Customer Reviews

Pregnancy for Dummies

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Pregnancy for Dummies is an excellent resource for the journey of pregnancy. It is extremely well organized, including a chapter on things to think about and prepare for before you get pregnant as well as a chapter on what to do with the baby once he/she is here! It is also very well written... with humor and anecdotes. I believe it is written by two OB/GYNs - a man and a woman who has had children of her own. Like the others below, I too found it superior to "What to Expect" which was pretty dry, and in a Q&A format that might not appeal to everyone. I'm not sure why the reader below freaked out about scheduled inducing, but you have to remember the book is written by doctors... inducing is convenient for them as well as perhaps the parents! Anyway, you won't go wrong with this book.

This book was recommended to me by my OB/GYN, and I found it to be very helpful when I would freak out in the middle of the night... I particularly appreciated the fact that all the scary-but-rare stuff was put in one chapter at the end, so you could look it up if you needed to, but you didn't have to encounter it when you were looking for more routine information. Too many other pregnancy books have the scary-but-rare information throughout, so you spend time worrying needlessly.

I'm 36, overweight, hypertensive, and having my first baby. I wish Pregnancy for Dummies had been the first pregnancy book I had purchased. I purchased three others before I finally got this - in my third trimester - after I rented the DVDs. This book is very straightforward and has sense of humor. I took a childbirth class chock full of info on natural childbirth, breathing, relaxing, etc. This book was a great companion to the class - a basic primer. If you need additional information, go ahead and buy a couple more books (25 is probably overkill, though. It's a baby, not a thesis).
Two of the books I purchased prior -- What to Expect When You're Expecting and the Mother of All Pregnancy Books were loaded with every horrible thing that can happen at every stage of pregnancy. Loads more information on genetic problems than you need in a normal pregnancy. Heaven forbid if you eat a Twinkie at 22 weeks!! I thought they were both alarmist. My AFP test said I had a higher chance for Down's Syndrome. I went to my amniocentesis test convinced that even if the baby tested fine that the amnio itself would cause me to miscarry. Long story short - the baby is fine and the amnio wasn't a big deal (just don't look at the needle!).
I think today that most women understand they need to stop drinking and smoking, take prenatal vitamins, eat some vegetables, and see an OB. If they don't know already, then I can't imagine they'd be buying any pregnancy books anyway.

This is my first time being pregnant and i didn't want to be overloaded with useless information.
This book is to the point and easy to understand.
My husband is also reading it and he enjoys the info he is getting out of it.
Good work!

I purchased or was given three pregnancy books and this was by far the best. The others were written by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (my husband is an OB/GYN) and What to Expect . . . I did not like the organization or content of What to Expect . . . and the ACOG book was a little skimpy on the practical questions I had. Pregnancy for Dummies was funny and answered all my questions with medically appropriate advice, according to my husband whose medical opinion I highly respect. It is light-hearted at times, which I liked a lot, but still provided serious and complete advice - not for those without a sense of humor though! All in all, a very good choice, especially for first time mothers.

Really smart, thorough, and intelligently-organized. It answered all my questions about pregnancy and it was pretty entertaining, too. I found it much more useful than What To Expect.

Overall this is a decent book. I like its no-nonsense approach to what changes a woman's body goes through during pregnancy, what things to look out for physically, and what types of things are checked by the doctor at typical office visits.
However, based on the title, I expected it to be more comprehensive than it was. This book was almost exclusively medical information and I wanted to know other things like, when does one normally start taking birthing classes, when should one start buying things for the baby, choosing a hospital, and other basic topics.

I understand if that wasn't the scope of this book, but, based on the description, it should have been.

I'm an expectant mother, and I found the presentation of this book to be extremely helpful. The information is thorough, no-nonsence, written in plain English, and is fun to read. i would highly recommend this book to anyone who is pregnanct or is looking to become pregnant.

It's nice to see a pregnancy book that doesn't take itself too seriously. These authors aren't afraid to have a little fun along the way. You won't want this to be your only pregnancy book, since it tends to gloss over a lot of important issues, but it makes a good read for expectant parents who aren't too proud to admit that they don't have a clue about what pregnancy is all about. If you buy the Dummies guide to this, that, and the next thing, you'll want to add this book to your collection, too.

My only criticism is that the book isn't likely to score too many points with Dads. They're given their own five page chapter that tends to spoonfeed and condescend to them ("Remember that after you arrive on the labor floor, all attention is focused on Mom, not you."), but other than that they're pretty much ignored.

This book is extremly well written. I am in a child devolopment class and my teacher uses the movie "Pregnancy for Dummies" to explain important conecepts. The book makes all the medical terminology simple to understand. You can't go wrong with this book.