Written by a woman whose expertise grew from an extensive counselling practice as well as personal experience, "The Fertile Female" addresses fertility in a new way, encompassing alternative medicine and mind-body therapies that may tip the scales in favour of conception. Writing in a compassionate voice and including experiences with some of the hundreds of women she s worked with in the past 15 years, Julie Indichova addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of achieving fertility.

MED 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-

This new edition for the twentieth anniversary of the groundbreaking national bestseller provides all the information you need to monitor your menstrual cycle—along with updated information on the latest reproductive technologies Are you unhappy with your current method of birth control? Or demoralized by your quest to have a baby? Do you experience confusing signs and symptoms at various times in your cycle? This invaluable resource provides the answers to your questions while giving you amazing insights into your body. Taking Charge of Your Fertility has helped literally hundreds of thousands of women avoid pregnancy naturally, maximize their chances of getting pregnant, or simply gain better control of their gynecological and sexual health. Toni Weschler thoroughly explains the empowering Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), which in only a couple of minutes a day allows you to: Enjoy highly effective and scientifically proven birth control without chemicals or devices Maximize your chances of conception before you see a doctor or resort to invasive high-tech options Expedite your fertility treatment by quickly identifying impediments to pregnancy achievement Gain control and a true understanding of your gynecological and sexual health This new edition includes: A fully revised and intuitive charting system A selection of personalized master charts for birth control, pregnancy achievement, breastfeeding, and menopause An expanded sixteen-page color insert that reflects the book’s most important concepts Six brand-new chapters on topics including balancing hormones naturally, preserving your future fertility, and three medical conditions all women should be aware of

From an internationally recognized integrative physician, a thorough guide to fertility that encompasses all aspects of female well-being to help women prepare their bodies for easy conception, pregnancy, and the delivery of healthy babies. The increase in environmental toxins, processed foods, and stress, as well as the advancing ages at which couples seek to have children, have made it more difficult for women to conceive. In Be Fruitful, Dr. Victoria Maizes, an expert on women’s health and the executive director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, delivers all the information women and their partners need in order to conceive with ease and confidence, and to bear healthy children. Warm, friendly, and hands-on, Be Fruitful offers a comprehensive self-assessment to help identify any potential physical, emotional, and practical roadblocks that may interfere with conception, as well as clear and easy-to-follow dietary, supplemental, and exercise recommendations proven to increase optimal fertility. Dr. Maizes details how nutrition, mind-body practices, elimination of environmental toxins, and traditional Chinese medicine can all contribute to a successful pregnancy. Unique in its integrative approach, Be Fruitful acknowledges that wellness comes from caring for the entire person—not just the physical body—a crucial factor for the countless women trying to conceive and committed to transforming their overall health.

The “Jason Bourne of fertility” (The New York Times Book Review) presents a personal and deeply informative account of one woman’s journey through the global fertility industry. On paper, conception may seem like a simple biological process, yet this is often hardly the case. While many would like to have children, the road toward conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy can be unexpectedly rocky and winding. Lawyer Elizabeth Katkin never imagined her quest for children would ultimately involve seven miscarriages, eight fresh IVF cycles, two frozen IVF attempts, five natural pregnancies, four IVF pregnancies, ten doctors, six countries, two potential surrogates, nine years, and roughly $200,000. Despite her three Ivy League degrees and wealth of resources, Katkin found she was woefully undereducated when it came to understanding and confronting her own difficulties having children. After being told by four doctors she should give up, but without an explanation as to what exactly was going wrong with her body, Katkin decided to look for answers herself. The global investigation that followed revealed that approaches to the fertility process taken in many foreign countries are vastly different than those in the US and UK. In Conceivability, Elizabeth Katkin, now a mother of two, exposes eye-opening information about the medical, financial, legal, scientific, emotional, and ethical issues at stake. “A well-researched, informative, and positive account of a very long journey to motherhood” (Kirkus Reviews), Conceivability sheds light on the often murky and baffling world of conception science. Her book is an invaluable and inspiring text that will be a boon to others navigating the deep and “choppy waters” of fertility treatment (Publishers Weekly), and her chronicle of one of the most difficult, painful, rewarding, and loving journeys a woman can take is as informative as it is poignant.

Women battling infertility is a familiar though still harrowing story these days. Women using yoga to reduce stress and become more aware of its body and its rhythms is another. So it comes as no surprise that yoga is helping women to cope with the physical and emotional stress of infertility and its treatments.

Welcomed as liberation and dismissed as exploitation, egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) has rapidly become one of the most widely-discussed and influential new reproductive technologies of this century. In Freezing Fertility, Lucy van de Wiel takes us inside the world of fertility preservation—with its egg freezing parties, contested age limits, proactive anticipations and equity investments—and shows how the popularization of egg freezing has profound consequences for the way in which female fertility and reproductive aging are understood, commercialized and politicized. Beyond an individual reproductive choice for people who may want to have children later in life, Freezing Fertility explores how the rise of egg freezing also reveals broader cultural, political and economic negotiations about reproductive politics, gender inequities, age normativities and the financialization of healthcare. Van de Wiel investigates these issues by analyzing a wide range of sources—varying from sparkly online platforms to heart-breaking court cases and intimate autobiographical accounts—that are emblematic of each stage of the egg freezing procedure. By following the egg’s journey, Freezing Fertility examines how contemporary egg freezing practices both reflect broader social, regulatory and economic power asymmetries and repoliticize fertility and aging in ways that affect the public at large. In doing so, the book explores how the possibility of egg freezing shifts our relation to the beginning and end of life.