Written by the Harvard Medical School team Robert L. Barbieri, M.D., Alice D. Domar, Ph.D, and Kevin R. Loughlin, M.D., Six Steps guides you through the conception process, explaining what can derail it and detailing the vast range of treatment options for boosting conception odds--from simple lifestyle adjustments to fertility drugs to more aggressive therapies like in vitro fertilization. Along the way, there are supportive tales of couples who've survived the infertility ordeal and checklists of questions for your doctor. A medical glossary and a list of organizations that deal with infertility, mental health, miscarriage, and adoption are tucked in the back.

A groundbreaking book on styles and trends in baby names is packed with thousands of entries for girls' and boys' names drawn from ancient myths, current television series, the Bible, world literature, and other sources.

Bestselling Infertility Books

One in six couples in America will experience reproductive problems. Julia Indichova and her husband were part of that statistic. According to several fertility specialists Julia's high FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) level was an indication that her body was no longer producing fertilizable eggs. Her only chance of conceiving, they said, was in-vitro-fertilization with a donor egg. After a futile quest for a more hopeful prognosis, Julia searched through a variety of holistic alternatives and finally decided upon a personal healing regimen. She followed it as single-mindedly , as one would follow a doctor's prescription of antibiotics. Her daughter Adira was conceived naturally, eight months later, and was born on April 29, 1994.

Kearney's handbook provides potential high-tech customers with information for critically assessing the potentials and risks of the various techniques. He outlines the limits of present knowledge and explains how to evaluate claims made in ads, the media, and scientific reports. Since the high-tech conception field is highly competitive, making evaluations is vital to achieving the desired outcome. Kearney navigates an alphabet soup that includes hCG and FSH (both drugs) and ROSI and SUZI (treatments for male-factor infertility) as he imparts useful information on techniques and the drugs that can be used at different stages of them. He also advises on choosing a physician and a clinic, and he points out that any long-term effects of high-tech conception are not yet known.

This clearly written technical handbook guides couples who are trying to conceive in determining whether they are eligible for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in selecting the program that will help them achieve the best results. It describes in detail the anatomy and physiology of conception and the steps required for realizing it in the IVF procedure. In addition to providing accurate information, the practitioner authors address emotional, financial, physical, and moral-religious issues involved in the decision to conceive with medical assistance.

With a career in reproductive medicine that reaches back to its early days and a long involvement in consumer health care issues, Dr. Arthur Wisot is perfectly equipped to deliver on this promise. Keenly aware of the complexity that accompanies infertility, theirs is a "buyers beware" guide to infertile couples. In the increasingly complex and sophisticated world of ART, the risk of costly and painful misinformation increases accordingly. Couples, eager and anxious to conceive, must become their own experts. But in a world of scams, schemes, false advertising claims, and complex technology, how is this accomplished? Wisot, along with Dr. David Meldrum, an in vitro fertilization pioneer, aims to answer this question in Conceptions & Misconceptions.

The book covers keeping your identity, primary and secondary infertility, communicating with your spouse, friends and family, balancing a job and baby making, coping with grief and loss, decision making, when to know to move on, and even child free living. It also covers waiting for your baby whether it's through adoption or pregnancy.

General Infertifility

• Infertility (Natural Way) - by Belinda Whitworth
  this book covers the causes of infertility in both men and women; how you can help yourself; medical tests and treatments - what they are like, the likelihood of success and any side-effects or dangers; the natural therapies most likely to help; and how to find and choose a reliable practitioner.

• Overcoming Infertility Naturally - by by Karen Bradstreet
  ideas on vitamins and herbs to help regulate things in your body.

• Taking Charge of Your Fertility : The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement - by Toni Weschler
  This comprehensive book explains in lucid, assured terms how to practice the fertility awareness method (FAM), a natural, scientifically proven but little-known form of birth control (which is not to be confused with the woefully ineffective "rhythm" method).

• How to Be a Successful Fertility Patient : Your Guide to Getting the Best Possible Medical Help to Have a Baby - by Peggy Robin
  Peggy Robin interviewed more than one hundred infertility patients for this book, and you will benefit from their trials and errors, as well as their successes. How to Be a Successful Fertility Patient explains: How to go from infertility diagnosis to effective treatment as quickly as possible. How different treatment regimens might affect your general health and life-styleHow to find insurance that will pay for your fertility care. Which tests are crucial and which can be avoided. When to switch doctors. What options are available for nontraditional couples.

