Rating: 
Summary: An absolutely wonderful book!!!
Review: If you are pregnant - if you know someone that is pregnant - if you are even *thinking* about getting pregnant - then read this book. It is not a 'medical' book - but it is warm and funny and very true-to-life. Let's be honest - any pregnancy involves some very weird things happening to a woman's body. By 'weird', I don't mean 'bad' - just things you are probably not expecting. You might feel too embarrassed/silly/stupid to ask anyone. But this book will answer many of these questions. And she doesn't just talk about the physical changes your body is going through - she talks about how you might feel, your relationships with others, etc. And she does it in a humorous fashion. This book is *fun* to read. Pregnancy is not a 'sickness' but it is a profound physical change. And every woman has a different experience (and the same woman can have different experiences with different pregnancies). Even if you have a best friend that you'd be willing to ask anything - if she didn't experience the same thing, she might not know the answer. This book left me feeling like I had a bunch of 'best girlfriends' that were totally honest with me about what I was experiencing. They didn't all have the same experience - but some did and they could answer that particular question. If you're interested in the medical aspects of pregnancy - get a different book. If you're interested in the practical aspects of pregnancy - buy this one!!
Rating: 
Summary: Better than your best girlfriend...
Review: When I found out I was pregnant, I realized that I had a lot of questions. Sure, I knew the logistics of how babies were made, but I had other questions too, ranging from when do I start showing, why didn't I feel like this, what do I buy, etc, and while every female I knew was excited and happy, they weren't people I wanted to ask certain questions of, and there were certain questions I didn't even think to ask.
Anyway, I bought the usuall suspects, "your pregnancy week by week," and also "The girlfriends guide to pregnancy", and was later given "What to expect when your expecting". Of all these, "girlfriends guide to pregnancy" is my favorite. The other books are medical-informative. This book is "best friend" informative. It provided me with A LOT of good laughs, and that's a difficult thing for me to get from a book. And best of all, after reading those serious books, this is an easy/light read which is refreshing. I definetly recommend this book, and it would make a wonderful gift to the newly expecting. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars simply because it's not as factual as your other books, but it is like being pregnant with your best girlfriend, who knows and understands what YOU are going through.
Rating:
Summary: Best Pregnancy book I've read
Review: I am honestly shocked by the negative remarks I read about this book. I am pregnant, and read this book right after looking at more of the conservative, accepted books, and I found "G-friends Guide" to be such a relief! Vicki doesn't put a negative spin on pregnancy, she tells THE TRUTH! Sorry, reviewer, you WILL feel like a hippo when pregnant, and that's only natural, most women have a littany of minor complaints about being pregnant. This book made me laugh out loud! It helped me to understand and accept lots of the little annoyances that are happening to me. I plan to buy Vicki's other books as well, and I ALWAYS recommend this book to friends.
Rating: 
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: As a first time pregnant mother, I searched the stores to find the "perfect" books...ones that would tell me everything I needed to know about pregnancy. I carefully selected two books. One being this book. The tone of this book is very sarcastic and without common tact. Although it offers much good information, it also offers a lot of tactless trashy statements. For example...The writer says not to exercise because your body will become out of shape anyways and not to get your haircut short because your face is going to get fat....Instead of embrassing pregnancy, it actually makes it seem that for the next 9 months a mother will have to endure a terrible and devastating bodily change. Reading this actually made me upset! (Women don't get fat during pregnancy!!!! Yes, they gain weight....but not much...most of it truely is baby et al!!!!!) Wouldn't you rather read a book that tells you how to have the healthiest pregnancy fo you and your baby? I HIGHLY recommend the "Pregnancy Book". It's the best book that I have found on the market. My doctor is really impressed that I am so "up" on my information. That really makes me feel that I am informed about what is happening physiologically as well as emotionally month to month.. Thanks to the "Pregnancy Book".
Rating:
Summary: Thank You
Review: I was pregnant for the first time at 74. Thank you Viagra! This book helped me cope with my husbands disorders as well as my bad back. It provided the inside information that only an author would know. If you are pregnant at 74, this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: The single best book we read
Review: There seem to be a good number of people reviewing this book who don't quite get it. I'm starting to find, as the father of a 4-week-old, that some people seem to view their style of parenting as sort of a political statement. Anyone who disagrees with their deeply held beliefs, which often seem to include family beds, baby wearing, and breastfeeding into the early teens, is clearly someone to be attacked. I'm not looking to be indocrinated into anyone's political camp. I've found useful things from Sears, and guess what, useful things from Ezzo, too, and my baby is growing just fine, thanks very much. Vicki unintentionally covers exactly this situation in one of her later books, where she pretty much says that there's three schools of thought on sleeping: the family bed, the crib in another room, and the mix of the two that most of us actually end up doing because some nights, it's just too tiring to get the little guy back to his own room. The point -- there's a lot of us out there who don't care a whit about political statements, and instead want to simply do whatever works for them in order to have a happy & healthy pregnancy and child-raising experience. This book is lighthearted -- which pretty much no other pregnancy books are. It's also honest in ways others aren't, especially in describing the actual processes of labor and delivery. No, it shouldn't be the sole book in your pregnancy library, but, um, why on earth would it be? Actually, and I'll bet I'm not the only one who feels this way -- a Girlfriend's Guide to Breastfeeding would be fantastic. What's out there is, as usual, too political about the issue, and unable to answer simple questions about, say, supplementing, because it's spending all its time making political statements.
