Welcome to Pregnant Times Preconception & Family Planning Bookshelf. You will fine below a selection of items that we recommend.

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The Fertility Journal:  A Day-to-Day Guide to Getting Pregnant by Kim Hahn, Editors of Conceive Magazine, and Jeffrey Sher (Diary – Mar 19, 2008)

The Fertility Journal is a guided journal designed to help women understand and track their monthly reproductive cycle. It features a primer on fertility basics, helpful tips on health, exercise, relationships, sex, and nutrition, and space for women to record the daily statistics that will help them predict ovulation and get pregnant more easily. A special section on assisted reproductive technologies includes a monthly tracker for women employing in vitro fertilization and similar procedures. With illustrations throughout and plenty of room to record the thoughts and feelings that go along with this exciting and emotional time, The Fertility Journal is an essential tool for creating a family.

Preconception Plain & Simple (Paperback) by Audrey Couto McClelland (Author), Sharon K. Couto (Author)

A Deliciously Smart and Sexy Guide in Preparing for Pregnancy brings to women, men, and couples passion, romance, and fun… a thorough medical review and assessment of both hopeful Mom and Dad… and marvelous fertility wisdom to a topic that is all-too-often consumed with infertility statistics, clinical discussions, and fears of infertility. Preconception Plain & Simple offers and celebrates a perfect combination of the medical, the miracle, and the magic of baby making without the fears… but certainly including the fun and “relaxing” part of it all!

Before Your Pregnancy: A 90 Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception by Amy Ogle and Lisa Manzullo (Paperback – Sep 3, 2002)

This book represents a substantial contribution to understanding the developing issues in the field of preconception.  Amy Ogle and Lisa Mazzullo have written an insightful and well-researched handbook for couples seeking to maximize their likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy.  The practical information contained in this book will guide couples on their journey to creating healthy babies.

Making a Baby: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant by Debra Fulghum Bruce PhD and Samuel S. Thatcher M.D. Ph.D. (Paperback – Jul 5, 2000)

From Library Journal
Today, there are several hundred thousand in vitro fertilization (IVF) babies around the world, and new discoveries and techniques in the field of reproductive medicine increase the success rate every year. Yet for anyone faced with infertility, the future may appear frightening and uncertain. The authors, an expert health writer and a reproductive endocrinologist, provide a readable, informative, and sympathetic guide to this new world of baby-boosting medicines, IVF, sperm injection, and egg donation. They explain how the male and female reproductive systems work and detail the many common, and sometimes hidden, threats to fertility. They offer practical, low-tech solutions, such as lifestyle changes, as well as the more advanced therapies. Understanding how one’s body works and one’s specific infertility problem, the authors argue, will help readers become empowered participants in their own care. High-tech, low-tech, natural, and complementary therapies are all discussed, as are the pros and cons of current tests and treatments. A glossary of terms, a list of acronyms and abbreviation, and other helpful lists round out this resource. A useful book full of advice and explanations offered with insight and understanding; for all consumer health collections.DJodith Janes, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know Right Now by Niels Lauersen and Colette Bouchez (Paperback – May 25, 2000)

Whether you are young and fertile, over 40 and having trouble conceiving, or anywhere in between, here is the best resource to help you get pregnant.

The only must-have fertility book, Getting Pregnant, completely revised and updated, not only addresses the needs of those who cannot conceive but serves as the ultimate guide for anyone planning to have a baby, now or in the future. Addressing the newest, state-of-the-art medical treatments for infertility, Getting Pregnant gives you all the latest news on:

What is pregnancy.

Pregnancy is the term used to describe when a woman is carrying one or more offspring, known as a fetus, inside of her. In most cases, the fetus grows in the uterus. In a pregnancy there can be more than one gestations like in twins or triplets.

One of the most exciting times in a women life is becoming a mother.  Whether you’re considering motherhood, trying to conceive or already pregnant, expectant mothers must be concerned not only with their developing babies health, but also they have to be concerned about their own health.

Even though pregnancy can be a fun and joyous time it can also be a time of uncertainty and in some cases worry in the up coming weeks.

You should prepare yourself for your pregnancy with some good preconception planning.  Finding the latest information on child health care is important.

The first step is to get the knowledge you need to keep yourself and your baby healthy from the beginning.  There’s a lot to learn especially if it’s your first pregnancy.

There are also a number of areas of interest to describe the things you need to learn about from fertilization to the day your baby is born.

Things such as:

• Getting Pregnant
• Pregnancy Test
• Labor and Delivery
• Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms
• Pregnancy Stages
• Pregnancy Types
• Preconception
• Breastfeeding
• Pregnancy Tools
• After Pregnancy
• Cord Blood Banking
• and mush, mush more…

The next thing we recommend is to find a health care professional that you are comfortable with to care for you and your child throughout your pregnancy.  There are many changes your body will go through, like hormonal changes, emotional changes, physical changes and many more.  Your body must change its physiological and homeostatic mechanisms in pregnancy to ensure the fetus is provided for.

The most important two things is to plan from the beginning (even before you get pregnant if you are planning to conceive)  and find your health care professional.  Your health care professional will help to determine your due date and what month or months you are in if you are pregnant.

This website is to help you explore the research in this field and to help answer the questions you have about your pregnancy.  I am not a medical doctor and this information is solely for informational purposes. It is not intended to provide medical advice.

There are some preconception planning  you want to do prior to getting pregnant.  You want to give your baby the best start in life by getting yourself healthy before you get pregnant.

Before pregnancy and having a baby you want to consider some preconception planning, the things you need to do to prepare for all the pregnancy stages.

Some things like chart your menstrual cycle, reading your cervical mucus and pinpointing ovulation. Other things like learning about pregnancy test, how to use it, how accurate the tests are and when to test and even dealing with fertility problems if any.

Here are a few preconception tips for a healthy conception:

• Preconception care visit with your doctor.. you can’t have a healthy pregnancy if you are not healthy yourself.
• Start taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid… think about what medications you should stop taking in the preconception stage.
• Get to your ideal body weight and keep it with a healthy diet… Eating healthy before you get pregnant will make a big difference in the health of your baby.
• Quite Smoking, quite alcohol and drugs…. do I need to even go here.  Do you know what these bad habits will do to your baby?
• Genetic History… getting a genetic screening may determine any genetic diseases.
• Minimize or eliminate exposure to toxins and infection… some toxins and infections may take awhile to get out of your system.
• Check your Immunizations… are you up to date on your shots.  You don’t want to get them while you are pregnancy because they could cause birth defects.
• Chart Your Cycles… it helps to keep up with what you need to do.
• Talk with your husband and get financially prepared.

As you can see preconception planning can go a long way.  You do not want to have to worry about these things after you are pregnant.

There are a lot of pregnancy signs and symptoms you want to know about as well. Pregnancy symptoms are different from woman to woman but understanding the signs and symptoms is important because the symptom you having could be related to something that is not pregnancy related.

Some of the symptoms to look far:

• Missed menstrual period.
• Morning sickness
• Fatigue
• Tender breasts
• Constipation
• Fainting
• Dizziness
• Weight Gain
• Swollen Feet/Ankles
• Frequent Urination
• Nausea
• Tired
• Vomiting
• Weakness
• Lightheadedness

Other things you will want to know about are the pregnancy types because there are many types of pregnancies and not all of them are normal and could cause some serious pregnancy complications.

You may want to consider cord blood banking .  The blood in your babies umbilical cord  is rich in stem cells which are used in the treatment of several life threatening diseases. Your baby may need them later.

Now that your head is spinning, you need to think about what you want to do after pregnancy ,like are you considering breastfeeding?

While nothing can guarantee a perfectly healthy pregnancy, following some simple advice can give both you and your baby the best chance possible just by some preconception planning.