• Resolving Infertility: Understanding the Options and Choosing Solutions When You Want to Have a Baby - by by Diane Aronson (Contributor), ResolveOrganization
  Since 1974, RESOLVE has provided invaluable information, as well as emotional and legislative support to thousands of couples and individuals who have not been able to have children. This book continues this service and is a wonderful guide to the work-up, medical treatments and alternative options in the brave new world of infertility.

• Ivf Revolution - by Robert Winston
  Written by an internationally respected gynaecologist and pioneer of IVF, this is a comprehensive, user-friendly and up-to-date guide for all those thinking about, or currently involved in, treatment for infertility. All available techniques for assisted reproduction are examined from in vitro to donor insemination, together with their success rates and respective costs. Lord Robert Winston is Director of the Infertility Unit at Hammersmith Hospital in London. He is known to millions of Britons for his innovative work and television appearances.

• Choosing Assisted Reproduction : Social, Emotional & Ethical Considerations - by Susan Cooper, Ellen Sarasohn Glazer
  While providing basic medical information about high tech treatment, this book carefully details the social, psychological, and ethical considerations involved in assisted reproduction. It offers support and advice to couples regarding when to end treatment and consider alternatives to bio-genetic parenting, and provides a detailed discussion of all the third party options. The book also discusses how and when to talk to children, born as a result of third party collaboration, about their origins.

• Dr. Richard Marrs' Fertility Book : America's Leading Infertility Expert Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Getting Pregnant - by Richard, Md. Marrs, et al
  A pioneer in the field of assisted reproduction, Dr. Richard Marrs has spent his life counseling couples who struggle with the pain of infertility, developing new treatments, and helping thousands to experience the wonder of birth. Now Dr. Marrs shares his knowledge and expertise in a groundbreaking book that answers all your questions, understands your concerns, and covers every aspect of fertility problems, including infertility's emotional price as well as its financial one. Based on the latest research and technologies--and the real-life experiences of thousands of couples.

• Overcoming Infertility : A Compassionate Resource for Getting Pregnant - by Robert Jansen, Alan DeCherney
  Dr. Robert Jansen, an internationally-known fertility expert, presents an uniquely holistic view of infertility, exploring how those affected by infertility can best overcome it by relating to their partner, to their physician, to society, and to their own psychology and biology. Beginning with an in-depth look at the mechanics of a successful conception, Dr. Jansen examines the possible reasons for an unsuccessful one, and explains the testing methods for discovering such problems. Dr. Jansen then offers the possible remedies made available by today's technology, such as hormone treatment, microsurgery, IVF and GIFT procedures, as well as surrogacy and sperm and egg donation. Finally, Dr. Jansen weighs the physical and psychological costs and benefits of each treatment.

• Getting Pregnant : What You Need to Know Right Now - by Niels H. Lauersen, Colette Bouchez
  Dr. Niels Lauersen, the top medical researcher who wrote Listen to Your Body (more than one million sold) has listened to couples everywhere. The result is one of the most comprehensive books ever published on fertility--the problems, the perils, and the possibilities. Getting Pregnant also provides a wealth of practical information about the exercises, foods, and supplements that encourage a faster, healthier conception, as well as brand-new, all-natural techniques that influence the gender of your child. You'll also find a helpful six-month personal pregnancy planner that addresses all of your pre-conception health and medical needs. Don't miss the new chapters that focus on protecting, increasing, and extending fertility, while new frontiers in both the treatment of male fertility and the science of motherhood are explored.

Emotional Coping and Inspirational Stories

• Promise To Deliver - by Rhonda Kanan
  This is the true story of Rhonda's eleven-year struggle with infertility. The details of her journey reveal her bold courage, patience, perseverence and indomitable faith. Rhonda's story is a gift to anyone who has faced the same nightmare and is struggling to survive it. In addition, it is filled with the most current medical knowledge about IVF, proven suggestions for nutrition and other health tips. It also addresses the dire need for legislation to cover women with this health problem, speaking as an advocate's voice.

• Girlfriend to Girlfriend: A Fertility Companion - by Kristen Magnacca
  Kristen Magnacca's story follows her journey into the world of fertility treatments. This book addresses the emotional and relationship stress at a gut level. Also, the author Kristen Magnacca, is available by email.

• A Little Pregnant: Our Memoir of Fertility, Infertility, and a Marriage - by Linda Carbone, Ed Decker
  An affecting chronicle of one couples nearly decade-long struggle to have a baby. Writing alternate chapters, Carbone, a book editor, and Decker, a freelance writer, have produced an astonishingly revealing account of their experiences during years of infertility.

• When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden : Encouragement for Couples Facing Infertility - by Sandra Glahn, William Cutrer
  This book focuses on building an attitude of hope and optimism.

