Where Babies Come From Education Then and Now - From 22 pages to 457 pages

Not long ago I found the old book “Where Did I Come From?” my mom used to teach me about where babies come from in the 80’s.  Then I was going through some of our books in the Resolve library and the one titled “How to Get Pregnant” stuck out to me because it is SO thick. After thinking about the two I had a good chuckle at how simple the original teaching was when I was probably 7 and how complex the teaching became in my 30s. I thought someone else might appreciate the irony so I’m posting a photo of the two books and their “stats”.

“Where Did I Come From?” by Peter Mayle – approx. 22 pages with big text and lots of illustrations (still available, by the way)

“How to Get Pregnant” by Sherman J. Silber, MD – 457 pages,  small text and very few photos

When did baby making get so complicated?

I just finished Sweet Grapes – How to Stop Being Infertile And Start Living Again, which was put out by local publisher, Perspectives Press. It is written by a couple, Jean and Michael Carter, who decided to choose being childfree vs. childless (there is quite a bit of discussion on these two terms).  They share their personal story as she is an OB/GYN by profession (seriously, how hard would that be?) and comes to a point where she either must change careers or change her whole outlook. They cover a plethora of topics in depth from personal feelings for both women and women, the grieving process, how it affects marriage, your relationship with your parents and much more.  Overall they dig deep into the topic and really try to help the reader find a positive outlook on their life and they are a good example for others.  The book actually helped me pinpoint some issues, which I then took to my husband for a chance to discuss more in depth. There is also a whole section devoted to those who want to take these great new feelings and move onto adoption so if that is something you are considering, then I recommend reading this, too. They also updated this book after 10 years into being childfree, which I thought was an important follow-up. At 152 pages it isn’t a long read (but it did take me several nights, though, just to digest the topic in sections) and you can borrow it for free from our lending library! For a list of more books on childfree living, click here.

It seems like a lot of us are reading books about infertility or adoption.   So I thought I’d start a series of book reviews.  If you’d like to review a book, please let me know!  I’d like to post one every couple of weeks or so.

To start us off, I am reviewing The Conception Chronicles by Patty Doyle Debano.  While I enjoyed reading this book, I can’t say that I found it either informative or useful.  I also did not find it to be as amusing as advertised.

I’d definitely recommend this book to someone just getting started trying to conceive. It’s useful learning about what to expect when you are charting/temping, using OPKs, taking pregnancy tests, taking clomid, injectibles etc. It covers the things your doctor doesn’t tell you and only a girlfriend will. Like the mood swings, hot flashes, and cervical mucous.

But by the time you’ve been trying for a year or more, you’ll probably know enough to write a book like this. There was a small section at the end about donor eggs and sperm, surrogacy, and adoption, but honestly, I think they just should have left that out. It was the only serious part of the book, so it didn’t seem to fit. Most likely none of the women experienced those things, so they had no personal stories to share. Also, if you want information about those topics, you won’t be looking for a one page synopsis without any depth.

In summary, this is a light read, moderately funny, but not a place to find any detailed information. Recommend it to someone starting out, but not to someone who is already well into treatment with an RE.

3 out of 5 stars