What to Expect When You’re Expecting was recommended to me several times, and many people consider it the ultimate book on pregnancy. (Judging from the Amazon reviews, many other people hate it with a passion.) Personally, I thought it was so-so. The book lays out a lot of information that pregnant women will find useful; however, gleaning the wheat from among the chaff* is perhaps a bit more work than it’s worth.

I’m generally a worrywart, so while pregnant, I did my best not to worry over every little thing; a baby will pick up on the physiological impact of his mother's emotions, and I didn’t want him to also suffer physiological aspects of stress. This book, however, focuses a great deal on worrying. One evening, I had spent seemingly half an hour reading various iterations on “If you’re worried about such-and-such, then...” and I said, “Wait a minute! I’m not worried about ANY of these things! I’m going to be a horrible mother!!”

But seriously, the book really does spend a lot of time providing new things to worry about and stress over. It prescribes what your weight gain should be, and while it does say not to weigh yourself every day, it does heavily imply that if you don’t follow this weight gain schedule, then you should consult your doctor and freak out (not necessarily in that order). Also, you must follow an extremely strict diet and carefully monitor your calories and servings of various food groups. And you can’t eat any number of things, including sandwiches.

As I said when I read this book back during the second trimester: Look, if I spend my time stressing over what I’m eating and what I weigh, that’s not good for the baby. I know that I’m genetically predisposed to not put much weight on for the first two trimesters, contra the “official” “recommendations”. I categorically refuse to sit around counting calories and freaking out over accidentally eating too few servings of fruit three days ago or over gaining 0.5 lb last week instead of 2 lb.

That being said, once I started ignoring the “If you’re worried about X” sections (and the New Age stuff like not having your feet rubbed because it induces labor...seriously, how did cavewomen manage?) and looking simply for information, I did learn a few things. I appreciated the month-by-month overview of what happens when (though I must say, the book is very repetitive if you’re reading it straight through. It’s probably better to read a month as it comes up). Some of the symptoms I’d already wondered about were covered, and there was information on future symptoms I might experience.

In general, this wasn’t a great book for me, but I can see why some people love it.

*Considering that the “chaff” in this case includes a lot of (would-be) banter, I’m going to declare this my best stealth pun ever. YES.