Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
by Mayo Clinic
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.65 You Save: $18.34 (83%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.13 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
Book Review: The only pregnancy book you'll need!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is informative, very well organized, and easy to understand. It's organized into 4 main sections: Part 1 takes you through your pregnancy over 10 months, then each month is divided into 4 weeks. For each week, there is information on the baby's growth, including pictures of its size until about halfway through your pregnancy. I do wish it would give the estimated weight and length more often in the 2nd half of pregnancy - it's fun imagining how big the baby is getting every week. Then for each month there is also information on the changes in various physical parts of your body and changes in your emotions, what to expect at your doctor visits, and when to call your doctor. I appreciated the detailed information abut what to expect during labor, and what to do when you get home! My husband and I enjoyed reading what was coming up each week for the baby - how big it was getting, what was developing, etc.
Part 2 is a decision guide covering everything from prenatal testing to vaginal vs c-section to breast vs bottle to thinking about when to have another child. Very detailed information, without scaring you to death about possible genetic problems, etc. It just gives you the facts and lets you decide what to do with the information.
Part 3 is common concerns and questions - in what trimester they usually occur, what's normal and what's not, home treatments and when you should call your doctor. Very straight-forward.
Part 4 is complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Again, just tells you what CAN happen to just make you aware of the complications and what can be done about it, but without scaring you.
Overall, this book is fantastic. It's not loaded down with medical jargon, explaining everything so well that those of us without medical training can understand it! I recommend it to all pregnant women, and even bought it for a friend who didn't have any pregnancy books yet.
Book Review: Great information from a qualified source
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased both this book and "What to expect when you're expecting." I found the information in the Mayo Clinic book to be more well rounded and consistent with current research. The "What to Expect" book presented a lot more don'ts that really aren't current research based, such as the don't eat peanuts thing as it might give your child allergies. Multiple current studies have proven this theory wrong and telling Mom's-to-be not to do this kind of stuff just to be on the safe side is unnecessary and can lead to anxiety and worry over harmless things. The Mayo Clinic book takes a scientific rather than anecdotal approach which I really appreciated. I also liked the organization of the information in the book as compared to others. It's a large book that most people probably won't read from cover to cover in progressive sittings. The book's structure really made it easy to find what I was looking for at that particular moment as well as the stage by stage overview of my pregnancy.
Overall this has been my favorite go to resource for preggers info. The other books out there are a little more down to earth, kind of like having a conversation with a friend (who may or may not have their facts straight). This book was like having a medical expert at my beck and call to answer any question I could think of. This really helped to allay some of my first-timer concerns, whereas some of the other books would have given me more reasons to worry if I hadn't done my own research.
Book Review: Informative Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been told by women who had read "What to Expect When You are Expecting" that it was was unnecessarily frightening and condescending. I was buying this book for my daughter ,and she already had a copy of that book as well as others. I wanted to give her something that was well written without being written in medical terminology.
This book gets all the right marks. Written in plain English, w/out embellishment this book goes through all the stages of pregnancy and what to expect while keeping in mind that this is a normal and natural state of being.
My daughter highly recommends it and turns to it whenever she has a real cncern or question.
If asked to rate it with stars I would give it 4 out of 5 only because I believe that the title might put readers who are on the fence off. Although the title is honest it doesn't exactly grab the reader and that is a shame. I know they could change it and still have it be a professional text because although written by the professional's at the Mayo clinic it isn't a mecical text, but rather speaks to women honestly in langauge we all can understand.
I would definately, if I were pregnant again, choose this book rather than a book with the cover of a pregnant woman serenely sitting in a rocker in a "Little House on the Prairie" maternity dress. I want my information given to me in a langauge I understand and respects me as a reader.
PS-I am going to give it 5 stars anyway:-)
Book Review: I LOVE the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
Summary: 5 Stars
I love, love, love this book! I am currently 11 weeks pregnant and I don't know what I'd do without it. I bought this book and began reading it even before conceiving and I was amazed with the wealth of information it contains. The organization of the book is perfect; instead of just breaking down the baby's development by month (like "What to Expect When You're Expecting"), this book breaks it down by week. Every week, I look forward to reading about my baby's progress (and seeing what he/she looks like!). Also, this book not only tells me about my baby's development, but the changes in my own body as well. "What to to Expect When You're Expecting" seems to focus on Mom's changing body and not baby's as much.
The Pregnancy reference guide in this book is also awesome; I have used it so many times already. I've also started reading some of the postpartum info the book contains, just to educate myself, and I know it will definitely come in handy when the baby arrives. Overall, I feel I can trust this book, not only because of who the authors are, but also because the advice and information it contains have ALWAYS been right in line with what my doctor has told me. I would definitely recommend purchasing "Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy" if you're even thinking about having a baby and then if you still want "What to Expect When You're Expecting," (which I did just out of curiosity), buy it as a supplement just in case this book doesn't answer a specific question.
Book Review: A trusted source
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book for my first pregnancy, and have found it to be a useful reference. It has nice descriptions of the baby's development week by week, with actual-size drawings in the early stages. There is a comprehensive alphabetical section listing common symptoms and complaints, and suggesting at-home care as well as when it's time to seek medical help. The chapters are divided by month of pregnancy, and each month has a chart with symptoms that might be cause for alarm, with advice on whether to tell your doctor immediately or at the next office visit, depending on the severity of the symptom. I think this is especially useful for first-timers, who may not realize that symptoms like fever are dangerous, whereas vomiting once per day is fairly "normal." My only minor disappointment with this book was that the section on prenatal testing seems out of date and not as informative as it could be, considering that prenatal testing can be a major source of anxiety for a lot of couples. For example, they don't really mention the Genzyme sequential screen, which is commonly used nowadays, and they don't discuss things like false positive rates of screening tests or issues to consider when choosing a practitioner to carry out amniocentesis. However, overall it met my expectations as a medical reference for pregnancy, and you cannot beat the Mayo Clinic as a trusted source of information.