Great Expectations

Highly praised by expectant parents and childbirth educators alike, this comprehensive pregnancy reference (704 pages) is specifically designed for today's hurried moms (and dads) for getting them through pregnancy and early baby care. Numerous navigation aides in the volume help parents to rapidly access critical information.

The beautifully-illustrated, Your Pregnancy Week-by-Week section details every body change for both Mom and Baby for nine months with hundreds of timely coping tips. The Managing Your Pregnancy section includes: strategies for planning maternity leave; exercise guidelines; what to eat and what to avoid; safe and unsafe medications; and how to locate the best childcare and pediatricians. The illustrated Baby Gear Guide warns about unsafe products and offers solid, research-based facts for choosing the safest car seats, cribs, soft carriers, baby diapers and clothing. Your Guide to Giving Birth is the most up-to-date labor and birth resource available to parents today.

Based on brand-new medical evidence, it helps families to realistically plan for labor and delivery, including detailed "you are there" descriptions for every major intervention and medication they're likely to encounter -- such as epidurals, inductions and cesarean sections. You and Your Baby presents a complete guide for the first six months of life after birth.

Theres mom-friendly advice for post-birth recovery, and baby-sensitive care strategies for feeding, bathing, diapering, soothing and helping a baby to sleep. The book's Resource Guide lists over 100 of the best Internet sites for parents. The comprehensive Pregnancy Dictionary translates 200-plus pregnancy and medical terms into easy-to-understand lay language.

"I have this book as well as What to Expect When Expecting, and I find this book to be so much better as it gives a week to week breakdown of what is happening to both mom and baby. I pick up this book each week as my pregnancy progresses and even though not every issue listed in each weeks summary necessarily happens to me, its good to know what I could expect. I would highly recommend this book to any expecting mom!" -- Cynthia, an expectant mother

"If you are searching for one book for your pregnancy or for that one book to refer all of your expectant clients to, this book is by far the greatest achievement in childbirth education reading material! Sandy Jones and her daughter Marcie Jones have included absolutely everything an expectant woman and her family needs to know. This book should be on everyones recommended reading list"--Connie Livingston, BS, RN, FACCE (Dona), CCE, CLD, birthsource.com

"Great Expectations is the perfect resource for moms-to-be. Sandy and Marcie Jones speak to the expectant mother of today in a friendly, approachable tone, and present their thorough information in a way thats great for both quick look-ups, and in-depth reading."--Stacia Ragolia, VP, Community & Parenting, iVillage.com

"Accurate, comprehensive, empowering, and current. I see this as being the new Dr. Spock for pregnancy...This is definitely a book I will recommend to my clients who are planning a pregnancy or currently pregnant."--Cherie C. Binns, RN, BS, MSCN