What to Expect Before You're Expecting

I never really thought I'd want to have kids, and I pretty much slept through health class in high school, so when my husband and I decided to try and have kids, I bought this book as a place to start. I knew the very basics, and I didnt want a medical handbook, I was already excited and scared- this book helped me organize my thoughts and feelings as well as create a baby making timeline. It filled in a lot of blanks I had about trying to conceive, but the biggest benefit was that reading it helped me create a list of questions for my doctor. So when I left after my pap/physical, I felt like I had all the tools and knowledge I needed to start trying to conceive. Maybe it's that I'm pretty emotional, but I liked the way the book was written, it is kind of like I'm talking to a friend- which I appreciate because all of my closest friends do not have kids. I am 33, healthy, and have pretty regular cycles, so I wasn't looking for a book to cover conception problems- just a good regular starting point. The book does briefly discuss health problems that can lead to problems conceiving, but if you already know that you have one of those issues, this is probably not the book for you.

An excellent book, a lot of information I already knew, but also some good advice for both men and women. As we are trying to conceive, the book offered many helpful insights with examples and statistics. The book puts some of your fears at bay in a humorous and amusing context. It also tells you when and why you should go seek professional help. I enjoyed the read and learned some new trips, but often found the Kindle format difficult to follow. Sections that are supposed to be grayed for men randomly intermix with those for women and graphs and charts are not located where they are supposed to be with their captions placed in inappropriate places breaking up the flow of chapters and at times confusing the reader. Pictures often required changing font size down to nearly as small as you could make the in order to make the entire picture visible, which then required resizing to go back to reading. I gave the book a three rating, had the formatting for Kindle been better, it would have deserved four and a half stars. I am looking forward to and will buy What to Expect When You're Expecting once we make it to that step!

This book has helped me prepare to make a baby. It answered several questions I had for my doctor so that my preconception doctor visit was more like a review and assurance of certain facts. I went to my doctor prepared with a list of questions and medical history. I have used the practical advice for my diet and other lifestyle changes while trying to conceive. I would highly recommend this book. It is a great nightstand read and as there may be portions of the book that do not apply to you, it is a shorter read than you might think while also providing a wealth of information. I have already bought "What to Expect When You Are Expecting".

I am giving this book 3 stars because there are things I like about it and things that I don't. First, the good: it has a lot of useful information in it, all in one place. A previous reviewer noted that you can get all of the info in it online, which is true, but you might have to spend some time looking for it and some you might never stumble upon. This book has it all in one fairly short book, so if you want to quickly look something up it's easy to do it. There are things in it that I never really thought about, and so wouldn't have looked up (why certain vitamins are good to have, the biology of getting an egg fertilized (getting pregnant)), but that I'm glad I know now. With that said, this is obviously not the only book that has this information in it, and if you buy another one you can probably skip this one (I also bought "Before Your Pregnancy," which I have only skimmed so far but which looks better than this book so far). The pages at the end (for charting your temperature, keeping track of your cycles, etc.) were great 5 years ago, I'm sure, but you can download free apps that do all of this more conveniently now. Also, I agree with other reviewers who said the language is really annoying. You get past it eventually, enough to keep reading for useful information (or at least I did), but it does read like a Cosmo magazine. There are plenty of silly abbreviations, sex is called "baby dancing" or "baby making" and there is alliteration in spades. Ugh. To sum up: I'm giving it three stars because on the one hand I did learn from it and it's concise (190 pages, if you don't include the charts at the end, which I don't, compared to 400 or 500 pages for "Before Your Pregnancy" (I forget which)), but other hand I could have gotten all the information in another book. On the one hand it's cheap, but on the other hand the language the author uses is annoying to read.

This book is a very good, well rounded book on what to expect before you start trying and while you are trying to conceive. No book can cover absolutely everything when it comes to pregnancy and such, but this book comes close. Follow up with What to Expect when you're expecting and odds are it will all be covered. I love both of these books. Made me feel more at ease with the situation and very much less nervous and worried! I understand my body better and the whole pregnancy process. A must for first time mothers!

This book is the perfect pre-pregnancy guide. This thing has everything you want to know and then some. I've been researching a lot regarding pregnancy, so some of the items were a bit redundant, but other than that I loved it. Given that it's a self-help type book, I was expecting it to be a bit of a forced read. However, I found myself laughing out loud at some of the notes. There are even tips for the guys. This book is super informative and I can absolutely see using this to gear up for multiple pregnancies. I would certainly recommend this for any woman trying to have a baby. The process can be long and difficult, but this book really shows you that you're not alone in the quest (and possible struggle) of becoming pregnant.

The best part is, it has pretty much all the information I could have wanted while trying to conceive. It is clear and easy to read. The worst part, as others have noted, is the goofy language for medical or sexual terms. We are all grown-ups. We can use the real words. Also, it feels like there's a lot of filler. I suppose they are trying to strike a casual vibe, but I didn't really buy the book to have a heart-to-heart with someone, I just want the facts explained clearly and practically. I think the book could be at least 25% thinner, but oh well. Overall, I'm very happy with it as a reference. I skimmed through all the relevant parts and felt well-informed to know what I need to know. The fertility charts/tables in the back seem a little outdated to me, since I just used an app, but I guess it's nice to have.

I wish I would have checked out the small percentage of negative reviews before I purchased the item. It seems to me the company does not carry everything in their own warehouse because the delivery time is extremely long considering they are only a few states away and in the same time zone. The delivery took about 3 weeks. So I guess they ordered the book from somewhere else (not drop-shipped) and then sent it on in the cheapest way possible (printed media mailer). But it got here in promised condition and within their month delivery window. Would recommend if the delivery time wasn't so sketchy.