• I Got Pregnant You Can Too! : How Healing Yourself Physically Mentally and Spiritually Leads to Fertility - by Katie Boland
  This book is about everything you can do to get pregnant, besides and in addition to, going to doctors. It's packed with ways you can help yourself conceive and ways you can maximize your medical treatment. This book helps women get their lives back and men get their wives back. It offers hope, inspiration and reassurance.

• Expecting Miracles: On the Path of Hope from Infertility to Parenthood - by Christo Zouves (Introduction), Julie Sullivan (Contributor)
  Zouves and Sullivan describe the former's successful work with 20 infertile couples, and although some procedures are used by more than one couple, the story of each is unique. There are cases involving shared-owner ovum donation, various types of surrogate motherhood, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and various combinations of techniques.

• What to Expect When You're Experiencing Infertility: How to Cope with the Emotional Crisis and Survive - by Debby Peoples, Harriette Rovner Ferguson
  The authors successfully discuss the decision-making process and emotional roller coaster that medical intervention, pregnancy loss, and adoption can bring and offer sound ideas, resources and coping methods .

• Pennies from Heaven : 101 Meditations for Couples Trying to Get Pregnant - by Frances Stone, Philip Stone
  Pennies from Heaven offers much-needed comfort, support, and hope in the form of 101 daily meditations. Each entry begins with a quote or idea for the day, followed by a thoughtful discussion. Written by a couple who underwent their own difficulties attempting to conceive (with eventually happy results), Pennies from Heaven offers perspectives for both men and women, and covers issues from the mundane to the more philosophical, and everything that comes between. At once funny, tender, and wise, it provides the kind of solace that most infertility books can't--the kind that comes from the heart.

• The Ache for a Child - by Debra Bridwell
  For anyone living with the daily ache of infertility, here is an encouraging and informative resource. Written by an author who knows the sorrow of pregnancy loss. Ethical, medical, and spiritual questions related to infertility are addressed.

• Laughin'fertility: A Bundle of Observations for the Baby-Making Challenged - by Lisa Safran
  If you're having trouble making a baby, sometimes it's better to laugh than cry...In Laughin'fertility, a guide to laughter by "baby-making challenged" author Lisa Safran, you'll discover a funny, new perspective on the procedures, methods and treatments you're going through in order to make a baby. From countless pelvic exams to the humbling semen analysis, blood tests to self-administered hormone shots, Laughin'fertility offers a slew of observations that shed light on the heavy-duty subject of infertility.

Secondary Infertility

• Wanting Another Child : Coping With Secondary Infertility - by Harriet F. Simons
  Harriet Fishman Simons, a clinician specializing in fertility issues and a support group leader for RESOLVE, an advocacy group for infertile individuals, has been involved in infertility issues for over 20 years. Simons discusses the plight of the secondarily infertile--the awkwardness of being among infertile couples without children, the pain of watching other families conceive again. The book takes a broad-based look at an issue that is becoming more common as more couples rely on fertility treatments to form their families. Simons weaves personal stories with theory and sociological data. She includes chapters on social and emotional issues (the effects of secondary infertility on the couple as well as friends, family, and coworkers), parenting during secondary infertility issues (helping children cope with their parent's secondary infertility), and possible resolutions to and strategies for coping with secondary infertility.

Donor Sperm or Donor Egg

• Making Babies, Making Families : What Matters Most in an Age of Reproductive Technologies, Surrogacy, Adoption, and Same-Sex and Unwed Parents' rights - Mary Lyndon Shanley
  In this impressive study of family law's uneasiness with custody rights, author Shanley explores how dominant notions of family (in which the primary partners are married, heterosexual and of the same race) have contributed to legal rulings on adoption and surrogacy.

• Helping the Stork : The Choices and Challenges of Donor Insemination - by Carol Frost Vercollone, Heidi Moss, Robert Moss
  Robert Moss, a professor in the field of genetics and developmental biology, now the parents of two children conceived via donor insemination, wrote this book after searching in vain for information on the subject. Carol Frost Vercollone was the first clinical social worker at the national infertility organization.

• Building Your Family Through Egg Donation : What You Will Want to Know About the Emotional Aspects and What to Tell Your Children - by Joyce S. Friedman, Joyce Sutkamp Friedeman

• Let Me Explain : A Story About Donor Insemination - by Jane T. Schnitter
  A child's DI origins may be difficult for a parent to discuss. How do you bring it up? What do you tell them? Well, this book will definately help! It is written as a story that you can read to your child at a young age. A must for any parent of a DI child.

