Customer Reviews

What to Expect Before You're Expecting

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There is some great information in this book. It's an excellent starting point if you want to get a jump on reading up about pre-conception health. It's also a good conversation starter with your partner (it's great for both parents to spend some time reading the book, both the "mom" and "dad" sections). The info on trouble trying to conceive was particularly helpful. However, after hearing all the hype about the "What To Expect" series, I expected it to be a better written book.

The book had some continuity problems. It looked like paragraphs and maybe even chapters had been copied and pasted straight out of the other books without checking for continuity. Acronyms would be used over and over and over again and never defined. Meanwhile, the acronym "STD" shows up for the hundredth time around page 200 and is defined. Pretty sure we all know what STDs are, and if we don't, we googled it 150 pages ago. But thanks.

Sometimes things would be mentioned in passing, never to be brought up again. "Get your blood tested for your Rh factor, and if you are positive, make sure your partner isn't." WHAT?! This sounds really serious. What does this mean? Yeah, the book totally leaves you hanging. Google it. Again, I expect that if the book is going to bring it up, explain to me why this is so important.

Some chapters left me with more question than answers. For example, it encouraged readers to drink lots of milk. Ok great, but more adult women are lactose intolerant than not. Since the book advised moms-to-be to limit soy, what alternatives should we seek for upping calcium intake? The author really didn't have a lot of suggestions. And speaking of soy, the author was very vague. Basically, "don't eat a lot of it." Well, what's "a lot?" If I use it on my cereal and cooking as my constant substitute for milk, is that "a lot?" I know what to do to get my calcium, but I expected the book to cover it, given the detail it went into in other areas.

Finally, the writing style was obnoxious at times. It was like sitting next to your cheesy inappropriate uncle at dinner and listening to him laugh at his own lame jokes and say "teehee GET IT? SEE WHAT I DID THERE! THAT'S A PUN!" Yeah, we got it, thanks. Not that funny. Luckily the author had the tact to drop the act in the chapters about challenges to TTC.

Again, overall, great info in this book, and it is worth the read despite my criticisms of the writing style. Hopefully when the next edition comes out, they will have cleared up some of these issues.

WHAT TO EXPECT BEFORE YOU'RE EXPECTING is just like the other books in the expecting "series:" Jam packed with information in a good format. There are sections for both the "Mother to Be" and the "Father to Be," but neither are exclusive and should be read by both parties; in fact, there is more for men in this book than What to Expect When You're Expecting: 4th Edition. You probably already know what to expect given the monumental success of the previous Expecting books, and this book is no exception. Sections of the book include: Nutrition, Basic Anatomy, Ovulation, Timing of Intimacy, Miscarriage and Infertility, Medications, and tons of other little questions.

This book is excellent, but the next few comments should not be taken as criticisms but rather just information.

The difference with this installment is that there is more humor woven into the text than the previous books, which helps lighten the load; however, the humor at points is too much of a good thing, and the writing can seem juvenile and uses a lot of immature phrases (i.e. Aunt Flo), which I feel undermines the writing slightly.

One other thing is the book takes some of the magic away, providing step by step instructions, hundreds of pages of what to do better. I can totally appreciate how this book may help people who have struggled with conception, and I feel this book will be revered in that case. However, for everyone else be prepared to have the magic of conception possibly ruined as baby making becomes a job, you are forced to follow a specific calendar, and monitoring your diet. I know that at least a handful of people have successfully conceived and delivered healthy babies prior to this book being published, but this book could be the saving grace for any couple that is struggling to conceive. It reminds me of the movie Knocked Up when the characters are discussing how in the world people had babies before baby books were published.

Overall, WHAT TO EXPECT BEFORE YOU ARE EXPECTING is a great resource, and should be read in smaller doses because it is so information and fact heavy; however, the humor (which at some points is rather juvenile) effectively lightens the load.

Good reading,

J.Stoner

Okay, I will give the author this, there is some valuable information to be had here. The problem is that she uses language that you would find in a magazine like Vogue or Cosmo. You know those quick reads on how to make a man happy in bed, how to dress your body type etc.

Quite frankly, that kind of vocabulary and manner of speaking is plain annoying! For example, at one she is giving men advice on how to keep the romance alive while trying to conceive. Great idea! However, she uses this phrase, "Woo her while you do her."

Ick! And it just keeps going on and on and on. Every other word is from the pages of a fashion rag. I got so annoyed I couldn't even read a chapter. Sure, I want some humor and warmth when I am reading a non-fiction book, but this was taking bad jokes and regurgitating them on every other page. If you like to read Cosmo and Vogue then you will probably have no problem with this. But the rest of use want a little more hard-headed and to-the-point advice.

