Dr. Ruth's Pregnancy Guide for Couples

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, world-renowned psychosexual therapist, is the author of fifteen books, including Grandparenthood (Routledge 1998). She lives in New York City. Amos Grunebaum, M.D. is Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York and Assistant Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

• CHAPTER 1 Get Ready, Get Set, Before You Get Pregnant -- INTRODUCTION -- Thinking Ahead about Parenthood -- Taking an Emotional Inventory -- Ask Dr. Ruth -- From Our Files -- Preparing Your Body -- Preconception Care -- From Our Files -- Preexisting Conditions -- Inherited Diseases -- Maternal Age -- Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- Other Infections -- Chronic Medical Conditions -- Rh Disease -- Medications to Avoid -- Prescription Medications -- Over-the-Counter Medications -- Substances to Avoid -- Alcohol -- Tobacco -- Tip -- Caffeine -- Tip -- Cocaine, Marijuana, and Other Illegal Drugs -- You're Ready, You're Set -- CHAPTER 2 Go! Making the Most Out of Making a Baby -- Tip -- Taking the Plunge-Putting Away Your -- Contraceptives -- Ask Dr. Ruth -- Having Second Th oughts? -- From Our Files -- Experiencing Sex in a Ne w Way -- D on't Worry, Be Happy -- Tip -- Ask Dr. Ruth -- When Timing ls Everything: Determining -- When You Ovulate -- Tip -- Your Menstrual Cycle -- Your Cervical Mucus -- Basal Body Temperature -- Ovulation Detection Kits -- It Takes Two -- From Our Files -- The Ejaculate -- Producing Quality Sperm -- The Youth Factor -- Quantity as Well as Quality -- The Final Step: Fertilizing the Egg -- From Our Files -- Getting Ready for the Big Day -- Tip -- The Best Positions for Conception -- Missionary Position -- From our Files -- Rear-Entry Position -- What to Avoid If You Want to Get Pregnant -- Lubricational Foreplay -- Oral Sex and Pregnancy -- Fellatio -- Cunnilingus -- Pregnancy -- Orgasms -- Determining the Baby's Sex -- A Short Lesson in Genetics -- Helping Nature Choose the Sex -- Female Orgasms -- Male and Female Sperm -- Positions and the Sex of the Baby -- Sperm Filtration -- What about Twins? -- Superfecundation and Superfetation -- Infertility and Treatment -- When It's Ttme to See an Expert -- Inducing Ovulation -- Removing Tubal Obstructions -- Advanced Techniques for Becoming Pregnant -- Obtaining the Ejaculate and Sperm -- The Next Ste