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Fertility treatment - book recommendations
Evening
Now I know everyone is different, but my reaction to knowing we needed to go down the route of fertility treatment made me want to absorb as much information as possible. Obviously there is plenty of information on the web (of varying quality!) but I did find myself straying to Amazon, and wandering to the "Health / Women's health / Fertility" sections whenever I was in Waterstones.
There is such a massive range of books out there, I thought it might help if we shared some short book reviews and recommendations.
A Child Against All Odds by Robert Winston: I loved, loved, loved this book. It's very informative, and explained all the science behind IVF (and other treatments), while remaining very accessible. It talked a lot about the history of fertility treatment, which was fascinating, and explored the ethical issues, including from the perspective of various world religions. Although Lord Winston understandably has a very medical approach, his writing his not devoid of the emotional side of things - it is overwhelmingly clear that he does this work because he genuinely cares about his patients and rejoices in their success. I liked the inside view on what goes on behind the scenes at clinics: reading that the staff sometimes cry when they have had to deliver news to patients that their eggs haven't fertilised or embryos haven't made it really touched me. The only downside of this book is the length - 600+ pages. You need a good chunk of time to devote to it - it is not light hearted reading.
The Couple's Guide to In Vitro Fertilization by Liza Charlesworth: The was a useful, very easy read, and was a good introduction to both fertility testing and treatment - it didn't assume any prior knowledge (as a result I skipped over a few parts) and gave plenty of short (sucessful) case studies which were very encouraging. It's an Amercian book, so some parts simply aren't relevant to me in the UK, like dealing with insurance companies (I just skipped these chapters). The section on emotional support was good. I made my husband read it (took some doing!), and I don't know how Ms Charlesworth managed it, but he has been noticeably more supportive about treatment ever since. I don't doubt he has been backing me throughout this fertility journey, but somehow the book got him to express it to me, so for that reason alone, I loved this book!!
The Complete Guide to IVF by Kate Brian: Written for the UK market, it doesn't suffer from the issue of the above book where chunks simply weren't relevant. Again, it's easy to read and informative. I guess my only complaint was that by the time I got to this book was that I already knew a lot about the process, so it was going over old ground to a certain extent. But that's no reflection on the book.
Any more for any more?
MrsD
xx
Now I know everyone is different, but my reaction to knowing we needed to go down the route of fertility treatment made me want to absorb as much information as possible. Obviously there is plenty of information on the web (of varying quality!) but I did find myself straying to Amazon, and wandering to the "Health / Women's health / Fertility" sections whenever I was in Waterstones.
There is such a massive range of books out there, I thought it might help if we shared some short book reviews and recommendations.
A Child Against All Odds by Robert Winston: I loved, loved, loved this book. It's very informative, and explained all the science behind IVF (and other treatments), while remaining very accessible. It talked a lot about the history of fertility treatment, which was fascinating, and explored the ethical issues, including from the perspective of various world religions. Although Lord Winston understandably has a very medical approach, his writing his not devoid of the emotional side of things - it is overwhelmingly clear that he does this work because he genuinely cares about his patients and rejoices in their success. I liked the inside view on what goes on behind the scenes at clinics: reading that the staff sometimes cry when they have had to deliver news to patients that their eggs haven't fertilised or embryos haven't made it really touched me. The only downside of this book is the length - 600+ pages. You need a good chunk of time to devote to it - it is not light hearted reading.
The Couple's Guide to In Vitro Fertilization by Liza Charlesworth: The was a useful, very easy read, and was a good introduction to both fertility testing and treatment - it didn't assume any prior knowledge (as a result I skipped over a few parts) and gave plenty of short (sucessful) case studies which were very encouraging. It's an Amercian book, so some parts simply aren't relevant to me in the UK, like dealing with insurance companies (I just skipped these chapters). The section on emotional support was good. I made my husband read it (took some doing!), and I don't know how Ms Charlesworth managed it, but he has been noticeably more supportive about treatment ever since. I don't doubt he has been backing me throughout this fertility journey, but somehow the book got him to express it to me, so for that reason alone, I loved this book!!
The Complete Guide to IVF by Kate Brian: Written for the UK market, it doesn't suffer from the issue of the above book where chunks simply weren't relevant. Again, it's easy to read and informative. I guess my only complaint was that by the time I got to this book was that I already knew a lot about the process, so it was going over old ground to a certain extent. But that's no reflection on the book.
Any more for any more?
MrsD
xx
0
Replies
Highly recommend it.xx