Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What YouReally Need to Know [Kindle Edition] Author: Emily Oster | Language: English | ISBN:
B00AEBEQUK | Format: PDF, EPUB
Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What YouReally Need to Know Free PDF
Download for free books Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What YouReally Need to Know [Kindle Edition] Free PDF for everyone book with Mediafire Link Download Link What to Expect When You're Expecting meets Freakonomics: an award-winning economist disproves standard recommendations about pregnancy to empower women while they're expecting
Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most profound, meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. We’re told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee, but aren’t told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are hard and fast—and unexplained. Are these recommendations even correct? Are all of them right for every mom-to-be? In Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster proves that pregnancy rules are often misguided and sometimes flat-out wrong.
A mom-to-be herself, Oster debunks the myths of pregnancy using her particular mode of critical thinking: economics, the study of how we get what we want. Oster knows that the value of anything—a home, an amniocentesis—is in the eyes of the informed beholder, and like any complicated endeavor, pregnancy is not a one-size-fits-all affair. And yet medicine often treats it as such. Are doctors working from bad data? Are well-meaning friends and family perpetuating false myths and raising unfounded concerns? Oster’s answer is yes, and often.
Pregnant women face an endless stream of decisions, from the casual (Can I eat this?) to the frightening (Is it worth risking a miscarriage to test for genetic defects?). Expecting Better presents the hard facts and real-world advice you’ll never get at the doctor’s office or in the existing literature. Oster’s revelatory work identifies everything from the real effects of caffeine and tobacco to the surprising dangers of gardening.
Any expectant mother knows that the health of her baby is paramount, but she will be less anxious and better able to enjoy a healthy pregnancy if she is informed . . . and can have the occasional glass of wine.
* * *
Numbers are not subject to someone else’s interpretation—math doesn’t lie. Expectant economist Emily Oster set out to inform parents-to-be about the truth of pregnancy using the most up-to-date data so that they can make the best decisions for their pregnancies. The results she found were often very surprising…
· It’s fine to have the occasional glass of wine – even one every day – in the second and third trimesters.
· There is nothing to fear from sushi, but do stay away from raw milk cheese.
· Sardines and herring are the fish of choice to give your child those few extra IQ points.
· There is no evidence that bed rest is helpful in preventing or treating any complications of pregnancy.
· Many unnecessary labor inductions could be avoided by simply staying hydrated.
· Epidurals are great for pain relief and fine for your baby, but they do carry some risks for mom.
· Limiting women to ice chips during labor is an antiquated practice; you should at least be able to sneak in some Gatorade.
· You shouldn’t worry about dyeing your hair or cleaning the cat’s litter box, but gardening while pregnant can actually be risky.
· Hot tubs, hot baths, hot yoga: avoid (at least during the first trimester).
· You should be more worried about gaining too little weight during pregnancy than gaining too much.
· Most exercise during pregnancy is fine (no rock climbing!), but there isn’t much evidence that it has benefits. Except for exercising your pelvic floor with Kegels: that you should be doing.
· Your eggs do not have a 35-year-old sell-by date: plenty of women get pregnant after 35 and there is no sudden drop in fertility on your birthday.
· Miscarriage risks from tests like the CVS and Amniocentesis are far lower than cited by most doctors.
· Pregnancy nausea may be unpleasant, but it’s a good sign: women who are sick are less likely to miscarry.
Books with free ebook downloads available Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What YouReally Need to Know [Kindle Edition] Free PDF
- File Size: 932 KB
- Print Length: 335 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1594204756
- Publisher: The Penguin Press (August 20, 2013)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00AEBEQUK
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,786 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Women's Health > Pregnancy & Childbirth - #35
in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Women's Health > Pregnancy & Childbirth - #66
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Business Life
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Women's Health > Pregnancy & Childbirth - #35
in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Women's Health > Pregnancy & Childbirth - #66
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Business Life
If you asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was interested in reading Yet Another Pregnancy Book, I would have laughed. Hardly! I read a couple early on, then turned to the almighty Google when I had questions or curiosities. Then about a week ago, my mom clipped an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal called "Take Back Your Pregnancy." Well, I took the bait. Emily Oster's article intrigued me. Definitely one for any subsequent pregnancy, I thought!
Then the furor struck on the Interwebs. Because Oster draws the conclusion from a variety of studies and data that it's fine to indulge in the occasional alcoholic beverage during pregnancy, she has been excoriated in a variety of articles and in the responding comments. Current Amazon.com reviews are skewed by those who take issue with an economist (not a medical doctor) who will, in their minds, increase the number of children born with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder). Several comments made nasty remarks about the author's 2-year-old daughter, Penelope, implying that it was only a matter of time before she would begin to fail IQ tests and demonstrate signs of FASD herself.
Was Oster truly that horrible and conniving? Did she write her book to cause birth defects and emotional trauma? I had to know the truth, and while 40 weeks and two days pregnant, I picked up Expecting Better and read it carefully.
Spoiler alert: it's really not that bad. I love authors who examine evidence, explain scientific studies and methodology, and draw logical conclusions about the data. Oster isn't an ob/gyn, but she's a well-trained economist whose job is interpreting data. Her analysis is thorough even as she keeps her writing accessible, humorous, and sympathetic.
My husband showed me an article on Emily Oster's book (published in the Wall Street Journal, August 9th) and once I read it, I could not wait to read her book. I am 12 weeks pregnant and could not understand the lack of data supporting all of the rules that pregnant women must adhere to. I saw 2 OB-GYN's and both doctors provided differing views, without providing sound data... was it just their opinion they were spouting off to me? That's what it seemed like to me. Women must make their own decisions, at the end of the day, and I am shocked with the negative reviews this book is receiving. This book is a MUST READ FOR ALL WOMEN!!
The negativity is around drinking --- Emily Oster is NOT supporting drinking while being pregnant. This book provides multiple studies on women who drink and shows us that if you have a drink or two, you are NOT HURTING YOUR BABY. But if you don't agree with this philosophy, then don't drink and mind your own business! There are plenty of women around the world who drink while carrying a child. I highly doubt that the reviewers who are so concerned with FAS have actually read the book!!
I loved the chapter on miscarrying since there is so much random information online. I too, like Emily's friend in the book, wondered the % of miscarrying at varying weeks. It is comforting to know that there are many reasons why women miscarry and you can't make a generalization as to your chances of miscarrying.
Another chapter I appreciated was foods you really should avoid. Even though I'm pregnant, I don't want to feel like I can't live and enjoy food! Knowing the foods I must avoid brings me a peace of mind. In addition, I always wondered about listeria and did not believe it would be harmful to me or my baby.
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