Inconceivable: Winning the Fertility Game (Hardcover)

~ Julia Indichova (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Personal narratives are an important consumer health resource, and Inconceivable is no exception. At 42, Indichova was told that in vitro fertilization using donated eggs represented her only chance for a second child. The book relates her journey through secondary infertility to a successful, spontaneous pregnancy, which she credits to her use of alternative healing practices from acupuncture to imagery to yoga. This is the first such account written from a patient's perspective. Indichova is a Czech immigrant and a teacher with a theatrical background, which makes for an interesting narrative. Unfortunately, her cafeteria-style approach to alternative medicine is more likely to confuse than enlighten readers who lack experience with this subject. The real value of her account is its stress on personal empowerment. This book will make any reader feel stronger, no matter what her medical politics. Recommended for libraries with strong collections in women's health but not for alternative medicine collections.?Catherine Arnott Smith, Ctr. for Biomedical Informatics, Univ. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Half way into her account of getting pregnant...Julia Indichova writes of walking into a yoga class. "Is there anything special you want to work on?" the instructor asks her. "I'm trying to get pregnant," she answers. "Congratulations on trying to get pregnant!" says the instructor. It is such an unexpected response that Indichova has to have a double take before she registers it. Congratulations?! How many among us who have agonized over the need and the attempts to get pregnant think it's anything to be congratulated on? How many of the doctors and clinics we have worked with have thought of congratulating us on our efforts? Julia Indichova's book is remarkable in that it opens the reader's eyes to the possibility of turning the infertility struggle into a positive physical and emotional experience-one way or another." -- Resolve of Northern California

What's most interesting, is the spiritual and psychological story of her motivations and insights...her combination of skepticism and eagerness to believe in herself and in all the healers she sees...In the final chapter, other women tell of their own alternative fertility efforts...each credits her success to the particular path that she followed. "Find your own best path" is Indichova's overall message... -- From the Resolve NYC Newsletter, June 1998

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 201 pages
• Publisher: Adell Press; First Edition edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966007859
• ISBN-13: 978-0966007855
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #514,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, June 22, 1999

By A Customer

I'm 10 weeks pregnant today (at age 42) and no one could be more surprised than I. I had a doctor tell me before I even started trying that it would barely be worth trying (with a Day 3 FSH of 17). I then started the process with a very negative and discouraged outlook. What Julia Indichova's book gave me was one very inspiring story of the benefits of sheer determination, and the ability to listen to myself and disregard the very negative outlook handed out by most of the physicians the minute one's statistics are not picture-perfect. The fact is, the medical profession knows less than it thinks about infertility (and a lot other areas too), and while I appreciate Western medicine for the things it does well, I wish it would more often say what it doesn't know. The message of the book is to find your own way through this very stressful and confusing maze, and it helped me listen to myself and my instincts more than to the chorus of "very unlikely"s coming from the doctors. I recommend this book highly.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, August 24, 2000

By A Customer

Reading this book literally took me from despair to inspired action on my own behalf. At 39 I got the devastating news that my fsh was too high and that my "only option" was donor eggs. It felt like a kind of death sentence, especially since I was told that none of the reproductive technologies could help me to conceive with my own eggs. Then I happened upon this book and it was like someone gave me my life back. The author's style is direct, engaging and to the point. She investigates several alternative healing paths but is not an unquestioning "true believer." She shares what worked for her but encourages people to find what works for them. I think the strenght of the book is the author's ballsy determination to NOT take the western medical prognosis at face value. When I try to think of how this book affected me, I just come up with all the cliches - the sun came out, a breath of fresh air, etc, but that's what it was like. Another review on this site said her advice was not specific enough but that was not my experience. I urge anyone struggling with infertility to read this book for inspiration. Since reading the book, I have come across a website specifically for women trying to conceive with high fsh. I am in no way connected with this site but want to put in the address for anyone interested: network54.com/hide/forum/10586 This site has a bulletin board plus a "success board" listing the stories of 50 women who have gotten pregnant despite high fsh. About half using reproductive technologies (other than donor eggs) and about half just using alterantive therapies! Indichova also has a website: fertileheart.com Good Luck!

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring & empowering memoir of secondary infertility, December 28, 2000

By	Carol S. (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Julia Indichova has written a powerful, poignant book that is part memoir, part self-help manual. After numerous infertility specialists told her she would never have a baby without major intervention, Ms. Indichova began searching for alternatives. She visited various health practitioners, altered her diet, used self-guided imagery and began practicing yoga. She describes these efforts, as well as the emotional implications of wanting to conceive a second child. The book is a wonderful and inspiring look at infertility, particularly secondary infertility, which often gets short shrift in the literature. Ms. Indichova's main conclusion is that women must take control of their own "therapy," whether conventional medicine or otherwise, and trust their own instincts about doing what feels right and beneficial. If you are skeptical of new age-ism, alternative therapies and the like, the emphasis on non-western methods of healing and spirituality may turn you off, although the author's insights about the fertility process make it worth reading anyway. If your mind is open to other possibilities, and you are eager to maintain hope -- perhaps against the odds -- this book will be a godsend.