Customer Reviews

Pregnancy, Childbirth And The Newborn

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We looked at, and tried to read, many pregnancy books, including the big names ("What to expect...", The Sears' book, and the Unofficial guide) that you see recommended everywhere. None of them hold a candle to this book. The best of those seem to focus on comforting couples through the experience. Often presenting redundant information between months, and not going into very much physiological detail.

In contrast this book gave us what we were really looking for, honest to goodness data. Its written by professional childbirth educators, and is an education in itself. It's focused on the kind of in depth information your healthcare provider knows, and may or may not have time to tell you about. It won't give you advice on finding clothes that fit, it will tell you why your sense of taste totally changes, and what is going on in the body to cause that.

No amount of soft peddling is going to change the fact that being pregnant is like having your body abducted by aliens. What we wanted is a book to help us understand what was happening, so the seemingly unrelated changes made sense too. What we want to know is what are the aliens doing with my body, why, and are they going to put it back when they're done. This book helps answer a lot of that, even stuff we hadn't thought to wonder about yet.

If you're remotely technical, and like knowing how stuff works this is the best book we've found. However, it may not help much to validate your emotional mood swings, nor tell you when to ask for maternity leave.

I really love this book!

I'm 4 months pregnant with my first child and I'm alternately scared to death and excited beyond belief. I've been soaking up information like crazy--getting books from the library, buying whatever looks good in the bookstore, and my midwife has given me a number of books to read, this being the most recent. Out of all of them, I think this one is the best.

It is extremely thorough, not just with clinical information, but also descriptions of how you might feel, both physically and emotionally as you progress through pregnancy, labor, and post-partum. It covers everything I've been asking myself about what's happening to me, the baby, and what I can expect. Most importantly it covers what you do with the baby once you give birth and take them home, enough to get you over the "What do I do?!" fear and allowing you to get settled in as a parent.

I also really like the focus on the birth partner as well as the pregnant woman; it's important to understand what both partners are going through during this highly confusing and magical time. I'm giving this book to my husband as soon as I'm finished reading it for the second time, as I want him to know what's going on with me and also let him know that I understand what might be going on with him. It's a great book for anyone who is involved in pregnancy in any way. After he's done with it, I plan to pass it on to our families to read.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the way it was organized, to me some of the chapters seemed out of order. It may have been the way I was approaching it, or that I was looking for specific information that was different from the flow. However, the chapters are very well laid out and titled, so it was easy to flip through the headers at the top of the page and find exactly the section I wanted, when I wanted it.

Overall, a very thoroughly researched and produced book. Laid out in a manner that's easy to read and navigate, not at all intimidating and also not sentimental or biased. I would highly recommend this book to ANYONE who is pregnant, thinking about getting pregnant, related to or friends with someone who is pregnant, anyone who is curious about how it works, generally everybody.

Don't hesitate to click the Add To Cart button and buy it now :)

An excellent alternative to "What to Expect . . . "

Early in my pregnancy, I checked out almost every book in my local library on pregnancy. "What to Expect" went back in a week, and I now own this book, among others.

This book is very thorough and is an excellent reference to the physiological and emotional aspects of pregnancy and birth. I only gave it 4 stars, though, because it doesn't have enough information on natural childbirth, completely unmedicated. If you're planning a natural birth (rather than a managed delivery), you'll need and want additional resources.

I did find the tables listing various interventions with their benefits and risks very helpful. Penny Simpkin is extremely knowledgeable about pregnancy and birth. You should check out her other books as well, especially "The Birth Partner." My husband is totally engrossed with that book.

I wish I had read this book sooner. I was given several books on pregnancy and childbirth by friends and relatives. My husband and I call "What to Expect" the "Panic" book. Most of the others are comforting but lack detail. In contrast, this book is very thoughtful - it offers multiple alternatives for specific situations and it tells you WHY you would decide one way or the other. Sometimes it recommends a course of action and other times it lays out the alternatives and their pros and cons. But it always treats the reader as an intelligent and thoughtful person. I expected most pregnancy books to be written that way, but unfortunately, this is the only one I have found that arms the reader with the "why" behind each option.

We all dream of the perfect birth. For me it included no epidural, quick birth, and no tearing. This, however, was not the case. Eventhough things didn't go as planned I was prepared for everything that happened and the experience, none the less, was wonderful. This book, which was recommended by my doula, gave me many insights into what was going on with my body and baby during my pregnancy, delivery and post partom. My mother in-law told me I knew too much going in to my delivery (referring to the knowledge I gained from all my reading). But I firmly believe there is empowerment through education. I think it is much better knowing than to go in not knowing like they did years ago. We are of a generation of educated and empowered women. This book will assist you in taking control of your birth and pregnancy. I recommend reading as much as possible, it's good to get different perspectives but if you were to read only one book this would be the one!

I got this book when I was pregnant with my third child. I remember referring to it daily, and sometimes several times a day. I have never seen a book that is easier to understand or more informative about the different stages of pregnancy. Many times when I would have questions that I had planned to ask my doctor, I used this book as a reference first and had my questions answered in full. This book is organized with charts that show the different stages of pregnancy by weeks and what should happen during that time. Each section also has pages of explanation in further detail. I wouldn't be without this book whether having my first child or my fifth!!

For the most part, pregnancy books are written for and read by women, but if you're a caring father (or father-to-be) that wants to be involved with Mom and the baby, this is an outstanding book to read and refer to. It gives the fairest and most complete descriptions of the myriad medical options available to women before and during childbirth. It never surrenders the idea that individual differences or preferences may make some decisions right for one person, but not right for another. It portrays pregnancy as a natural and healthful (but challenging) condition, not as an abnormality. It is the best of the many books available.

Penny has written other books, including The Birth Partner, which are also helpful and informative for Dads. They are uniformly excellent.

When I was pregnant with my son in 2000, I was lucky enough to be able to take Penny's childbirth education class. Now that I'm recently pregnant with my second child, I plan to take it again, and buy this new edition. This is the text book for her class, and I swear I took it to the hospital with me when I was in labor! My copy is dog eared and stained (don't ask!). While Penny does advocate natural births (who wouldn't think it's better?), she is a wealth of information about every kind of birth possible, and is the least judgmental person I've ever known! She speaks WORLDWIDE about childbirth practices. She provided my husband and I the information we needed to make the best decisions for our family. This book could only be better if Penny made a housecall when you purchased it!

Well-organized and easily read, this book is a must-read for all pregnant women and their partners. It is the most complete book on this subject that I've found. Accompanying the text are many more graphic aids than most other childbirth books. Written by women who are all childbirth educators, this book could take the place of a childbirth preparation class for those women who do not have access to a live class series. It is uses as a textbook by many childbirth educators, including myself.

Here it is---THE book for expectant families! Pregnant women are treated as if they are intelligent and are capable of making good decisions on behalf of themselves and their soon-to-be-born children.

This book is completely evidence-based and allows consumers to learn about options so that they can better communicate with their careproviders and participate in their pregancy, birth and postpartum experiences. Partners are addressed in a respectful and essential manner

As a childbirth educator, I make sure each of my couples has a copy of this book---it's the text I teach from. As a doula, I want all of my clients to read this as well.

Don't give birth without reading this one!