I am no fan at all of the "What to Expect" series, so I'm always looking for alternatives to recommend. It's good to know I can refer folks to this one with some confidence. Handsomely produced, this doctor-written book goes week by week through your pregnancy, which actually makes more sense than a monthly approach. (If you take it by the month, you're pregnant for 10 months [40 weeks]! Who wants to think about that!)

Each chapter covers the size of you, the size of your baby, your baby's development, changes that may be occurring in you, how your actions affect your baby's development, nutrition, and a closing segment each week called "You Should Also Know."

It's very thorough, and because it's so thorough, it's frequently alarming, sometimes for no good reason. For example, in week 22, Dr. Curtis discusses appendicitis, though pregnant women don't get it any more or less than anyone else. Of course, major abdominal surgery during pregnancy is neither fun nor easy, but does a general interest pregnancy book really need to address it? Some of the most rational women I know became flipped-out
wrecks during pregnancy, and this kind of thing just fuels the fire.

I'm also really not happy with the information on breastfeeding, which is just this side of tepid. I'm not into guilt-tripping women who bottlefeed, but just saying in effect, "Oh well, you may not want to, so just give the kid a bottle, it's really not that big a deal" is not constructive. And a list of advantages to bottlefeeding does not belong in a pregnancy book, I don't care how mainstream. (Bottlefeeding gives a woman more freedom? How does having to cart around a bunch of bottles and pay exorbitant prices for formula free moms? And there are many, many other ways that a father can participate in the care of his new baby other than feeding it.)

The book is very pro-intervention, which should be no surprise considering it's doctor-written. I had two very heavy intervention childbirths, at least one of them absolutely necessary, and if you're headed in that direction or have no idea what goes on at the average American birth you need to know this stuff.

And there is a ton to learn! You may decide interventions are not for you, or you may decide particular interventions are fine with you. The only way you're going to know is to talk to other moms and read. I wouldn't recommend this as your ONLY pregnancy book (I don't believe in the One True Pregnancy Book), but to get the perspective very likely to be shared by a mainstream OB/GYN this book is recommended. It's well-written and the illustrations give a good sense of fetal development.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor