You would think I had learned my lesson after the magazine article I read last week, but apparently not. Probably the teacher in me coming out, but as we continue on this adventure, I crave information. This book jumped out at me immediately, for obvious reasons.
The one thing I didn't consider until I had the book back home was just how up to date or relevant the information might be. I already knew this was an American book, therefore very little of the information regarding healthcare would be specifically relevant, but I still found it useful. More importantly, I had failed to check the date of publication, I saw the "3rd Edition" and thought it must be ok. Checking the publishing info showed that the book was originally published in 2006 but has since been revised and the last revision was only published this year - phew!
It is important to me not to take anything I read in a book like this as gospel. Rather, I want to have some information at my disposal and use it to help me with any questions I might have for my doctor. I also hope it will help put my mind at ease when I start worrying about any of the details along the way. For example, after I got my blood tests results back, I was able to come home to this book and look up the information it contains about the role Vitamin D plays in baby's development.
Overall, I found the book a really good first read, see below for more information. The only real gripe I had were the illustrations (pretty dated) and the use of the words "healthful" or "healthfully" - made me cringe a little each time I came across them!
What's covered in the book?
This book focuses mainly on the health aspects of pregnancy after 35, rather than focusing on week-by-week development of your baby.
It begins with an introduction which focuses on the differences between a first time pregnancy after 35 compared to a repeat pregnancy, and the effects of work at this time.
There is a lot of focus on the types of tests available for mothers and babies before, during and after pregnancy and includes lots of statistics about the occurrence of different medical conditions.
There is also quite a bit of information about how to cope during pregnancy such as dealing with discomforts, effects of medications and conditions and nutrition and weight management.
Overall, I found this book to be a great overview of a lot of information which covered almost all of the common questions that a woman considering pregnancy after 35 might consider. There were some sections that I wished were longer or more detailed, but just made a not of these to ask my doctor - or look out for these when purchasing any other books in the future.
I'll finish with a quote from the book that helped to make me feel a little more positive about my "advanced maternal age" after reading that previous magazine article!
"Today, many healthcare professionals gauge pregnancy risk
by a woman's health status, not her age."
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