it's been like a bible to me! (What to Expect When You're Expecting - Arlene Eisenberg)

Member Name: west_jenn

Product:	What to Expect When You're Expecting - Arlene Eisenberg
Date:	18/08/04 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: informative, easy to read

Disadvantages: bit American in places

Pregnancy can be a bit of a confusing time. I'm now languishing at home at the end of my first pregnancy waiting for the stork to drop the little bundle of joy through the letterbox, if only!

When we first found out I was pregnant we were pretty clueless. I mean we knew the basics ie baby starts of small and gets progressively bigger, several minor and not so minor complaints attached to pregnancy, labour is not the most pleasant of experiences. But it was the details we wanted to swot up on.

So I brought 'what to expect when you?re expecting' This is a fantastically informative book. The book is divided into different stages from finding out you?re pregnant, pregnancy diet, each month of pregnancy, labour and delivery, the first postpartum week and the first six weeks, experiences of fathers, sickness during pregnancy, chronic conditions during pregnancy, what happens when things go wrong during pregnancy, and a chapter on planning the next baby.

Each month has information at the beginning about what is happening with the baby and roughly what you'll be looking like. We found this bit fascinating as it's hard to imagine there?s a real baby inside you at the beginning. It has a section on what you may be feeling physically and emotionally. I found this really as it reassured me that a lot of things like heartburn and light headedness were normal at certain stages. These are general lists and the authors do point out that everyone?s different.

I wasn't so keen on the what you can expect at this month?s check up also at the beginning of each month chapter, the authors are American and I found what was written wildly different to my experiences with the nhs. Each chapter covers concerns roughly relating to that stage of pregnancy ie miscarriage in the first month, carrying twins in the third month, holidays abroad in the fifth month, labour symptoms in the ninth month.

All the way through the book th
e authors deal with different fears ie not being ready for parenting, getting an older child ready for the new baby, unwanted advice. The labour and delivery section is very helpful with a step by step run through of everything that happens, different interventions and people?s fears.

The postpartum section deals with recovering physically from the birth, depression, breastfeeding and bonding. I've not really looked to much into the other chapters. Although when I had a bad cold a couple of weeks ago the section on being sick during pregnancy was very helpful as I had this strange idea that the baby might also get a cold. I also found the section on pre-eclampsia as I almost diagnosed myself with that a month or so ago and the information in the book told me I was being daft.

So all in all it's a useful well organised book that I think I've read to death!

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