Let me first start with a BIG THANK YOU to Mindy, for sending me this book. I think Bun in the Oven is the best pregnancy book ever.

Most pregnancy books are very Serious and Signficant, and tell you all the things that you MUST DO or you will have a mutant, brain-damaged, fetal-alcohol-syndromed, underweight baby and be arrested by Child Protective Services as soon as they legally can. Even when not scaring the hell out of you, they’re extremely strict and prissy. And they tend to gloss over some of the "yucky" bits.

By contrast, Bun in the Oven is laugh out loud funny, makes it clear that you don’t have to be the perfect pregnant person to have a healthy baby and be a good parent, and still provides tons of useful information, including on some of the yucky bits. (Where she was frankly more reassuring than Jenny McCarthy. And funnier!)

The book is organized into weekly chapters, starting with Week 1, which is the first week post-period and in fact, two weeks before conception generally takes place. It runs through Week 43, which is about as long as most people are ever allowed by their doctors to go, before labor is induced.

Each chapter begins as a diary entry by "Madeline," a snarky, funny, professional career woman. It follows her symptoms, activities, concerns, and relationships with boyfriend Matt, Doctor Herb,  Doula/Herbalist Beck, and hilariously weird family & coworkers throughout the pregnancy. This is where the book really shines as an informative, reassuring commentary on being pregnant. And most of the chapters had at least one moment where I laughed out loud. Some had more than one.

After the diary segment, there are more detailed explanations of various symptoms and possible issues, book recommendations, and other useful resources.

Cooke begins including baby care comments in the late week 30s, noting at some point that once the baby is born, you won’t have the time, energy, or brainpower to read the parenting books. Clever! Very good point!

Another stylistic aspect of this book that I really liked is that it WASN’T all full of husbands and fathers. In the diary segments, the narrator talks about her boyfriend, but he’s a real, interesting character in the book. He was written in such a way that anyone could relate, and Cooke felt no need to ALSO include "generic" comments for husbands and fathers.

At one point — and only one point that I can remember — she quotes a bit from a hospital list of what the partner should bring to the hospital, and mocks that it specifically talks about mens’ pjs, noting that she thought it was unfair and unnatural for lesbian partners to have to wear mens pjs at the hospital.

If you are pregnant, or anyone you know is pregnant, go read/get them this book right now.