Before Your Pregnancy: A 90-Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception [Paperback]

Conclusions made are inconsistent - thing A is to be treated with caution because its safety for pregnant women is unproven, whereas thing B is considered safe because it has never been shown to cause problems. Where is the logic here? There is no difference between "never been shown to cause problems" and "safety unproven". And if there is a difference in the proven safety of these two things, it should be stated explicitly rather than left at these two vague comments.

Some statements are just plain incorrect. For example, it is stated that ovulation is the day of the basal body temperature rise, when in fact the temperature rise usually occurs the day following ovulation. Also, intercourse on this day is stated to give the best chance of conception. This is incorrect whichever way you look at it - intercourse on the day of the temperature rise is usually too late (being the day after ovulation, the egg is often dead by then), and intercourse on the day of ovulation is still not the best timing (for those who are interested, intercourse the day before ovulation is best, although difficult to time). I have to wonder what other "facts" in this book are downright wrong.

Finally, conclusions are drawn without sharing the information used to make them. It is claimed that a woman who has no immunity to rubella must get vaccinated, stating that the potential risks of the vaccine far outweigh the benefits. Nowhere is it mentioned that an adult woman receiving the rubella vaccine has much higher risk of serious medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and thrombocytopenia, and that according to the CDC the incidence of rubella in the US is extremely low. Whether or not the benefits of this vaccine outweigh the risks is something for women to decide for themselves, with all pertinent information.

Now, I would expect a book written by two doctors to side more often with medical gospel than not, but I was very surprised by the lack of portrayal of the other side of the issues. Or more to the point, that some things were treated as complete non-issues: women are encouraged to run right out and get the flu and chicken pox shots, with no mention of their risks or efficacy.

I should say that I did find the information on weight, diet, and exercise to be very thorough and mostly consistent with other reading I have done. Still, I simply cannot recommend this book.

- thoroughness
- inclusiveness
- reliability
- readibility

then you will not be disppointed by this book. I bought this first, before I conceived, to make sure that I was doing all I could/ should to prepare my body for pregnancy. This book addressed the whole range of issues related to this, and in a very clear, readable (lots of graphics to explain things) yet extremely authoritative manner. The authors have their credentials and this comes through clearly.

I have very high expectations of books, especially when they are on such an important topic as pregnancy. Up-to-date info. is mandatory--not optional--and this books has it.

After I became pregnant, I bought many other pregnancy books, but kept coming back to this one. The others are better for describing what is going on month-by-month, etc., but NONE are better for general medical reference info. For example, this is the only book I have found that breaks down herbs into 3 categories ("Safe During Pregnancy", "Herbs That Warrant Caution" and "Herbs to Avoid") and clasifies every major herb you are likely to encounter (in teas, body creams, etc.). They also describe common concerns/ probelms in a very user-friendly yet authoritative manner, and told me all I needed to know about continuing to exercise safely throughout pregnancy. Plus the tone of the book is very positive, reassuring and upbeat.

I can't say enough about this book. It is my pregnancy bible.

I also really liked the tone of this book. It was friendly and informative yet confident and authoritative. I did not feel like there was lecturing going on (which is good as lecturing, let's be honest, can sometimes trigger a "I don't care what you say, I'm gonna do such-and-such anyway!" reaction), but rather like the authors were part of my "preconception team," working WITH me and my husband towards achieving the goal of a healthy and happy pregnancy.