By Charles J. Lockwood, M.D.
THE ANITA O’KEEFE YOUNG PROFESSOR OF WOMEN’S HEALTH AND CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS, GYNECOLOGY, AND REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCES, YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
As an obstetrician practicing in the twenty-first century, I have plenty of sophisticated procedures and high-tech equipment at my disposal to help me help mothers-to-be have healthier pregnancies and healthier babies. Ultrasound allows me to visualize a pregnancy’s progress and a baby’s development. Doppler helps me locate and amplify the tiniest of heartbeats. Fetal heart rate monitors enable me to assess a baby’s health inside the uterus. And I can order a lab-full of tests to screen for birth defects and identify risk factors to help minimize the risks they pose.
But, do you know what I’ve always wished I had on hand? A piece of equipment—not currently available in even the most high-tech medical catalogs—that might prove an ob’s most effective tool in optimizing pregnancy outcome. One that can prevent many complications. One that can help every pregnancy get off to the best potential start, even before sperm and egg met up.
I wish I had a time machine.
With a time machine, I could turn back the clock on the many women who show up at my office door after they’re expecting, or after they’ve started trying to expect. Women who’ve come into their pregnancies with a less than ideal lifestyle, less than perfect control of medical problems, or less than model nutritional status, all of which can lead to less than perfect pregnancies. Most of these issues could have been minimized or even completely avoided with a few preconception modifications—stop smoking or drinking alcohol; a change in treatment plan for a chronic illness, such as diabetes, depression, or high blood pressure; a change in diet; increased exercise and a decrease in weight. Women who’ve waited a little too long to begin their families, or those who have waited too long before seeking help with their fertility issues could benefit from time travel as well.
Well, I’ve finally got my time machine, and now so do you: What to Expect Before You’re Expecting. It’s the book to read before the journey of pregnancy begins—not only before sperm meets egg, but before you’ve stopped your birth control and begun trying to conceive. It’s a complete, medically sound preconception program designed to prepare both your bodies for a healthy conception, and mom’s body for a healthy gestation and a healthy baby.
It’s all here, everything that I’d tell you if you showed up at my practice door before you started trying to conceive. The book reviews everything that doctors and major medical associations emphatically concur couples should address in the preconception phase. It emphasizes all the guidelines for a healthy preconception protocol such as the habits that should be kicked now and the ones that should be jump-started, the pre-pregnancy value of good nutrition and the right amount of exercise, and the importance for both prospective parents of achieving your optimal body mass index, or BMI (women who are overweight or too thin are more likely to have trouble conceiving and, if they do conceive, are more likely to experience pregnancy and childbirth complications)—and how to best achieve it. The book highlights the significance of lifestyle: why you and your partner should quit smoking now; how too much caffeine can impact your ability to get and stay pregnant; which precautions you should take at the workplace; which vitamins to take and which to avoid; which preconception tests you might need and which you can skip; which medications are safe to take while you’re trying to conceive and which will have to be tweaked; when to see your doctor; when to turn to a reproductive specialist; which gynecological and medical conditions can interfere with fertility; and which treatments may help you conceive.
The chapters on getting pregnant are a complete how-to of conception, packed with practical advice, fascinating trivia, and a lot of empathy and humor. Did you know sperm can retain their fertilizing potential for up to six days in a women’s genital tract, while if a newly released egg isn’t fertilized within 12 to 24 hours pregnancy may not happen? Or that it takes less than an hour for a sperm to reach the egg and fertilize it? Or that more boys are conceived in October? Or that a woman smells more appealing to her mate when she’s ovulating? The book will help you pinpoint ovulation, facilitate conception, and test for pregnancy, while debunking many common conception myths. The emotional side and relationship issues couples often encounter while trying to conceive, as well as ways of overcoming the stress that can occur when conception takes longer than expected, are also covered throughout.
Dads are included, too. Since their role in conception is vital, and not only in the obvious way, each chapter contains many helpful hints on how men can best contribute to a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, including how a prospective father’s diet, exercise, lifestyle, and medical issues can sometimes significantly impact conception and a healthy pregnancy.
Comprehensive, medically up-to-the-minute and accurate, reassuring, and reader-friendly, What to Expect Before You’re Expecting is the one resource that will fully prepare you and your partner for one of life’s most miraculous experiences, at the time when preparation will benefit your future baby most: before you’re expecting.
So my advice? Put time on your side before you conceive. Use this book to give your pregnancy the healthiest head start possible.