Synopses & Reviews
At last, everything you need to know about the latest in alternative and conventional healthcare before, during, and after pregnancy—in one comprehensive, jargon-free guide.Whether you embrace the philosophy that mind, body, and spirit work together to promote good health or you’re just looking for a way to have the healthiest, most comfortable pregnancy possible, The Whole Pregnancy Handbook has the information you need to make educated decisions and take charge of your prenatal care. The Whole Pregnancy Handbook features
- Complementary treatments and techniques to improve your pre-conception health and fertility, such as nutritional medicine, mind-body medicine, acupuncture and herbal medicine
- Comprehensive and compassionate information about genetic and prenatal testing
- Techniques such as massage, accupressure, herbal medicine, and mind-body exercises to help you relax and feel more comfortable as your pregnancy progresses
- A fully illustrated chapter on prenatal yoga with pose variations for all three trimesters.
- How your pregnancy unfolds month by month and how you can connect with your baby while you’re expecting
- The best practices of doulas and midwives
- The pros and cons of giving birth in a hospital, birthing center, or at home
- Effective pain management for your labor—from epidurals to hypnotherapy
- Everything you need to know about inductions, assisted deliveries, and C-sections
- What happens postpartum—physically and emotionally
- Candid recollections and insights from other moms and patient stories from Dr. Evans’s practice, The Center for Women’s Health
The Whole Pregnancy Handbook is an informative and reassuring guide that will empower you to combine the best of conventional and alternative medicine with confidence at every stage of pregnancy.
On the web: http://www.wholepregnancy.com
Synopsis
As complementary and alternative health care becomes ever more popular and mainstream, and as the continued success of books like Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and Healthy Child, Whole Child prove, women are eager for a comprehensive pregnancy guide by a physician on the best conventional, complementary, and alternative medical practices. The Whole Pregnancy Handbook will offer just that--information from a trustworthy authority that cannot be found in any other pregnancy book on the market.
About the Author
Dr. Joel M. Evans is a practicing integrative OB/GYN and Founder and Director of the Center for Women’s Health in Darien, Connecticut. He is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a faculty member at the acclaimed Center for Mind/Body Medicine in Washington, D.C. A leader in the holistic medicine movement who lectures extensively on the subject, Dr. Evans is also a founding diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine.
On the web: http://www.wholepregnancy.com
Table of Contents
Contents Foreword vii
Introduction ix
Contributors xv
Part One
1: Holistic Medicine 3
2: First Steps: Preconception Health 13
3: Moving Toward Optimal Preconception Health 22
4: Getting Pregnant 37
5: When Pregnancy Is Delayed: Fertility Tests, Treatments, and Technologies 47
6: Mind-Body Medicine and Fertility 61
Part Two
7: The First Trimester 75
8: First Things: Early Prenatal Care 91
9: The Emotional and Physical World of Early Pregnancy 104
10: A Pregnancy Timeline 126
11: Pregnancyís Effects 149
12: How to Treat Everyday Illnesses 200
13: Prenatal Nutrition 215
14: Exercise and Pregnancy 249
15: Prenatal Tests 280
16: Living and Working 308
17: Medical Complications of Pregnancy 333
18: Pregnancy Loss 367
19: Preparing for Labor and Birth 388
20: The Last Weeks of Pregnancy 424
21: The Stages of Labor 444
22: Assisted Vaginal Births and Cesareans 472
23: Postpartum 487
Afterword: Personal Reflections 515
Appendices: 1. Resources 521
2. Glossary of CAM Terms 525
3. Prenatal YogaññAdditional Sequences 530
4. BMI Table and Pregnancy Food Journal 535
Acknowledgments 543
Index 545
About the authors 553