What to Expect When You're Expecting [antikvár]

Foreword to the Fourth Edition By Charles J. Lockwood, MD The Anita O'Keefe Young 'Professor of Women's Health and Chair, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine Ti i he other day i received a wonderful, heartfelt thank-you letter from a patient. Enclosed was a picture of a strapping college hockey player—whom I had delivered 19 years before! I have the best job on earth. I get to share in the most joyful, exciting, and wondrous moment that human beings will ever experience— the birth of their child—only I get to experience it over and over and over. Sure, being an obstetrician has its share of tough moments—some very tiring ones at 3 a.m., and some very frustrating ones, when the pace of a patient's labor appears to be glacial. There is the occasional adrenaline rush, the patient with the challenging symptom, and the inevitable flood of complex emotions, but mostly it's just plain fun. In a way, my job is a lot like your pregnancy wiU probably be—every day will bring a little adventure, but most of them will be fun. What to Expect When You're Expecting is like having a personal obstetrician to guide you through that adventure. I have been recommending this book for years and thoroughly enjoyed reading the fourth edition— because the best just got better. All new, it's packed with information and useful advice, the kind you would hear from your favorite doctor or midwife—one who is wise but funny, thorough but practical, experienced but enthusiastic, organized but empathetic. The book starts you off before conception with solid recommendations on what to—and what not to—do before you are expecting. It then gently guides you through conception to your first visit to a provider. It explains what changes you'll need to make in your lifestyle, job, and diet. One of the book's best features is a month-by-month—in fact a week-by-week—guide to how your baby is developing and what she or he is doing in your uterus. This is accompanied by a description of how you are developing—and not just your belly but everywhere, from your hair to your toes—and what you should be feeling. It tells you what your provider will do at each visit, and reviews what tests will be ordered and why Toward the end, it prepares you for the big day, however you might be delivering—vaginally or by cesarean. You'U learn about birthing plans, how to recognize real labor from false labor, and which laboring positions work. Your questions about back labor, fetal monitoring, episiotomy, pain relief, and anesthesia will be answered, even if you didn't know to ask. Then What to