Get Ready to Get Pregnant: Your Complete Prepregnancy Guide to Making a Smart

This is an absolutely excellent book. I am not surprised by the negative reviews, because we live in a society largely opposed to change. A society where so many want to be accepted as they are whether healthy or not. My father in law exemplifies this attitude. He had a massive heart attack at 50 and was told in the hospital to seek professional counseling to change his diet and begin exercise and he scoffed. His heart attack had absolutely nothing to do with his diet and exercise it was all hereditary. Right. Fast forward 10 years, he’s had 2 more heart attacks, needs a triple bypass and has been told every vessel in his heart is almost clogged to capacity - he’s a ticking time bomb. But heaven forbid anyone told him he should change a thing - that’s fear mongering right? Is that what we’re calling the hard truth now? But I digress...Listen, if you’re like my father in law, you won’t like this book. Even the most seemingly healthy will have things they can do better, and that’s life.This book is full of wisdom backed by research regarding how to put your best foot forward before creating another human being. If you have children already, you likely love your kids so much you’d move heaven and earth for them, and you’d likely move heaven and earth for your future children as well. This is an excellent book for you. I have always been what society would consider very healthy, but I’ve known for awhile I’m not at my personal best - an existence I’ve had before. I have 3 beautiful children and would love one more. However, I am like the woman in the example at the start of the book. In my last 2 pregnancies I had gestational diabetes and I would like to do everything possible to avoid that in the future. Since I am already a fairly healthy person, the changes I need to make are exciting because I know I’ll be living my best life and doing my best for my child. I wish I had read this book years ago. Thankfully I have 3 beautiful kids. I can’t go back, but I can move forward and do even better. My dad had pancreatic cancer and survived. He’s a walking miracle. Did he get it because his mom ate poorly when he was in utero? Who knows. But why wouldn’t I want to do my best to try and do what I can to minimize cancer risk as well as other future health risks? He has always eaten well and exercised and it made a huge difference in his recovery. He had almost no chance, but he’s alive. He has a friend who had throat cancer and a 75% chance of survival, but he lived on a diet of cocoa cola and cigarettes and not surprisingly he died.Listen, if you want to give your child the best shot, this book is full of sage, and reasonable advice. Nothing is outlandish or difficult to do, it takes discipline more than anything. Not only will you be doing your best for your baby, but you’ll feel better too.This is an excellent book and a great resource for all women before any pregnancy and for anyone who wants to help their daughters be in their best shape years in advance.Nothing in life worth doing comes easily, but it is worth it!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It brought up subjects that I did not think about for my future pregnancy. I even read the "man" chapter to my husband and he really liked it!Since this is an American book and I am Canadian, some facts did not translate well (especially on maternity leave).

Myself and my husband decided that we will be trying for a baby later on in the year, and so we decided to get this book.I can't put it down, and have since re-visited it with pens and highlighters to remember all of the information! It is well written, extremely informative, and REALLY shows you just how important it is to get things right AT LEAST 3 months before you plan to concieve.Topics covered include diet, (a key part of the book,) stress, your immune system, a healthy home environment (I hadn't even thought about the impact of using household cleaning products!) relationships, and even a useful section for the Dad to be! There is even an extremely comprehensive 'are you ready?' section which gives you a rating indicator of how ready you, your partner, your home and your body are for a baby... I was sure that I would get 'ready,' but because this book brought things up I hadn't previously thought about, it turns out I have some work to do! (Of course, don't stick to it religiously - go with your own instincts.)It is American, so there are a few references to health insurance and food in cup measurements etc, however the majority of this book is relevant for U.K readers, too. It has totally transformed my lifestyle and really focused my attention on getting my body (and my husband to get his body,) ready to have as healthy a conception, pregnancy and little person as possible! Actually... even for people NOT planning on having children, it would be useful to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes into our bodies, most of the time without us even realising it!Get this book now!!!

Not too helpful. Average

This book was a very interesting read for anyone thinking about getting pregnant. I really appreciated the information about nutrition, handling stress and a healthy environment and have started to change my way of life already, even though it will probably be another year before we start trying. I gave the book 4 stars instead of five because of the last section that is "just for men." I was very disappointed with this portion of the book and it left a sour feeling for me. While the book gave more science based information for women, it took a turn in talking to men in a "man-to-man" sort of way. The discussion about infidelity turns into this madness of don't cheat on your wife, though wives sometimes cheat on husbands, and how there are sometimes questions about who the father is....and so on. I felt like it was an episode of the Maury show or something. Men are just as stressed out as women about the whole pregnancy thing, and I feel that this portion of the book adds unnecessary stress. The book should have simply provided information about how to make good sperm and give support - the end. I think the chapter for men defeated the purpose of preparing both parents for creating a healthy and smart baby. I hope Dr. Lu reads this review and takes this into consideration for future editions.