Healthy Living Books Books

Rating: - Used so much it's dog-eared
We bought three books including "The Encyclopaedia of Pregnancy and Birth", which is very good but this one was by far the best for us. The week by week development with pictures kept us feeling close to what was happening inside. The other reviews here already say it all so I just need to say that I endorse what has already been said you just have to buy this one, ours has been well used

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Rating: - Thank goodness I had this!
My partner and I have been so grateful to the friends who bought us this book! It really does contain everything you need to know, and has been very reassuring for me as someone who tends to worry a lot about everything! Even my partner has read large chunks (something he has not done with the other books we have). I particularly liked the step by step weekly guide which was incredibly informative. The photography is amazing and the narrative is very well informed (by properly qualified professionals). Buy this for yourself and your pregnant friends - they'll be forever grateful.

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Rating: - Your Pregnancy Bible: The Experts' Guide to the Nine Months of Pregnancy and the First Weeks of Parenthood, New updated edition
Finding myself slightly overwhelmed at expecting another baby after twelve years, I thought I ought to treat myself to a comprehensive book as my previous antenatal carers didn't really have the time to answer all my questions and I was slightly concerned to be 40 and pregnant. Having acquired a copy of Your Pregnancy Bible, I'm not only feeling more confident about my having a successful pregnancy but also am much better informed about what I should be doing. There seems to be a lot that has changed! The advice about what to eat during pregnancy as well as avoiding environmental hazards ­ stories of which appear constantly in my newspaper ­ is very easy to follow and I'm more reassured about undertaking the different diagnostic tests. I've also caught husband, who to my knowledge, never read a book during my earlier pregnancy, looking at the book particularly the week-by-week photos and marvelling at the rapid pace of development. The book has become a great talking point between us.

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Rating: - Not necessarily the best buy
As first time parents to be, we wanted to buy a book that could tell us more than the scant information given by the medical profession! This book is, in the main part, well written, clear and offers what appears to be a good guide to the main points relating to pregnancy. It provides a good clear insight into how your body develops along with that of your baby, throughout pregnancy.
However, both my husband and I feel that the book does have its flaws and could do with being a bit more down to earth. It assumes that the reader already has a certain level of knowledge of pregnancy and pregnancy-related terms (which my hubby was oblivious to and subsequently confused about), concentrates on projecting the image of a perfect pregnancy with married parents (a scant paragraph is the only mention of potential single mums to be) and relatively few adverse effects (such as no mention of the headaches many mums to be experience, nor any suggestion that morning sickness is anything but that - a bit of nausea in the morning). Aside from the slightly patronising tone, there are a number of infuriating spelling mistakes, grammatical and syntax errors, and some sentences which just don't actually make sense - clearly the proof-reading didn't go too well!
Although the photographs are clear and mostly useful, we both found some of them quite distressing, especially as one in particular shows a foetus photographed through the amniotic sac, and that sac looks like it has been cut away - leading one to wonder if the little mite has been aborted / dissected. See page 36 of this edition (week 15). You choose!

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Rating: - By far the best of it's genre
This book is bloody ace. I went mad and bought 4 pregnancy books but this one is by far the clearest, most sensible, most reassuring, best laid out, most informative and least patronising of the lot. This is my first pregnancy and I live abroad so need as much info as possible about what's happening to me and my baby and this is just brilliant - totally indispensable. If you're going to buy a pregnancy book - just buy this one, you won't need any others.

Unfortunately i had a fever during my first trimester and without this book i would never have known whether calling the doctor was the right or wrong thing to do (it;s the right thing to do) - I can't praise this book enough.