Great Expectations
Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth
Sandy Jones and Marcie Jones have done an outstanding job in writing Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth. The book is huge - 676 pages packed full of information.
I've been seeking a pregnancy "bible" to recommend to you and my search has ended with this book. It's an empowering book that allows you to make the choices you need to make for yourself and your family - not to please the medical establishment. Many pregnancy books counsel mothers to blindly follow the medical model of pregnancy and childbirth, but the Jones have written a book about and for mothers.
Your Body and Your Baby
The first portion of Great Expectations is a week-by-week review of pregnancy. I love this section of the book, which details how baby develops and how you may be developing and thinking during each week of pregnancy. There are plenty of references to other sections of the book where you can get more information on a topic of interest.
An intuitive format is used in the second section of the book. The authors chose to organize the section on common pregnancy complaints by area of the body. So if a headache is troubling you take a look in the head section. If you're feeling heartburn look it up in the digestive tract section. The table of contents and exhaustive index also make this section easy to reference.
The second section also covers weight and fitness, medicines during pregnancy, high risk pregnancies, family and emotional issues, finances, miscellaneous risks, choosing your care, and nutrition.
I would like to note that I disagree with the advice to limit salt intake during pregnancy - you should limit processed foods (which are salty), but salt your food to taste. Research has shown that women need salt to help support their drastically increased blood volume during pregnancy. For more info see the pregnancy section.
Education and Care
Great Expectations gives a balanced review of all different care providers and all different prenatal care, labor, and birth settings. It also briefly reviews other specialists you may encounter during your pregnancy. A discussion of childbirth classes and a list of resources for childbirth education is very helpful.
The nutrition chapter is very small and one of the only problems I have found with Great Expectations. The advice is sound, just scant. There is not a lot of emphasis on protein which has been shown to be vital to healthy pregnancy. A mother should supplement the nutrition information in the book with research into pregnancy nutrition (the late Dr. Thomas Brewer's work is a good place to start.) On a related note the belief of many midwives and observant obstetricians that pre-eclampsia is caused in part by maternal nutrition and can be prevented by excellent nutrition is not addressed - a major omission.
Giving Birth
The guide to giving birth, which encompasses the third section of Great Expectations, is wonderful. It covers all the standard information on how labor starts and the stages of labor and birth. An excellent chapter on pain relief gives a detailed list of natural pain relief strategies, and emphasizes the benefits of natural childbirth.
Great Expectations does cover chemical pain relief options thoroughly and with an honest look at the benefits versus the risks.
There are sections detailed what to expect during a hospital and out of hospital birth.
The section on home birth is a little brief and seemed unbalanced by the focus on possible hospital transfer. It was immediately followed by instructions for emergency childbirth, which though very valuable to have, could give the wrong association for home birth. The emergency childbirth section was well written and the first time I have seen something so comprehensive in a pregnancy and birth book.
Special situations such as induction, cesarean, and pregnancy complications are covered in a refreshingly honest way, with a clear look at the risk/benefit ratio of common interventions. You'll be empowered by the truthful information given.
Caring for Your Baby
Great Expectations also has a basic baby-care guide. This guide encompasses the fourth section of the book. It covers your own postpartum care as well as baby care. Most issues that parents will face or worry about with their newborns are covered in a clear and informative way.
The final pages of the book include a baby gear guide, resource guide, glossary, and an index.
The baby gear guide is a wonderful feature I have not seen included in a pregnancy and birth book. It is an A-Z review of all current baby products and you'll find it very helpful in making choices about what baby gear they truly need.
A Cornerstone
The resource guide is an extensive list of websites, companies, and organizations to go to for more information on any and every topic covered in Great Expectations. The glossary and index are also extensive and make the book completely user-friendly.
I was so impressed with Great Expectations, and it's my standard "pregnancy bible" recommendation. With this at the cornerstone of your pregnancy library you'll feel confident you're getting good information for yourself and your child.