The Complete Guide to Pregnancy After 30

This book was an incredible help to my wife and I from the trying times trying to get pregnant to after our delivery.We learned about this book by happening upon Ms. Winkelman doing a book signing at a local bookstore. Having just began to consider trying to get pregnant, we stopped and listened (we were both in our late 30s at the time). Having encountered a bewildering array of information about our chances of conceiving, we were apprehensive. "The Complete Guide" eased our minds with it's straightforward, reasonable attitude. We finally conceived naturally, and while it would be a stretch to credit this book with our success, I can say that it was one of the things that helped releive our stress. I strongly believe that reducing stress helped us finally conceive.After successfully getting pregnant (after more than a year of trying), we were once again confronted with a dizzying constellation of advice, most of which coming with an agenda. Most other books we encountered along the way were pushing dogma and backing it up with pseudo-science, leaving us confused and worried. This book became a trusted source of solid information, not advocating a particular agenda. While I belive that there is a place for authors to advocate such things as natural childbirth, stay-at-home mothers, extreme dietary restrictions, and the like, I resented the sources of information that attempted to convince us that deviating from a narrowly defined code of pre-natal behavior was tantamount to child abuse. One VERY popular book even suggested that my pregnant wife should avoid sitting in rush hour traffic! (and that was not nearly the most extreme example). Maybe some authors have the luxury to stay at home in their sanitary bubble for nine months, but we certainly didn't. I felt that other authors disguise their lack of respect for women by talk to them as if they are their 'girlfriends', instead of a trained expert in their field. Winkelman's training as a respected science writer shows in her book's willingness to convey knowledge in a respectful and unpatronizing way. Her book also showed respect for a diversity of lifestyle choices, and the medical and scientific information included informed and calmed us.The result: A baby boy(!), eight and a half pounds, delivered with some nature and some drugs, with extremely happy and proud Forty-year-old parents. Mother and son are calm, happy, and healthy, and doing very well. Thanks, Carol, for a great resource. I recommend it in the highest possible terms.

This is a great book for women who want the facts with the occasional anecdote from peers. It has replaced all the other books I was given as gifts - books full of anecdotal advice with few facts and provincial views of women that discourage work and travel. As a woman having her first child at 40, I found it comforting to have such up-to-date research at my fingertips (countering out-dated advice from friends and family). For example, being a vegetarian and traveling in Europe a lot I was concerned about Listeria and my own OB-GYN could not offer a complete list of cheeses to avoid. This book filled the gap. If you're looking for a companion to this book which offers a similarly inspiring and factual account of how your body and baby will change as the pregnancy develops month-to-month, I'd recommend Christopher Vaugh's `How Life Begins'.

Ms. Winkelman's book provides a tremendous amount of useful information about a wide variety of pregnancy issues and concerns in an easy to access format. As a childbirth educator having my second child at 42, I have a fairly good background in pregnancy and childbirth issues. However, this is a book I would readily recommend to my own students because it is up to date, well presented, and provides a very balanced view of pregnancy and birth options, from the highest tech to the more naturalistic, homebirth model (my own end of the spectrum).

This is probably the best and most complete pregnancy book on the market today. You feel as if the author is both friend and confidant, as she and the people interviewed, take you through pregancy, delivery and motherhood. I was also impressed with the incredible, up to date data. The chapter on hormonal drugs, for instance, gives woman honest and well researched answers to many questions that other books hardly address. This book not only contains valuable information, it's also a great read. I loved it.

I'm 33, and this book provided me with very helpfulinformation about fertility, pregnancy, and birth. It also helped me plan for my first weeks at home with my new baby (I was clueless about what to realistically expect.) There's a lot of great medical information but I also liked how the scientific information was mixed in with women's true-life stories. The stories were not only inspiring, they helped me see how the medical information related to real life. The chapter on finding a doctor and midwife helped me become a better "shopper" and ask better questions. The chapter on labor made childbirth seem like something I COULD DO--and gave me what the author calls a "bag of tricks" for labor (including birthing positions, showers, positive things to tell yourself, information on doulas). I found it a great resource and expect that others will too.