I flew through this book in 2 nights, yawning. Maybe this is just because I have researched TTC online, but I really didn't learn much from this book. I like how the questions are asked point blank , but then the answers will usually ramble on and on for paragraphs, most of which have very little to do with the actual question. It got downright annoying at times. I also expected a more informative diet plan and food breakdown, but (shock!!) I suppose I would have to buy the "What to eat while you are expecting" book from this author.
Most of the topics I wanted more details on (depression meds, bariatric surgery, ect) were answered with basically a "Yes, No, Well you should ask your personal doctor about that" theme. Gee, thanks.
Overall, I think the amount of useful information from this book (after eliminating the sidetracked rambling and stupid jokes) could have been condensed to a pamphlet.

UPDATE: Depression Meds: This book states INCORRECTLY on page 9 that Wellbutrin is proven safe for pregnancy. This is absolutely NOT TRUE! It is classified as a type C drug. It has been tested on animals and has shown some defects in the offspring of rabbits and mice. No adequete human studies have been done on pregnant women or newborns who have been exposed to this drug. Shame on the author and editor of this book. Get your facts straight, Ms, Murkoff!!!!

I began reading this book as soon as I received it. This book has been full of facts I wasn't aware of. I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about trying to have a baby.

I found this book rather informative especially since I'm new to the whole trying to have a child thing. I was never really sure about what ovulation was before I read this book, quite frankly I was relieved by some of the things it mentioned women go through. The book gave me a better understanding about my body and what type of changes it goes through month after month. While the language used did seem a bit hokey and at times goofy, I was able to better understand it and I got the point. I liked the charts (although I didn't use any of them - something about writing in a book, just seems wrong) and the section for the men to read, although my husband didn't take an interest. I recommend this book and hope you find it as informative as I did.

I purchased this when we were working so diligently to conceive our first child. The book offers great advice on dealing with ttc and tips to encourage fertility. It also offers other means of conceiving if natural conception is just not working. My husband and I tried for 18 months and got extremely disappointed throughout those months and this book helped us work through that time. We are pleased to now be holding our beautiful baby boy that will be 6 months old soon!! I held onto this book for any future children we might try for or for any friends that need that extra advice and comfort.

I read this book in conjunction with Dr. Lu's "Get Ready to Get Pregnant," and I thought they worked well together - Dr. Lu's book covers the latest science behind getting your body ready for pregnancy, and this book had a lot of useful information about actually getting pregnant - ovulation, timing of conception, foods/activities that can affect fertility, etc. It's a very quick read, and it has a lot of charts included - I'm not sure I will use them, but I could see how they might be helpful. I'm only giving the book four stars, however, because the chatty, overly informal tone is - as other reviewers have noted - super annoying and silly (for example, the menstrual cycle is referred to as "Aunt Flo" or "AF", men are urged to "woo her before you do her," and dietary advice includes gems like "don't count all your grains in one basket when you're trying to get a bun in your oven"). At least half of the book made me roll my eyes - it's fine to be friendly, but we're all adults here, so let's act like it!

When my fiance and I began talking about starting a family, I realized that I knew the basics of how things work, but I didn't know much about conception, and all those important factors to factor in before trying to have a baby. This book was fantastic!!!! It's a great starter to planning for pregnancy!!! You'll learn about ways to improve your diet without completely changing it, and how your body works naturally to bring you and your partner together during your most fertile times. There's chapters on charting your ovulation with kits, and also how to predict when your ovulating by paying attention to your body's natural functions!!

This is a must read for the couple contemplating having a baby!

An excellent book, a lot of information I already knew, but also some good advice for both men and women. As we are trying to conceive, the book offered many helpful insights with examples and statistics. The book puts some of your fears at bay in a humorous and amusing context. It also tells you when and why you should go seek professional help. I enjoyed the read and learned some new trips, but often found the Kindle format difficult to follow. Sections that are supposed to be grayed for men randomly intermix with those for women and graphs and charts are not located where they are supposed to be with their captions placed in inappropriate places breaking up the flow of chapters and at times confusing the reader. Pictures often required changing font size down to nearly as small as you could make the in order to make the entire picture visible, which then required resizing to go back to reading. I gave the book a three rating, had the formatting for Kindle been better, it would have deserved four and a half stars. I am looking forward to and will buy What to Expect When You're Expecting once we make it to that step!