The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy (Girlfriends' Guides)

Your girlfriends, of course — at least, the ones who've been through the exhilaration and exhaustion, the agony and ecstasy of pregnancy. Four-time delivery room veteran Vicki lovine talks to you the way that only a best friend can-in the book that will go the whole nine months for every mother-to-be. Here is straight talk about those little things that are too strange or embarrassing to ask anyone about, practical tips and hilarious takes on everything pregnant. From learning you're expecting ("Oh my god, how do I get out of this?") to the day your newborn arrives ("You mean I have to take the baby home with me?"), she gives you the lowdown on:

• WHAT REALLY HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY — from morning sickness to eating everything in sight, what to expect when going from being a babe to having one.
• COMMON FEARS AND PARANOIA — from turning into your mother to leaving the baby on the car roof, rest assured your anxieties are perfectly normal.
• THE MANY MOODS OF PREGNANCY — or why you're so irritable/distracted/tired/lightheaded (or at least, more than usual).
• THE PREGNANCY YENTAS — from your mom to his mom, they think they know everything — and they don't hesitate to tell you what you're doing wrong. Girlfriend, take heart: if it's working for you, then you're doing just fine.
• HOW TO HAVE SEX DURING PREGNANCY, SHOULD YOU SO DESIRE — bearing in mind you'll have no interest afterward.
• LOOKING AND FEELING YOUR BEST — cautionary style tips from your best friend, who really would tell you if your perky newmom haircut makes you look like a pinheaded whale.
• When you need a reassuring voice or just a few good belly laughs, turn to The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy.

"For first-time mothers-to-be, this candid, funny and very reassuring guide to pregnancy is just what the doctor ordered — or would if he/she knew about it....Without stepping on any medical toes, and in language that is neither technical nor cutesy, she tackles morning sickness, swollen breasts, exercises, stretch marks, sex during and after pregnancy, delivery and just about everything else, from maternity clothing to bladder behavior. Iovine anticipates every conceivable question, and her responses are warm, wise and witty." Publishers Weekly

"Leaving the medical domain to the medical professionals, Iovine focuses on the practical, social, emotional, and physiological aspects of pregnancy....Iovine and her gaggle of Girlfriends are ready with reassuring and frequently irreverent advice." Newsweek

"With great humor and frankness, Iovine addresses the topics most women talk about only with their best friends." USA Today

"A day late and a night's sleep short" is the motto of writer, columnist, wife and mother (not in that order, of course!), Vicki Iovine. Vicki began her writing career after the birth of her fourth child (in six years) with the publication of The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy. This book struck a chord among women who found maternity an altered state, and Vicki soon became a regular contributor on such shows as Today, Oprah and The View.

She kept in lockstep with the reproductive years of her readers and published The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy Daily Diary; The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood; and The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers. Vicki is pecking away at her keyboard to finish her fifth book, which deals with parents of school-age kids, for release in fall 2000.

Always armed with an opinion and lots of experience, Vicki is currently the "new mommy" advice columnist for Child magazine in a monthly feature called "Girlfriend to Girlfriend." And with fifteen years of marriage under her belt, she regularly contributes articles to Redbook as the "Marriage Advisor" on the mysteries of the man/woman thing. Most recently, Vicki became the family advice columnist in the Sunday Los Angeles Times.

Far more years ago than she cares to calculate, Vicki graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She went on to earn her J.D. at Hastings College of the Law and is a member of the California Bar Association. Vicki was also a Rotary International Scholar and attended graduate school in England at Cambridge University where she earned an LL.B. in International Law. She took some time off during these legal studies to pose for a Playboy centerfold, when she was selected Miss September 19 — (you guess).

Any spare moments she can find are devoted to her role as a Director of Special Olympics International, the athletic program founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver for people with mental retardation. Along with her husband, Jimmy Iovine, and Bobby Shriver, Vicki produced two "Very Special Christmas" records of original and traditional holiday songs performed by the biggest rock, rap and pop acts of the time. Proceeds from those records have exceeded $60 million, every dollar of which has gone into the international program.

Vicki divides her time between her car and her home in Los Angeles. The kids are now ages five, seven, nine and eleven. The husband isn't telling.

Look for her to introduce the Girlfriends' Guide on the internet later this year.