At last, everything you need to know about the latest in alternative and conventional healthcare before, during, and after pregnancyin 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 laborfrom epidurals to hypnotherapy

* Everything you need to know about inductions, assisted deliveries, and C- sections

* What happens postpartumphysically 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.

"As any pregnant woman knows, there are an overwhelming number of books on the pregnancy resource shelves, and choosing the right one can be trying. Two forces are at work: one conventional, one alternative. Which road to take? Evans has found a solution to the problem by offering a volume that nicely combines both approaches. The author, founder and director of an integrative holistic health center in Fairfield County, Conn., has written a thorough, supportive and comforting pregnancy book that covers preconceptions about health, mind-body medicine and fertility options; the emotional and physical impacts of pregnancy; nutritional needs, exercise, prenatal testing; medical complications, labor and birth (including vaginal births and cesareans); and postpartum. Appendixes suggest books for further reading and music for relaxation and meditation, list Web sites that sell nutritional supplements and botanical medications, explain terms like acupressure and vinyasa, give yoga poses for pregnant women and present readers with the opportunity to record their 'food, beverage, physical activity and symptoms' during pregnancy. This thoughtful book lays out the numerous options available to pregnant women, and is essential reading for those who want to thoroughly savor one of the most 'fulfilling and transforming' phases of life as a parent. Agent, Janis Donnaud. (Apr.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

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.

This obstetrician's guide is the first to combine the latest in alternative and conventional prenatal medicine. Dr. Evans provides accessible, engaging, and authoritative guidance from preconception through postpartum.

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.

Robin Aronson is the former editor-in-chief of Parents.com, the website for Parents magazine.

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: Pregnancys 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 YogaAdditional Sequences 530

4. BMI Table and Pregnancy Food Journal 535

Acknowledgments 543

Index 545

About the authors 553