Expecting Better

Key takeaways:

- Most recommendations are based on the assumptions that most people will make the same decision when presented with the same data. This book is about giving you the data and letting you decide for yourself. I'll summarize some of the data I found most surprising or relevant, but it is not necessarily a view that I share.
- Light drinking doesn't have any impacts on your child.
- Many of the food restrictions are around getting sick. Fish and deli meats do not warrant the fear.
- There is a wide range of healthy weight gain. Your doctor will probably worry about this more than the data supports.
- Try to pick a hospital with a low caesarian rate, don't go to a hospital with routine episiotomies.
- Doulas help cut down on tearing and C-section.

My OB recommended this book during my first prenatal appointment. Really great for an anxious, data curious, pregnant person like me. Gives good information and opens doors to make informed decisions.

I cannot find the edition of this that I read on Goodreads - I just finished the 2021 edition that has updated foreword, preface, and chapters 1, 2, 4-10, 12, 14, and 17-23.

What I most appreciated about this book was the attitude behind it: pregnancy is not something that just happens to a woman, and you can be an active participant in the decisions. It's important that anyone reading this adopts the mental philosophy behind what she's saying - do not just read this book and take it as medical advice. Use it as a tool to learn more, ask questions, decide, and, in some instances, be prepared for that decision to change. This was one of the books more recommended to me when I got pregnant, and I'm glad I bought it so I can recommend to all my future pregnant pals.

Perhaps good for parents who don't yet already have children. For me, it felt like Emily was strongly trying to push her own agenda—and some of the numbers felt pretty outlandish to me! I recognize her whole point is to “take what you need and leave the rest” but it still felt a bit like she focused really hard on making her SELF feel good about her choices. Mostly read out of curiousity rather than for actual advice, given that I have already gestated and birthed a human, though.

I think all expectant moms should check this book out. I honestly wish I'd read it earlier because there's a ton of information about fertility and conception myths that would have been really helpful. Oster uses a data-driven approach to help pregnant people make the best choices for themselves and their baby. There's SO MUCH information out there, and a lot of the US guidelines for pregnancy are based on “silly women can't control themselves,” so it's nice to have data just laid out to see the risks for yourself. It has really helped ease my anxiety. Highly recommended.

I had been meaning to read this for forever, and I'm glad I finally did! I knew of Emily Oster from my J-PAL days, where I helped draft a policy brief about her menstruation in Nepal study (which gets a mention in the book!). Woo! That was 2011 or so, and I remember, when this book came out, being like, “Oh, she wrote a pop econ book? Oh wait, it's about pregnancy?!”

While I tend to think that high-flying economists (which Oster definitely is one!) have a TOO HIGH tendency to assume that, since they're high-flying in economics, they must be good at everything, I do - at the same time - agree with her basic assumption that having a background in academic economics gives you a useful decision making paradigm and some general literacy for reading academic articles and parsing quantitative research. Oster turns those skills to the Pregnancy Industrial Complex (PIC), and it's great - doctors do, after all, have a strong incentive towards being conservative, for fear of malpractice and generally things going tragically wrong. Patients, likewise, have a tendency towards imperfect compliance. And thus we have blanket, all-or-nothing statements about alcohol, caffeine, and so on.

This book is basically a giant lit review of pregnancy-related medical research, written in a fun, warm, pop tone. I found it mostly heartening and reassuring since, well, the PIC is scary and there is SO MUCH social judgment around pregnancy and parenting. Everyone seems to have found Jesus on this topic, and it's hard to separate fact from passionate belief. To epidural or not to epidural, etc. To that end, I liked that Oster offers (mostly) non-judgmental information and advice, with the overall message being, “You have your own risk tolerance, here are the facts.”

This is, hands-down, the best pregnancy book I have read. This breaks down some of the conventional pregnancy thoughts and recommendations (i.e. allowable amount of caffeine, “avoid” foods like sushi, deli meats, etc.) and explains why this recommendation came to be and why it is wrong (or right). Oster uses her judgment as an economist via evaluations of relevant case studies.

Also, this says we can eat sushi (with some risks). Always a plus.

Really interesting and engaging read - I'm not currently pregnant or planning to be in the near future, but you hear so much stuff about how terrible caffeine and sushi and everything else is for pregnant women, and this book is like a big deep breath in the middle of all that hysteria. I'm going to keep this and refer to it if I ever do become pregnant, because it's refreshing to know what the science actually says about all these supposed risks. (Some of which are real risks, but a lot of which are overblown.)

(Bookriot Read Harder 2016 Challenge: #2 Read a nonfiction book about science)