Getting Ready for Baby: The Ultimate Organizer for the Mom-to-Be [Spiral-bound]

Helene Tragos Stelian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

With tips on everything from finding the perfect obstetrician to choosing the right baby gear, Getting Ready for Baby will ease first-time mothers from pregnancy to birth and beyond. An information guide, organizer, and record book all in one, everything a mother-to-be needs is stashed in this handy and portable planner.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book "may just become the most important item in your life; every section gives helpful hints followed by checklists?" -- Big Apple Parent, October 2001

This book is "loaded with the details that concern new moms like prenatal care, delivery and all matters in between" -- Nashville Parent, October 2001

From the Author

When I became pregnant with our twin daughters, I felt elated and quickly headed to the bookstore to buy books on pregnancy, baby care, you name it. What I didn't buy were pregnancy planners. I was disappointed with their meager lists, disorganized format, and lack of practical usefulness. As I read books and parenting magazines, checked out baby catalogs and store shelves, and asked a million questions of my Mom friends, I developed my own system for getting myself organized. I created easy-to-use charts and checklists loaded with the advice and recommendations I gathered. I started lending out my lists to other confused first-time Moms and was greeted with sighs of relief as well as genuine enthusiasm. In time, I realized I had the beginnings of a book here. My desire to help reach a wider audience and find a more flexible career sent me on a new journey which has culminated in the writing and publication of this book. I was fortunate to find a publisher who shared my vision of a practical, informative, easy-to-carry, and hip book for today's woman and am thrilled with the results! I hope my book helps relieve some of your first-time jitters and eases your journey into motherhood. Congratulations!

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 200 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811829413
• ISBN-13: 978-0811829410
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, but needs tabs., June 21, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Ready for Baby: The Ultimate Organizer for the Mom-to-Be (Spiral-bound)

This is a very helpful book, esp. for first time parents trying to keep track of what you truly need for baby and what isn't crucial.

My only complaint with it is that it needs tabs so you can flip to the chapters more quickly. I'm planning on sticking self-adhesive index tabs into my copy. Tape along the edges of the front and back cover flaps turns them into handy pockets for ultrasounds scans, receipts, prescriptions, etc. In future editions it would have been nice if the publisher though of these things so you don't have to modify it yourself. It is nice that it is spiral bound and you can stick a pen into the spiral. It is small enough to fit into a purse if need be.

The chapters covered are:

Introduction
Key Contacts
Things to Do
Healthcare for Mom
Shopping For Mom
Shopping for Baby
Baby Shower and Gifts
Labor and Delivery
Back Home
Healthcare For Baby
Childcare
Resources

Each chapter offers tips about that particular subject, checklists, advice, space for notes, etc. I found the checklists super thorough -- but don't feel you have to get everything listed. It's just to help you. Don't feel obligated to buy every single thing before the baby comes either.

You can expect to use it through the pregnancy for sure and into part of baby's first year by tracking the pediatrician appts and notes in the "Baby Health" section.

I would have liked a chapter for birthing class -- perhaps what types are available (Lamaze, Bradley, Hypnobirthing, etc.) and a place for me to take notes in when I went to class. Even just more blank pages at the very end would have been good for that -- there's only 1 page back there.

I took it with me when I gave birth to our daughter and it kept all our info at our fingertips. The medical staff was impressed with how organized I was when they were asking me to fill out her paperwork and when they saw my book wished that more mothers would get one!

I would def. buy another copy for a second pregnancy and would recc. this product to friends and family.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Organizer, December 1, 2001

By 

Ann "annmte" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Ready for Baby: The Ultimate Organizer for the Mom-to-Be (Spiral-bound)

This book is amazing - it covers every aspect of pregnancy and childbirth you can imagine - including many I've never seen before, like a place to keep track of items you've borrowed and a planning diagram for arranging the nursery furniture. A wonderful gift for any first-time mom!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful resource for an obsessively organized preggo!, November 15, 2004

By 

Michele "eternitygirl" (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Ready for Baby: The Ultimate Organizer for the Mom-to-Be (Spiral-bound)

I am an organizer junkie, and I LOVED this organizer!

I agree that this book should have tabs/labels, but it is sprial-bound and its own built-in bookmark, and that alone puts it light-years ahead of other pregnancy organizers. I added my own tabs using those clear, plastic, sticky tabs.

I can't say enough great things about this organizer. It's wonderfully thorough, logically organized, and has more info than you'll ever use! There are oodles of checklists (ah, the satisfaction of checking off items!) and places for notes, etc. She thought of things I would have NEVER thought of, like what to ask potential pediatricians. The author is the mother of twins, so she is cognizant of the fact that some of her readers might be, too (most authors of preggo books totally forget the moms of multiples!). All in all, a great resource and well worth the money.