Pregnancy Loss

• Empty Cradle, Broken Heart : Surviving the Death of Your Baby - by Deborah L. Davis
  Deborah Davis, Ph.D., encourages grieving and makes suggestions for coping. Incisive comments from parents who have suffered through the death of a baby convincingly relay this message: "You are not alone and you can survive." Doctors, nurses, relatives, and friends eager to lend support will find these suggestions enlightening.

• Trying Again : A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss - by Ann Douglas, et al
  Written especially for parents who have lost a child, Trying Again lessens the uncertainties about pregnancy after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss by providing the facts to help you determine if you and your partner are emotionally ready for another pregnancy. It also imparts essential advice about preparing and planning for another baby when you decide the time is right. Accompanied by ob-gyn authority Dr. John R. Sussman, Ann Douglas draws from her own trial of losing a child

• Mommy, Please Don't Cry - by Linda Deymaz, Sabrina Smith (Illustrator)
  Written from a child's point of view, it is very sweet and comforting to a mother's heart.

• A Silent Sorrow: Pregnancy Loss - Guidance and Support for You and Your Family - by Ingrid Kohn, et al
  Kohn, a social worker (and founder of the National Council of Jewish Women's Pregnancy Loss Support Program), and Moffit (a lay counselor for that program) sympathetically address the full range of tragedies, including miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, losses following a medical crisis, stillbirth, newborn death, and having to end a pregnancy because the baby's or mother's life or health is compromised.

Adoption

• Making Babies, Making Families : What Matters Most in an Age of Reproductive Technologies, Surrogacy, Adoption, and Same-Sex and Unwed Parents' rights - Mary Lyndon Shanley
  In this impressive study of family law's uneasiness with custody rights, author Shanley explores how dominant notions of family (in which the primary partners are married, heterosexual and of the same race) have contributed to legal rulings on adoption and surrogacy.

• How to Adopt Internationally, 2000-2002 Edition: A Guide for Agency-Directed and Indpendent Adoptions - by Jean Nelson-Erichsen, Jean Nelson Erichsen, Heino R. Erichsen
  How to Adopt Internationally is organized around 23 easy-to-follow steps that lead readers through every phase of the international adoption process from finding an agency and organizing a home study to choosing a country to adopt from, working through emigration and immigration, traveling abroad, and adjusting to a new life with a child. The book includes detailed instructions for estimating the cost of an international adoption and also provides samples of almost all forms and documents..

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption - by Christine A. Adamec, Chris Adamec, Chris Adamac, William Pierce
  This comprehensive, compassionate guide teaches readers what to expect every step of the way, from deciding whether or not they are ready to adopt a child, to choosing an adoption agency, to meeting with birthparents. The book also discusses how to arrange international adoptions and adoptions for non-traditional families.

Child Free Living

• Without Child: Challenging the Stigma of Childlessness - by Laurie Lisle
  Heavily weighted to history, a defense of women who, by choice or by chance, are not mothers. Author Lisle, now in her 50s, chose not to have children.

• The Childless Revolution - by Madelyn Cain
  A fascinating and incisive look at a growing demographic: women without children. The author is a professional actress and lives in Los Angeles.

• Pride and Joy : The Lives and Passions of Women Without Children by Terri Casey
  Shattering the stereotype of the childless woman, here are 25 stories from a diverse group of women who choose not to bear children, and whose "pride and joy" comes from their own contributions and accomplishments.

• Sweet Grapes : How to Stop Being Infertile and Start Living Again - by Jean W. Carter, Michael Carter
  A wonderful book on infertility, written with courage and grace. This OB-GYN and her husband have shown that you can make it through the pain and heartache of infertility without ending up with "sour grapes".

• Awaken Healing Light: Guided Sitting Meditation

• Inner Art of Meditation -

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        Bestselling Relaxation CDs

Nutrition and Diet

• The Infertility Diet : Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage - by Fern Reiss, et al
  The guide is the first of its kind and has received praise from experts on fertility. It is meticulously researched, based on zillions of medical studies, and provides really useful information.

• All for You - by Janet Jackson

• What A Wonderful World by Anne Murray. Audio CD..

• Fly by Dixie Chicks. Audio CD.

• Chopin: Complete Nocturnes, Complete Impromptus / Arrau. Audio CD.

• O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Audio CD.

• Sheryl Crow & Friends... [LIVE] Audio CD

• André Rieu - Romantic Moments. Audio CD.

• Under the Table & Dreaming

• This Desert Life -Counting Crows

• James Taylor: Greatest Hits

Cooking

• The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook : Secrets from the East Hampton Specialty Food Store for Simple Food and Party Platters You Can Make at Home

• The Best Recipe

• Julia's Kitchen Wisdom : Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking