Customer Reviews

What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant: The Complete Guide to All the Technologies for Couples Facing Fertility Problems

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I wish this book had been available years ago when my husband and I were trying to have a baby. We felt so alone and devastated that we were unable to conceive. Fortunately this no longer has to happen.

In "What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant", the authors carefully outline the many reasons why it is so difficult for couples to be successful in getting pregnant. Readers feel like a knowledgeable friend is giving them tips and facts in a succinct, and easy to understand manner.

The section explaining that a man may be part of the equation in this quest for a baby is very important. Men learn that they may be contributing to the situation and that there are solutions to alleviate most existing conditions.

The authors lay out a blueprint for the IVF process in a clear and conversational manner. They remove the unknowns, reveal the pitfalls, and highlight the benefits. The personal accounts interspersed throughout the chapters help readers know that they are not alone.

Another nice feature of this book is the authors actually have a sense of humor. It's not a typical "dry" read you might find when reading most fertility books.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. "What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant" is a "must read" for any couple contemplating fertlity treatment.

Regi Topol
Menlo Park, California

My wife and I have one child with CF and even though we desperately want another we only recently decided to do it. We owe much of our newfound decision to the authors of What to Do When You Get Pregnant. The chapter on PDG (preimplantation genetic Diagnosis) answered all the questions we had about pre-genetic testing and gave us optimism to try again. We will rely on this book heavily as we begin the IVF process and will recommend it to everyone we know with fertility issues.

This book is EXCELLENT and packed with all the information couples need to know when diving into fertility treatment. We had an especially hard time getting pregnant and after trying for several years considered egg donors and surrogates. We soon learned that this option left us with numerous questions that other books didn't sufficiently address.

The chapter on third party reproduction taught us everything we needed to know. Learning about other people's experiences including families who used a surrogate and hearing from a surrogate herself (and her husband) made us feel more at ease about the road ahead. The book not only answered all our questions but also emphasized areas that we hadn't thought about like finding the right professional team to make our path seamless.

We also were undecided about telling our future children how they came into the world but were pleased to find that this book has an entire chapter dedicated to the subject.

My wife and I recommend this book without reservation. It covered the IVF process the way we remembered it better than all the books we read. We have given What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant to a number of friends, and it's one of the few we would endorse.

This book is everything the Library Journal Review said it would be and more. My wife ran across the review and couldn't stop talking about it. Here's some highlights straight from LJR (and also why we bought it):

"From natural family planning to high-tech methods like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and zygote and gamete intrafallopian transfers, this easy-to-read, empathic guide covers every option for infertile couples wishing to conceive-and much more...Other topics include sperm and egg donation; embryo donation and surrogacy; technologies that allow prescreening for genetic diseases, sex selection, and preselection of desirable traits; keeping a relationship healthy; deciding when to move on; and the role that legal and mental health professionals play in all these processes....This solid, up-to-date resource supplants Debra Fulghum Bruce and Samuel Thatcher's Making a Baby: Everything You Need To Know To Get Pregnant."

We have been going through some trying times as we sought to overcome our infertility and this book gave us the tools to not only understand the process but to navigate the ins and outs and ups and downs of treatment. Relationships have a way of drifting apart during treatment and this book gave us the life raft we needed to stay together and work it out. We highly recommend this book. If you don't have it, buy it now!

I've tried reading several infertility books in the past, and while some seemed promising they were either too technical or too autobiographical. It wasn't until I broke down in tears to a friend that she recommended a new book, What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant.

I ordered this book and have been thanking her ever since. It's a huge improvement over some of the other books I've read and it really did speak to me and my husband. This was important to us because many of the books were either over our head or coming from a personal perspective that didn't resonate with us. But this wasn't the case with this book. It's comprehensive, encouraging, interesting and taught us things about our body and our condition that we would have never known.

For years, we blamed ourselves and often times each other but this book showed us that our situation isn't our fault. This made a huge difference in how we view ourselves and each other and it helped us get back on the same page. No matter what fertility method you're using the section on communication is priceless.

Another issue this book has helped us deal with is family and friends and how to handle the stress surrounding not being able to conceive. We've been TTC for five years and many times have gotten fed up with the constant concern over our problem.

This book was the first one to let us know that we don't have to tell anyone anything and that what we disclose is entirely up to us. This was a huge relief to us because by limiting the information flow we now get along better with our loved ones.

We're half way into our IVF cycle and are re-reading this book as we complete our round. It's an incredible resource and we're glad we didn't have to do it alone. Thanks a million! We highly recommend it!

This book gave my husband the encouragement he needed to get a fertility evaluation. He hates dentists and wasn't about to go to a doctor for something like this. For awhile, I was crushed to say the least.

But then suddenly my luck changed. My husband got curious about this book, picked it up off my desk, and the next thing I knew he told me he wanted to see an RE. I was amazed!

My husband got excited when he learned that nearly all male infertility issues can be bypassed with IVF. We just saw an RE and found out we're good candidates for IVF and are about to take the plunge. We're glad that the authors decided to write this book, and are especially glad that one of the authors is an RE. It's exactly what we needed when we needed it.

I heard a radio interview with the female author of this book this morning on the "Doug Stephan's Good Day" show and bought it during lunch.

My wife and I have struggled with secondary infertility for the past 5 years and only recently decided to take serious steps towards resolving it.

The book covers all the tests, procedures, and medications that anyone needs to be successful at getting pregnant all in a knowledgeable and friendly tone of voice. This was especially important to my wife because some of the other "dry" books out there had already turned her off.

I like the book because it's approachable from a man's perspective. I had a hard time finding the right fertility book because there are so many "girlfriend" guides available today. No offense to those authors, but men have a hard time getting their hands around these types of books.

My wife and I recommend this book highly. We were so pleased with this buy that we orderd copies for all our friends ( 2 personal and 3 in our support group) going through the same thing. It's the best "couples guide" out there with the latest information on new and upcoming technologies.

This book is excellent! All I have to say is that the reviewer from Maine is either sadly misinformed or trashing it out of spite. Potter and Hanin did an excellent job writing this book and if the reviewer that dogged it actually read it she would agree too. If this book was bad or confusing, do you really think one of the top fertility patient advocates in the country (and possible the world), Pamela Madsen, the Founder & Executive Director of the American Fertility Association, would have penned the forward? I don't think so.

Trust me, anyone who has something negative to say about What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant has a personal agenda that has NOTHING to do with getting pregnant. If you want to understand the fertility process in easy-to-read language but you also want a comprehensive book that gives you everything you need to know and more about reducing stress, keeping your relationships healthy and what your spouse is going through during the entire ordeal -- BUY this book. It is without a doubt a MUST READ.

I can't tell you how much it's helped my husband and me. We're gearing up for our first cycle and it's been our bible.

This book is refreshing after reviewing some of the "chick guides" out there. It's factual, informative, conversational, and even finds a way to intersperse humor in all the right places.

My wife and I have longed to have a family of our own for sometime now. We've tried every technique known to man but still haven't succeeded. I heard about this book from an RE who does business with my wife (she's in the pharmaceutical business) and can easily tell why Newsweek would recommend it.

It covers all the latest and greatest and even gives a bird's-eye view into the future. None of the other books we've come across do that and the ones that do mention future technologies do so only in passing.

Another reason we recommend this book is that one of the authors is a well-known RE (so he knows what he's talking about) and the other author is a journalist (so it's not a dry read). It has a journalistic bent in that it tells you what both supporters and critics say about advanced technologies. This was important to us because we wanted to know all the pros and cons of all the options available in case IVF doesn't work for us.

I've yet to come across a book that does all this and gives the reader a price break -- it's published in paperback so readers aren't forced to cough up the extra cash for a hardback.

We recommend this book to all our friends and colleagues and know of at least three couples who use this book as their fertility bible (like us) and several others who have just ordered it.

We even ran into a couple from our support group the other day who thanked us for recommending it because it saved them from buying three books: one on natural solutions, acupuncture, and IVF. Like us, they were amazed to find that all these subjects and more are covered in one book: "What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant."

I was feeling isolated and depressed until a coworker told me about this book. The authors are a doctor and patient team who wrote this so couples wouldn't have to guess what comes next when trying to get pregnant. The book covers everything from natural and advance techniques to relationships to what lies ahead in the future. I commend them. They did a remarkable job!

My husband and I had been trying natural techniques for the last 4 years and had essentially thrown in the towel. We have never been opposed to getting help but like a lot of people we wanted to do it ourselves. Don't make this mistake. Once I read this book I realized how important it is to see a reproductive endocrinologist. I never knew my eggs had a limited lifespan. And I never realized getting pregnant is a throw of the dice. This is something every woman (and man) needs to know.

Once I saw an RE I found out that both of my fallopian tubes were blocked and my husband had a low sperm count. Essentially, it didn't matter how long we tried - it would have never happened. This book taught me that I could either be stubborn and remain childless or seek treatment and have a child.

It also opened our eyes to other possibilities like foster parenting and adoption. We hadn't given these options much thought before reading this book but now have a whole new perspective. We realized for the first time that our goal is to be parents -- no matter how it happens.

Thank you Dr. Potter and Jennifer Hanin. You have helped us through a trying time and made us realize what our true desire is. This is an immeasurable gift!