Conception

In an age when modern reproductive technology is moving at a rapid and alarming rate, Conscious Conception is an alternative exploration into understanding personal fertility, as well as a comprehensive guide to discovering newfound meaning in our sexuality. Combining knowledge of myth and culture, authors Jeannine Parvati Baker and Frederick Baker offer a step-by-step manual of fertility awareness, depth psychology, and psychic birth control and interweave the five elements—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether—as tools for discovery in the face of reproductive challenges. Including numerous contributions from experts in the field, the book investigates a broad range of topics, from the causes of infertility to the spiritualization of sexuality. Conscious Conception urges us to see all of the possibilities in life’s plan of continuation and to seek a clearer communion with our own reproductive experience. Over 20,000 copies sold.

The Biotechnology Act in Norway, one of the most restrictive in Europe, forbids egg donation and surrogacy and has rescinded the anonymity clause with respect to donor insemination. Thus, it limits people's choice as to how they can procreate within the boundaries of the nation state. The author pursues this significant datum ethnographically and addresses the issues surrounding contemporary biopolitics in Norway. This involves investigating such fundamental questions as the relation between individual and society, meanings of kinship and relatedness, the moral status of the embryo and the role of science, religion and ethics in state policies. Even though the book takes reproductive technologies as its focus, it reveals much about vital processes that are central to contemporary Norwegian society.

Now completely revised and updated, the classic guide that helps mothers- and fathers-to-be conceive more easily and boost the odds of a healthy pregnancy Covering preconception and interconception (between-pregnancy) well-being for women and men, Amy Ogle and Lisa Mazzullo draw on new research from their complementary fields of expertise and reveal how good preconception health can lower the risk of pregnancy complications and improve lifelong health. Why a ninety-day guide? It takes that long for sperm to mature, and at least that much time for the prospective mother to ensure that her body becomes pregnancy-ready. In a warm, intelligent style, the authors address up-to-date topics such as age, heredity, vaccinations, supplements, and weight. In easily accessible chapters, this guide covers such topics as • Nutrition: meal makeovers plus new facts (and fiction) about fish, omega-3s, vitamins, and herbs • Personal readiness: how to assess emotional, financial, and physical readiness, including a preconception-friendly exercise program, plus advice for avid athletes • Becoming an informed patient: choosing a doctor, insurance coverage, baby-friendly medications, and the latest genetic screening guidelines • Women’s health: expanded coverage of gynecologic and medical conditions affecting fertility and pregnancy (including bariatric surgery and physical disabilities), and steps to create a welcoming womb by optimizing immune health • Environment: a roundup of environmental exposures and travel tips • Men’s health: practical lifestyle advice for men to help maximize the number and health of sperm • Conception: clear signs that predict when to “start trying,” and the truth behind common myths • Infertility: reassuring options for reproductive assistance • Interconception health: the best plan for pregnancy recovery, before trying for another • Resources: questionnaires for your preconception medical visit, and charts to track fertility signs

In the same vein of Kalisha Buckhanon's critically-acclaimed debut novel Upstate, again she shares an emotionally beautiful story about today's youth that magnifies the unforgettable power of hope and the human spirit. Buckhanon takes us to Chicago, 1992, and into the life of fifteen-year-old Shivana Montgomery, who believes all Black women wind up the same: single and raising children alone, like her mother. Until the sudden visit of her beautiful and free-spirited Aunt Jewel, Shivana spends her days desperately struggling to understand life and the growing pains of her environment. When she accidentally becomes pregnant by an older man and must decide what to do, she begins a journey towards adulthood with only a mysterious voice inside to guide her. When she falls in love with Rasul, a teenager with problems of his own, together they fight to rise above their circumstances and move toward a more positive future. Through the voice of the unborn child and a narrative sweeping from slavery onward, Buckhanon narrates Shivana's connection to a past history of Black women who found themselves at the mercy of tragic circumstances.

In the Age of Revolution, how did American women conceive their lives and marital obligations? By examining the attitudes and behaviors surrounding the contentious issues of family, contraception, abortion, sexuality, beauty, and identity, Susan E. Klepp demonstrates that many women--rural and urban, free and enslaved--began to radically redefine motherhood. They asserted, or attempted to assert, control over their bodies, their marriages, and their daughters' opportunities. Late-eighteenth-century American women were among the first in the world to disavow the continual childbearing and large families that had long been considered ideal. Liberty, equality, and heartfelt religion led to new conceptions of virtuous, rational womanhood and responsible parenthood. These changes can be seen in falling birthrates, in advice to friends and kin, in portraits, and in a gradual, even reluctant, shift in men's opinions. Revolutionary-era women redefined femininity, fertility, family, and their futures by limiting births. Women might not have won the vote in the new Republic, they might not have gained formal rights in other spheres, but, Klepp argues, there was a women's revolution nonetheless.

Widely accepted as the definitive guide to pregnancy andchildbirth, Dr. Miriam Stoppard’s Conception, Pregnancy, and Birth has sold well over a million copies since it was firstpublished. This new edition has not only been given a completely new look with stunning new photography but it has also been updated and re-written with 20-25 percent new material. New information will cover the latest developments in pregnancy and birth, from up-to-date research on how your stress levels can affect your unborn baby to new developments in delivering your baby.

Prospective parents learn how they can lay the foundations for a healthy, happy family life even before their children are conceived. This guide shows parents how they can optimize children's physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Illustrations.