It all started with a baby…and a book. Heidi Murkoff conceived the idea for What to Expect When You're Expecting during her first pregnancy, when she couldn’t find answers to her questions or reassurance for her worries in the books she’d turned to for much-needed advice. Determined to write a guide that would help other expectant parents sleep better at night, Heidi delivered the proposal for What to Expect When You’re Expecting just hours before delivering her daughter, Emma.
Dubbed the “pregnancy bible”, the iconic New York Times bestseller is now in its all-new fourth edition, with over 17 million copies in print, and according to USA Today, is read by 93 percent of women who read a pregnancy book. Other titles in the series include Eating Well When You’re Expecting, What to Expect the First Year, What to Expect Before You’re Expecting (a complete preconception plan), and the newest member of the What to Expect family: What to Expect the Second Year, the must-have guide for parents of toddlers. The What to Expect books have sold more than 34 million copies in the US alone, and are published in over 30 languages.
In 2005, Heidi expanded the What to Expect (WTE) brand online with WhatToExpect.com – the interactive, state-of-the-internet companion to the WTE books, and home to a vibrant, vast, yet close-knit community of 3 million parents. In 2009, WTE went mobile with the WTE Pregnancy Tracker (the most popular pregnancy app in the world), the WTE Fertility Tracker, the WTE Baby Name Finder, and the WTE First Year Tracker.
Heidi’s passionate commitment to moms and babies led to the creation of the What to Expect Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping underserved families expect healthy pregnancies, safe deliveries, and healthy, happy babies. With a beautiful, culturally appropriate low-literacy pregnancy guide (provided at no cost) and comprehensive prenatal health literacy support, the WTE Foundation’s groundbreaking Baby Basics program -- available in English, Spanish, and Chinese -- has helped over 500,000 expectant moms-to-be in need and their babies.
Heidi has appeared on hundreds of television and radio shows, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, the CBS Early Show, Oprah, BBC Breakfast, and Good Morning Australia. She connects daily with her WTE family online at WhatToExpect.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.Heidi and her husband, Erik, have two children and live in Southern California.
Now comes the Fourth Edition, a new book for a new generation of expectant moms--featuring a new look, a fresh perspective, and a friendlier-than-ever voice. It's filled with the most up-to-date information reflecting not only what's new in pregnancy, but what's relevant to pregnant women. Heidi Murkoff has rewritten every section of the book, answering dozens of new questions and including loads of new asked-for material, such as a detailed week-by-week fetal development section in each of the monthly chapters, an expanded chapter on pre-conception, and a brand new one on carrying multiples. More comprehensive, reassuring, and empathetic than ever, the Fourth Edition incorporates the most recent developments in obstetrics and addresses the most current lifestyle trends (from tattooing and belly piercing to Botox and aromatherapy). There's more than ever on pregnancy matters practical (including an expanded section on workplace concerns), physical (with more symptoms, more solutions), emotional (more advice on riding the mood roller coaster), nutritional (from low-carb to vegan, from junk food–dependent to caffeine-addicted), and sexual (what's hot and what's not in pregnant lovemaking), as well as much more support for that very important partner in parenting, the dad-to-be.
Overflowing with tips, helpful hints, and humor (a pregnant woman's best friend), this new edition is more accessible and easier to use than ever before. It's everything parents-to-be have come to expect from What to Expect... only better.
What to Expect started with information--or, actually, lack of information. In fact, when I found out I was expecting for the first time--I didn't have the slightest idea of what to expect. And back then, it wasn't as easy to find out what to expect as you'd think. I created What to Expect When You're Expecting because I couldn't find the answers to my questions or the reassurance for my worries that I was searching for in the pregnancy books I read (and believe me, I read plenty). I was a mom on a mission--a mission to help other moms and dads worry less and enjoy their pregnancies (and their babies, and their toddlers) more. And I've been on that mission ever since. So what sent me back to recreate What to Expect--for a fourth time? Today, there's definitely no lack of information on pregnancy. In fact there's more information than ever before (a quick online search of pregnancy or a glance at pages and pages of pregnancy and parenting options right here on Amazon will clue you in on that). But often what's still hard to find is the right kind of information. Information that's accurate yet empathetic, reassuring yet realistic--that empowers you, but doesn't overwhelm or confuse you, that guides you but doesn't dictate to you. And it's not just about the right information, it's about information that's presented in the way that's most helpful--easy to access, easy to digest, easy to use. It's about information that makes your pregnant life less stressful--more enjoyable, and, well, easier.
The fourth edition is a new What To Expect for a new generation of readers--you!--and I'm excited to say it's the best What To Expect yet. It's packed with all new information, of course (since things tend to change quickly in the baby-making and baby-delivering business--something you're probably all too aware of already if you've made more than one trip to the birthing room). But it doesn't only take into account what's new in obstetrics and what's new in pregnancy; it takes into account what's relevant to pregnant women now. Lifestyle. Working. Eating on the run. Juggling the pregnant life with real life. Keeping up with relationships. Birthing options that are family friendly and pregnancy care that incorporates the best that complimentary and alternative medicine has to offer. Managing multiples (which more and more moms are carrying). Sorting out the information from the misinformation--the reality from the hype, fact from Internet legend.
The fourth edition also takes into account how you likely use books these days, so the format is even more accessible than ever. More geared to in-the-moment, find-it-in-a-flash reading.
Most important of all, the fourth edition celebrates pregnancy. I have a passion for pregnancy, and always have. I love moms, I love dads, and I love babies. But everything about this fourth edition from the happy, excited mom-to-be on the cover, proudly caressing her beautiful belly and its even more beautiful contents, to the adorable week-by-week description of the making of your baby, to the positive (yet realistic), mom-to-mom tone throughout--this fourth edition is not just an explanation of those 9 amazing (though often bewildering) months you have ahead of you. It's a celebration of them.
What to Expect When You're Expecting fourth edition is everything moms and dads have come to expect from What to Expect... only better. And I can't wait to start sharing it with you.
I guess you can say--I'm a proud mama all over again.
--Heidi Murkoff
 What to Expect: Eating Well When You're Expecting |  What to Expect the First Year |  The What to Expect Pregnancy Journal & Organizer |
Comforting answers to hundreds of questions:
• I'm so queasy I can't even eat for one. How can I eat for two?
• Can I get highlights in my hair? How about my monthly wax?
• I'm only in my second month—why am I showing already?
• Can I stick to my normal workout routine while I’m expecting?
• Why is my skin broken out and blotchy? And how can I cover it?
• What's safe when it comes to sex?
• I think I felt the baby kicking—but I’m not sure. How do I tell?
• Will my body ever be the same after I deliver?
