Monica Potter Books

WOW! What a fresh, accessible cookbook. It's my new favorite on the bookshelf, right next to the Barefoot Contessa series. I was hungry for easy, hip recipes I could use in cooking for my family and having friends over, and this book really delivered just what I was looking for.

I can't imagine why this book is viewed as a standard for every pregnant woman. It is stuffed with each possible negative scenario. I don't want to think like an obstetrician, aware of every remotely possible complication.
I want a healthy outlook. Let's face it, pregnancy is a sign of overall health and should be treated as such. Ban the scary texts! If I have a specific risk, the multitude of tests I undergo at the doc's should reveal it. Otherwise, the female body is evolved to birth. It is our most biologically important function & we are well equipped to take on the task.
Since I received 3 of these as gifts, I read through a copy and found contradictions in information from one page to another. Sorry I don't remember specifics since I've had two boys since then, but it made the info appear so untrustworthy that I threw them all in the recycle instead of giving them to the next mom as I do with everything else.

This book answers absolutely every question that you may have throughout your pregnancy.
I highly recommend it.
The only people that would not like this are those that prefer a less wordy book- one with more pictures and simple layout. If you want information though this is the book for you

very informative, helpful and user-friendly.
a must-have for every couple who plans to have a child.

in an effort to be fair, this book reads someone who read a few pregnancy books decided to write a pregnancy book.

what i wanted was a description of what my baby and body were going through at least month by month. this book gives you hardly a page of information, half of which is "your baby is getting bigger," and then follows with a "what you probably feel like" section, which reads like "you probably feel sick, or big, and maybe you're hormonal." not only do the month to month descriptions seem partial and bland, but it repeats much of its subject matter the next month, and the next month, so you just skip ahead. but alas--each month section is only a couple pages long, filled up mostly by worries in question answer format that are really out of your hands. i mean, how many times are you going to tell me that "what i should expect at my next visit" is for my doctor to check my height and weight and i could ask them questions? every. month.

also, i've seen some reviews who dub it "non-judgmental," thus giving it an air of professionalism women can trust (and buy). i'm a working class mother and college student. i waitress, and my husband works in an industrial shop. nowhere in this book were concerns that come along with a lower income environment--like cleaning chemicals, or standing on your feet all day, or not having insurance or the capability for maternity leave. i had the feeling that the target audience was upper/middle class women in their 30's, and i often ended up even feeling bad about myself because the book addressed its audience as though it "expected" it to have priviliges it otherwise would think basic health care, education, or money.

not that this would affect you if you are of that group, obviously, or that it should deter you from purchasing the book.
the point is that this book is very well marketed and it would be hard to resist it. however, i also got the book "great expectations: you're all in one resource for pregnancy and childbirth" as a gift and think that book more accurately deserves the title "the pregnancy bible." i read them in tandem, and if you want to give a loved one or yourself something truly educational about the magic growing inside of you, about epidurals and crib safety, i would opt for it rather than "great expectations."

I love this book. I have had 4 kids and have read it with each pregnancy. It discusses every topic I had questions about. Each pregnancy was different and this book was able to reassure me that changes in my body each time around were normal. Pregnancy is scary! But this book is great at preparing you for what to expect. I recommend this book to all my friends.