Your Pregnancy Month by Month [Paperback]

Clark, M.D. Gillespie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

This bestselling pregnancy guide is now thoroughly revised and updated, with month-by-month advice on all aspects of development for both mother and baby. Includes an all-new diet section detailing the latest facts on fat and cholesterol and outlining the most current nutritional guidelines.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pregnant women typically fall into two categories: those who want to be informed, and those who want to be soothed. The want-to-know-everything set will be enchanted by the fifth edition of obstetrician Clark Gillespie's detailed guide to pregnancy. An erudite and humorous obstetrician? You bet! In this newly revised and updated edition of his classic, Gillespie gives the facts--all of them--in an informative and entertaining manner. Q: "What position is the best for having sexual intercourse while I am pregnant?" A: "Like riding a camel, there is no best position," Gillespie writes. If you are someone who wants an answer for every "why," who feels in control only when you have all the statistics in hand, then this book is for you. As the title indicates, Gillespie discusses the stages of pregnancy and fetal development month by month. Ultrasound photos and a few pages of personal diary questions begin and close each chapter, but much of the information slated for each month pertains to the entire pregnancy. Nutrition, maternity clothes, birth preparation, pain relief, risks from house pets, varicose veins... you name it, Gillespie delivers the details--with a great bedside manner. --Ericka Lutz --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"An elegant book written with concern and compassion, from vast experience by a master obstetrician of great heart." -- -- Dr. Bruce A. Harris Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Alabama

"An elegant book written with concern and compassion, from vast experience by a master obstetrician of great heart." -- Dr. Bruce A. Harris Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Alabama --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Perennial; 4th edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060965339
• ISBN-13: 978-0060965334
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,019,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Eh!, May 12, 2005

By 

DreamyDeppMama (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your pregnancy month by month (A Harper colophon book) (Hardcover)

The book was boring, slow, and full of a alot of WRONG info.
- The section on episiotomys is not factual. I have the updated version of this book, so there is no reason for it to have such old information. It has been proven that episiotomys are needed in only extreme cases when a baby needs to get out right away. This section in this boosk makes them out to be the norm, and says very little about the importance of natural tears.
Not only does it heal better, faster and more natrually, but your body knows how much to tear in order to get the baby out. Often times a doctor will cut you too much..meaning you have more to heal, or they don't cut long enough..and then you end up tearing ontop of the cut.

-Dr. Gillespie is not very accepting of homebirth's, and he fails to mention that the the 20% of normal pregnancis that have 'births gone bad' are caused by hospital interventions. He also seems to think that the reason home births are popular in other countries is because women can't afford to go to a hospital. Nice try doc. Could it be that other countires are just smarter? Yep!
He also forgets to mention that the home birth popular countries have a much higher 'live brth' rate compared to the united States.
I am not against hospitla births. I have had one myself..as well as a homebirth. It seems to me though that the doc is only putting his personal opinion rather than fact and helpful info.

He only mentions midwives in passing which is very unfair to women who will read only this pregnancy book. He does very little to empower women and makes pregnancy into a big medical mishap, that only doctors can be a part of.

He does not get into delivery except to talk a lot of nonsence. FOr instance. His only mentino of position during delivery is a short blurb about where squatting, and hands and knees adapted from.

Not a book for a smart women who actually wants to learn factual information and how to have a wonderful pregnancy and birth. My fear is that some young girl will pic up this book, believe what it says and then make all the wrong choices (although the author believes any and all choices during pregnancy and birth are the dr.'s and not the mothers). I hope most women are smarter than that though

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If you walk the straight and narrow, this one's for you!, July 13, 2001

By 

Jessie Cran (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Pregnancy Month by Month 5e (Paperback)

Unless, of course, you are married, straight, "responsible," financially-okay, hospital-birth-advocating and you don't mind being patronised by a doctor who will NEVER be able to give birth himself, I'd suggest that you avoid this book like the plague. I don't really have issues with Dr. C telling readers about every slight problem that could happen, nor with the layout or anything else- but the patronising manner in which he speaks to women who are pregnant.

The book only addresses issues which Dr. C deems "proper," and at the same time alienates women who may not have [male or existant] partners, financial security, or anything else people assume you're meant to have when you fall pregnant. He ignores issues which many women may want information about- such as homebirth and alternatives to pain relief, and advocates the "don't ask any questions, just obey doctor" line of dealing with patients which I've become all too used to.

On a lighter side, the pictures are interesting and detailed, however they may send you into freak-out land if your ultrasound doesn't look like the ones in the book.

If you don't mind doctors assuming you're stupid, or you are, this is all you'll need to read- how to ignore what your body may be telling you, how to give up your autonomy, and place your life, your baby's and your dignity right into the hands of a doctor.

Do yourself a favour- get Sheila Kitzinger, the "What to Expect..." series, or Ariel Gore's "HipMama: A survival guide."

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid this book, February 23, 2000

By 

susan Moray - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Pregnancy Month by Month 5e (Paperback)

This book, while "thorough" is so fear inducing that any pregnant woman with a low-risk pregnancy shoud steer clear at all costs. The author, month-by-month, lists typical discomforts alongside extremely rare complications thus alarming the pregnant woman that this could likely be her fate. He does not inform her that the likelihood of having one of these problems is very rare. I would have rather have seen a listing somewhere else in the book of such possibilities and the symptoms to watch for. Rather than have this book at all, I recommend Gentle Birth Choices, Birthing From Within or anything by Sheila Kitzinger. All were written by women with the approach that birth is a normal, natural physiologic state for the pregnant woman. While they discuss complications, they are not assumed to be lurking at every corner so the woman must be hyper vigilant for such problems.