Rating:
Summary: Kind of Cute, but I am now really turned off to pregnancy!
Review: I am not yet pregnant, but doing research to see what all is involved. I am looking forward to pregnancy as a fabulous time and miracle of life. This book sounded like it was so much torture and I was going to be fat and hideous forever and "morph into a hippo". Well, what made me so mad was reading on the back cover that she was a Playboy model. How can she speak for every woman when she is exactly NOT what I want to be? I've gained and lost weight, had bad skin, and low self esteem. I already have a few stretch marks and god forbid, weight over 150lbs. Guess what- there are WORSE things that can happen besides gaining weight ESPECIALLY when you are growing a baby. I also feel very strongly that breastfeeding, staying at home and natural childbirth are very important, but Vicki tells me a bottle, fulltime daycare and a scheduled C-section are just as good. I don't believe her.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for pregnant women (and their husbands)
Review: If you're following "Friends", you'll see a pregnant Rachel constantly reading from "The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy". Why? Well, it's just about the most helpful, funny, and honest book about pregnancy out there (believe me, I've looked!). Vicki Iovine, fed up with the clinical, boring books available during her 4 pregnancies decided to poll her girlfriends regarding everything preggo: 1.) Why are most maternity clothes available so hideous? They either make you look like a fat pilgrim or an expanded flight attendant! 2.) What REALLY is morning sickness? How can I deal with my eyes watering and throat closing down at the sight of certain foods? 3.)Why am I crying over every diaper commercial I see? 4.) I think I might have to strangle my husband. The beauty of this book is this: every pregnant woman has fears and concerns that she may feel silly calling her OB/GYN every half hour for. Thank goodness Vicki and her gaggle of G-Friends have complied a full list of general preggo paranoia points. You will laugh until your eyes water, and also be surprised at just how much that tiny little bundle in your belly will change and take over your life even before it's born. Be sure to check out Vicki's other books regarding "Surviving the First Year", "Toddlers", and "The Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Your Groove Back". (NOTE: Vicki herself has never experienced miscarriage- a friend of mine who's had 2 miscarriages chose not to get this book soley based on the fact that she didn't like how Vicki handled the whole miscarriage topic. This is a good point to keep in mind for any girlfriends you might consider buying this book for.)
Rating:
Summary: Laugh a lot, learn surprising things and love women
Review: I bought this book as a congratulatory present for the first girlfriend of mine to become pregnant, peeped at it and then had to read it cover to cover. I thought it was an absolutely magical hoot and I wasn't even pregnant! THIS is the book that made me look forward to pregnancy more than any of the serious tomes I bought later. It made baby-growing seem real and human and wonderfully flawed in a way that other books miss. There is none of the dry, detached and sometimes dictatorial stance that is common in the highly rated specialist pregnancy books. I read this book again and again when I finally was pregnant - it was a wonderful lightener on those days when pregnancy seemed less than appealing. Iovine's humour is wicked, but never at the expense of the magic of pregnancy. She seemed to have a window into my pregnant mind. It was so reassuring to know that thousands of pregnant women before me had also sobbed uncontrollably over the children's aid appeal ads on TV. That my husband was not an alien and bad-Dad-to-be because he couldn't feign believable interest in feeling the baby kick or choosing a baby name. And I'd MUCH rather find out about the prospect of "piles", what they are, why you might get them and what to do about them from a mother of four's horror-humour revelation of her own experience, than from reading it as a one liner under "What you may be experiencing: haemmoroids". The first description was one you couldn't ignore; the latter one you readily skip over confident that nothing so appalling could ever happen to YOU! I found remarkable information in this book that I found nowhere else, it made me relish my pregnancies and it made me laugh. As Iovine describes in her book, it made me feel like a part of the circle of mothers. This book is not "What to expect......" but then it doesn't pretend to be. It offers it's own invaluable contribution towards surviving and enjoying pregnancy and the "friends sharing secrets" style of the book really appealed to me. Pregnancy is so intimate and the great pregnancy bibles seemed so detached from what I was experiencing. The Girlfriend's Guide seemed like a girlfriend. It is a wonderful counter balance to other more medical sources.
P.S. I DID buy my pregnant friend a fresh copy!
Rating:
Summary: Finally the Truth
Review: This pregnancy is my first. After spending much of it with my commode I became extremely disappointed in all mommy-kind. I felt there were these secrets that all women with children have been keeping from us. "A little morning sickness"; I couldn't even keep down bananas somedays, and cold toilet water on your face does not make it better. I never expected my body to feel so different. A friend loaned me the book and I laughed and felt like finally someone was telling me the truth. This book helps you keep all the yucky stuff in perspective. My husband has even enjoyed reading about his alien wife. To all you pregnant mom's, this is a book you can trust and have a laugh.
|
