Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth [Paperback]

Sandy Jones (Author), Marcie Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2004

Highly praised by expectant parents and childbirth educators alike, this comprehensive pregnancy reference (704 pages) is specifically designed for today’s hurried moms (and dads) for getting them through pregnancy and early baby care. Numerous navigation aides in the volume help parents to rapidly access critical information.

The beautifully-illustrated, Your Pregnancy Week-by-Week section details every body change for both Mom and Baby for nine months with hundreds of timely coping tips. The Managing Your Pregnancy section includes: strategies for planning maternity leave; exercise guidelines; what to eat and what to avoid; safe and unsafe medications; and how to locate the best childcare and pediatricians. The illustrated Baby Gear Guide warns about unsafe products and offers solid, research-based facts for choosing the safest car seats, cribs, soft carriers, baby diapers and clothing. Your Guide to Giving Birth is the most up-to-date labor and birth resource available to parents today.

Based on brand-new medical evidence, it helps families to realistically plan for labor and delivery, including detailed "you are there" descriptions for every major intervention and medication they’re likely to encounter -- such as epidurals, inductions and cesarean sections. You and Your Baby presents a complete guide for the first six months of life after birth.

There's mom-friendly advice for post-birth recovery, and baby-sensitive care strategies for feeding, bathing, diapering, soothing and helping a baby to sleep. The book’s Resource Guide lists over 100 of the best Internet sites for parents. The comprehensive Pregnancy Dictionary translates 200-plus pregnancy and medical terms into easy-to-understand lay language.

"I have this book as well as What to Expect When Expecting, and I find this book to be so much better as it gives a week to week breakdown of what is happening to both mom and baby. I pick up this book each week as my pregnancy progresses and even though not every issue listed in each week's summary necessarily happens to me, it's good to know what I 'could' expect. I would highly recommend this book to any expecting mom!" -- Cynthia, an expectant mother

"If you are searching for one book for your pregnancy or for that one book to refer all of your expectant clients to, this book is by far the greatest achievement in childbirth education reading material! Sandy Jones and her daughter Marcie Jones have included absolutely everything an expectant woman and her family needs to know. This book should be on everyone's recommended reading list"--Connie Livingston, BS, RN, FACCE (Dona), CCE, CLD, birthsource.com

"Great Expectations is the perfect resource for moms-to-be. Sandy and Marcie Jones speak to the expectant mother of today in a friendly, approachable tone, and present their thorough information in a way that's great for both quick look-ups, and in-depth reading."--Stacia Ragolia, VP, Community & Parenting, iVillage.com

"Accurate, comprehensive, empowering, and current. I see this as being the new Dr. Spock for pregnancy...This is definitely a book I will recommend to my clients who are planning a pregnancy or currently pregnant."--Cherie C. Binns, RN, BS, MSCN

Editorial Reviews

Review

A consumer-friendly book filled with great women’s quotes, helpful information and tips for pregnant women and new families. -- Maureen Corry, Executive Director, Maternity Center Association

Emotions, physical changes, lifestyle changes, baby development, it’s all there. Get ready: It will get dog-eared from all your reading. -- Peg Moline, Editor-in-Chief, Fit Pregnancy

Fun, readable and full of good information. Helps to make the normal discomforts of pregnancy worth the bother! -- Sharon Schindler Rising, MSN, CNM, FACNM, Founder and Executive Director, The Centering Pregnancy & Parenting Association

Should be on everyone's recommended reading list! If you read only one book during your pregnancy, this MUST be it. -- Connie Livingston BS, RN, FACCE, CD(DONA), CCCE, CLD, Birthsource.com

The style of writing is clear, warm and very supportive. The breadth is terrific. A great reference for any question. -- Ann Stadtler, MSN, CPNP, Director of the Brazelton Touchpoint Center at The Children’s Hospital, Boston

From the Publisher

Highly praised by childbirth educators, GREAT EXPECTATIONS: YOUR ALL-IN-ONE RESOURCE FOR PREGNANCY & CHILDBIRTH has been expressly created for the intelligent, inquisitive woman who is seeking sound, research-based guidance, and practical advice about childbearing. It's designed to help readers keep on top of the complexities of medical, physical, emotional, and psychological experiences of this important life transition. The book allows them to rapidly navigate thousands of topics using its 150 "quick-reference" tables, bulleted sections, page-by-page headers, and detailed index. It collects all of the most critical new findings from hundreds recent obstetrical studies into one easy-to-read volume, presenting them as "flash facts" to help readers make informed choices using lists of proven benefits and risks for common tests and procedures. This notable, woman-centered volume also offers detailed information on genetic and glucose tolerance tests, labor augmentation and induction, elective cesarean sections, epidurals and other common tests and procedures. The book's low, affordable price makes it an excellent resource in the pregnancy field for parents-to-be, libraries, and for nursing students, childbirth educators, and organizations concerned with improving family life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (November 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760741328
• ISBN-13: 978-0760741320
• Product Dimensions: 2 x 5.8 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Pregnancy Book Out There, October 17, 2006

By 

An avid reader (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth (Paperback)

This is the most informative, positive, and non-scary pregnancy book I've read. Every other pregnancy book I've read (including What to Expect When You're Expecting) made me cry after every paragraph as it detailed all the horrible things that a woman can do to permanently damage her baby, all the awful ways a woman's body will be disfigured by pregnancy and childbirth, and how a woman's life will be completely changed, not for the better, once the child is born. This book, on the other hand, presents information about pregnancy and childbirth in a wholly positive manner, even when detailing the potential pitfalls of pregnancy and childbirth. The information in this book is current and up-to-date, and the book is very well-written. I would recommend the book just for the positive and reassuring tone alone, and all the excellent information in the book is a bonus. Once you read this book, you won't need any other.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best pregnancy and childbirth books..., January 31, 2006

By 

Liz Chalmers (Redmond, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth (Paperback)

I am a childbirth educator and mom of four kids. I was delighted to find this book to add to my lending library for childbirth class clients. It is so much more empowering than books like "What to Expect" or "Your Pregnancy Week-by-week". I like the way that procedures that tend to be standard (eg. external fetal monitoring in labor) are described, and the evidence against their routine use is also provided in a thoughtful but not damning way. It is refreshing to find a mainstream book that lists Certified Professional Midwives alonside CNMs and OBs as possible caregivers, and describes out-of-hospital birth as the safe and reasonable option it is, whilst not condemning hospital birth. I think this book would be a valuable resource for any parents-to-be who want to read about the full spectrum of options available at each step of their journey, without feeling judged for the choices they ultimately make.

My favorite section is "A Final Word" on p451, where the authors so accurately describe the challenging transition to parenting and emphasize that you will be the perfect parent for your baby. Definitely a book written by moms for moms!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have Pregnancy Guide, November 13, 2005

By 

Teresa R. Simpson (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth (Paperback)

When I learned that I was pregnant, I ran out and bought quite a few pregnancy guides. Of them all, Great Expectations has been the best hands down. It gives you a WEEKLY run-down of how the baby is developing as well as what is going on in your own body. It covers pregnancy in far greater detail than any of the other books I purchased. I highly recommend this book!