Stay Fertile Longer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant Now--Or Whenever You're Ready [Paperback]

Mary Kittel (Author), Deborah Metzger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2004

Many women today dream of having it all-a challenging career, a satisfying personal life, a loving mate, and a baby whenever they're ready. But there's no denying the fact that their biological clocks are ticking away. The odds of conceiving drop by 15 to 20 percent for a woman in her early 30s and plummet to less than 50 percent when she's in her 40s. The good news is that there are a host of natural strategies every would-be mom can use today to preserve and optimize her fertility, so that she can conceive quickly and easily when she's ready.

Here women will discover:
- An eye-opening list of popular medications that can impair or destroy fertility

- The best contraception choices to use now for enhanced fertility later

- Common household chemicals that can be dangerous to your fertility-and how to avoid them

- Lovemaking strategies to boost your conception odds

- The top fertility-boosting diet-and the foods to avoid when you're trying to conceive

- The connection between stress and infertility

·- Customized action plans telling what to do to get pregnant now, up to 20 years from now, or after 6 months of trying

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book offers a good deal of solid nutritional and medical information in a comfortable, easy-to-understand fashion. Especially useful is the author's ability to synthesize complex information."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Mary Kittel is a seasoned health writer and coauthor of numerous books, including Prevention's Ultimate Guide to Women's Health and Wellness, The Hormone Connection, and Fit, Not Fat, at Forty Plus. She lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Deborah Metzger, M.D., Ph.D., is a leading expert in the field of fertility and reproductive health. She is medical director of Helena Women's health in San Jose, California, and is an advisor to the national Endometriosis Association. She has lectured extensively throughout the world on women's fertility issues. She lives in Woodside, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159486053X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594860539
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,110,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading, unfortunately, December 7, 2007

By 

Laurie in Atlanta (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stay Fertile Longer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant Now--Or Whenever You're Ready (Paperback)

It's true that a woman's general health may play a role in her fertility (and certainly in her ability to carry a healthy pregnancy), and that certain medical problems can drastically increase the risk of infertility (untreated polycystic ovary syndrome, STDs). This book might be useful in suggesting some testing that women in their early 30s might do to help them decide how long it might be relatively safe to delay trying to conceive.

But this book also contains some of the same hype that makes women mistakenly confident that they can easily get pregnant with their own eggs after age 40 (or even 45!):

"You can have it all. A challenging career. A satisfying personal life. A loving mate. And a baby when you're ready." (back cover)

"In addition to the women's revolution and the technological boom weighing in on the age of childbearing, it's become downright fashionable to be a mature mom. Our superstars are looking more capable and beautiful than ever with a baby in tow, including Geena Davis (first-time mom at age 46), Madonna (second-time mom at 41), Kim Basinger (gave birth at 44), and Susan Sarandon (who had babies at 39, 42, and 45). Former *cover* girls are now focused on their *baby* girls (and boys) including over-40 moms Christie Brinkley, Iman, and Cheryl Tiegs (mother of twins at 52 who used a surrogate to carry the babies, although the eggs were her own)." (pp 4-5)

It's true that most women can get PREGNANT and GIVE BIRTH in their 40s, but what this isn't telling you is that a very significant percentage cannot get pregnant with their own eggs in their 40s, and a majority cannot get pregnant with their own eggs in their late 40s. If a woman is happy to go through several cycles of in vitro fertilization, spend tens of thousands of dollars for the medical procedures and the egg donor, and become pregnant with the genetic baby of another woman (as most of the celebrities mentioned above did), then yes, medical technology has much to offer - and that's wonderful! I don't at all mean to suggest anything negative about this way to become a mother. But many women reading the tabloids and this book may not understand that that route (or adoption) is the route that they very well may HAVE to take if they delay childbearing until their 40s or perhaps even to their late 30s. As a woman who didn't find my husband and marry until age 35, I understand well that there are plenty of weighty reasons not to have children younger, and I'm all in favor of options. But I hope women's decisions will be informed ones. This book is a mixed bag when it comes to helping women be informed.