Morning Sickness

Pregnant women will sigh with relief (likely in between retches and dry heaves) when they read Kaledin's breezy been-there, done-that look at an under-examined aspect of pregnancy. The medical correspondent for the CBS Evening News deftly dispels the myth of crackers as a panacea for morning sickness in the first few pages, and then goes to address other, ahem, misconceptions about the illness, including that it occurs only in the morning and that copious vomiting must harm a fetus. Beyond this, the book offers a slew of personal anecdotes from women who have suffered through what's known clinically as Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP), and some practical advice for coping with prolonged nausea: the suggested stretches with accompanying photos and the Morning-Sickness Survival Kit are especially useful. Readers looking for hard science, though, should turn elsewhere. While it contains some data and medical facts, ""the whole point of this book,"" as Kaledin puts it, ""is to make people feel better."" By that measure it succeeds: those who are already expecting will appreciate the sisterly reassurances, while those who are still considering pregnancy will wonder why this grittier side of the nine-month glow is rarely discussed. The structure is somewhat loose, and the proliferation of bold words in capital letters followed by exclamation points seems at times a bit, well, hysterical, but this is nevertheless a valuable collection of advice, ideas and plain, old-fashioned sympathy.