I won't name). This is a book a feel very comfortable recommending to my non-medical friends. Yes there are a few topics that could have been covered in a little more depth, but for a general interest book it really covers all the essential bases and covers them well.

After I bought this book, I read an article in the Reader's Digest (July 1999) written by a man whose wife had died after being misdiagnosed by Dr. Berk. The woman had preeclampsia, exhibited all the classic symptoms, and Dr. Berk missed it. The woman had a stroke, delivered the premature baby, and later, both she and the baby died. The article goes on to state that Dr. Berk has been sued twelve times for malpractice. (Some of these cases have settled.) I am not writing this for any other reason than that I think others should be aware of these facts. I, personally, would not believe anything that Dr. Berk has written in this book without checking it out with my own doctors, and neither should anyone else. That being said, the book is an OK reference, and occasionally humorous, but should not be the only pregnancy book a woman purchases

The advice in this book was antiquated. For example they talked about "catalog" shopping, talk about having a comforter in the crib, and a lot of other things like that. I just felt like I was a mom in the 80's reading this book. I have the "What to Expect When you are Expecting" that is a much better book.

Written as part of the "Everything" series of books, the "pregnancy" volume attempts to cover all topics "pregnancy" related, and it does. The problem is that it has been done, several times before. I do like the layout of the book and found it very easy to read. The best part was the little aside pieces of information that are found in the "diaper pin" graphics. There are some really neat pieces of information for a new mom.
It Gets Easier!: And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers

A completely rewritten and enormously improved second edition of The Everything Pregnancy Book is now available. The new book is by Paula Ford-Martin, with Dr. Elisabeth Aron, and is available on Amazon.

I was very disappointed with the book and found that a lot of the information was completely contradictory to advice from my doctor and mid-wife. Of course, when pregnant, you should always check info out with your doctor, but of all the literature I have read, the advice in this book was most often out of sync with the other literature and professional advice I received.