Any time one of my friends gets pregnant with her first baby, I have plenty of advice to give her (whether she likes it or not), but one of the first things I tell her is to throw away any baby books or manuals she's been given and just do what feels right for her during and after her pregnancy. Well, every single book except for What to Expect When You're Expecting. Because it's really the only book any pregnant gal needs -- and it definitely served as my lifeline while I was expecting my son.
I know, I know -- there are plenty of you who aren't exactly thrilled with this book, though I'm not really sure why. (Yes, haters, I'm talking to YOU.) What's so evil about a book that gives you solid information about things that happen to your body during pregnancy without telling you exactly what & what not to do?
Out of all of the magical "do this but definitely don't do that" piece of junk books I went out and bought when I got pregnant with my son -- this is the only one that made sense. It's the only one that gave me a good overview of the changes that were happening to me emotionally and physically without making me feel like some sort of freak or like I was setting myself up for failure as a mother.
Ok, ok, so maybe it didn't exactly have all the answers to some of the more embarrassing questions I had like whether or not I would poop on the delivery table or whether my husband would ever want to have sex with me again after seeing a human head come out of my nether regions. (FYI -- Jenny McCarthy's Belly Laughs took care of all that. SUCH a great read.)
But all in all, I really felt like What to Expect When You're Expecting really gave me a good foundation for navigating my pregnancy, and being somewhat prepared when I brought my newborn son home from the hospital. (Even though about two days into the whole mom thing, I realized I had no clue.)
Of course, women who are pregnant right now are super lucky, because the book has been made into a movie, which I'm assuming is a lot more entertaining. I would've much rather gotten pregnancy tips from Jennifer Lopez & Cameron Diaz while sitting and chowing down on a bucket of popcorn than sitting at home reading a paperback book. Wouldn't you?
Do you have a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting? Have you found it to be helpful during your pregnancy?
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Comments 37
I don't hate the book. It was useful in amny ways. However, it did scare the shit out of me when I read about gestational daibetes after I found out that I had it, and it makes c-sections sound super scary. I think it has a tendancy to just make the process more scary than it needs to be rather than being informative and supporetive- which is what we really need in our first pregnancy.
Women who follow the eating advice in that book will gain too much pregnancy weight. My nurse at my Ob's office told me not to "eat for two", just eat normally. Which I did. I ate when I was hungry and I at normal portions. I only gained 19 pounds of pregnancy weight and my daughter weighed 7lbs 12 oz when she was born at 37 weeks ( told her all thru the pregnancy if she wanted to come early, it was ok with me -- I guess she heard me cause my water broke at 37 weeks!)
I loved it!! I still have mine and my dd is almost 4 and I am ttc my 2nd
i wouldnt recomend it..now anything from ina mat gaskins i would.
I thought it was good. Still have it... somewhere
What to expect was a good book for me during my first and only pregnancy ... but I have to say Not nearly everything was in there as was other things.
I found it to be extremely helpful.