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Going through major life transitions on your fertility journey can seem daunting when you don’t have adequate information and support. Our list includes Merideth’s personalized thumbnail reviews of books, websites, organizations, and tools which she and her coaching clients have found useful. Please feel free to explore.
BOOK: Resolving Infertility
By the Staff of RESOLVE, with Diane Aronson
A great book that outlines the various aspects of dealing with fertility challenges, including medical tests and treatments, emotional impact, financial implications, and alternative methods of building a family. Comprehensive.
BOOK: Taking Charge of Your Fertility
By Toni Weschler, MPH
This book offers a system for tracking your temperature and other fertility signs. It is a good practice to get into, and can help you feel more in control of your situation.
ORGANIZATION: RESOLVE/Open Path - www.resolvenc.org (Bay Area chapter) and www.resolve.org (national)
RESOLVE, the National Infertility Organization, provides a host of information resources for people dealing with fertility challenges. Chapters throughout the country staff their help lines with volunteers who have personal experience with infertility, to provide information to callers about service providers in their area. The organization also provides support groups and hosts conferences to discuss fertility-related topics. It’s a great opportunity to get a lot of information in one place.
WEBSITE: Leslie Oldershaw, Licensed Acupuncturist – www.leslieoldershaw.com
Leslie specializes in enhancing fertility, and offers acupuncture, nutrition counseling, and herbal medicine. She provides a safe, supportive and calm environment for exploring natural ways to resolve your fertility challenges. A visit to Leslie’s is like going on a mini-retreat: you emerge energized and feeling great. Located in Piedmont in the East Bay.
WEBSITE: Bod*ecology – The Art and Science of Whole Body Health – www.bodecology.com
Stephanie Shelburne, PhD(c), CMT, is a body-focused psychologist and certified massage therapist, among her other professional qualifications and designations. She is a great resource for helping reduce stress and how it plays out in your body, especially as you prepare for fertility treatments. She uses restorative yoga, breathing techniques and integrated bodywork in her sessions, so it’s a relaxing experience to visit her in addition to being enormously beneficial. Located in Alameda in the East Bay.
WEBSITE: Balance Restored – Center for Integrated Medicine – www.balancerestored.com
A group of independent practitioners working together in an integrated center, Balance Restored offers a “one-stop shop” for fertility support. Services offered include: acupuncture, herbs, nutrition counseling and psychotherapy. As an added bonus, Laurel Fertility Center, a reproductive endocrinology clinic, is located just upstairs. Located in Marin County.
BOOK: Adopting: Sound Choices, Strong Families
By Patricia Irwin Johnston
This is an outstanding resource for people trying to decide whether or not to get off the fertility rollercoaster. Although much of the book is about adoption, the first section of the book is devoted to examining the losses associated with infertility and provides useful reflection exercises to help you figure out what is most important to you about having or expanding your family.
BOOK: I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids – Reinventing Modern Motherhood
By Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile
This is a fun read for looking at the lighter side of motherhood. It may seem paradoxical to read a book about motherhood when you are striving to become a mother, but I have found this book to be a refreshing reality check about what parenting includes, warts and all. Allows you to take a step back and wonder, why am I doing this again?
BOOK: Waiting for Daisy
By Peggy Orenstein
This book is a fast, enjoyable read that details the trials and travails of a Berkeley couple in their quest to start their family. I found it encouraging reading about someone else going through similar challenges – Peggy does a great job of describing what it’s like to be in this life situation.
BOOK: The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho
This book is a parable about a traveler who voyages a long way to achieve a goal. It’s inspiring and a quick read that I found put the journey to have a family into perspective.
BOOK: Transitions – Making Sense of Life’s Changes
By William Bridges
This book outlines the three phases of making a transition: an ending, a new beginning, and the time in-between. I especially found useful the idea of the “Neutral Zone,” the time between the ending and beginning when you feel the need to go within and regroup. He characterizes this as a necessary part of the change process. It is very useful if you are in a transition and are feeling frustrated with yourself because you are not feeling productive.
BOOK: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
By Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.
A great resource for working through the fear and resistance that may be keeping your from what you really want in your life. A short, quick read.
BOOK: How to Be an Adult – A Handbook on Psychological and Spiritual Integration
By David Richo
A short, simple treatment of psychological development in adults. Includes discussion of fear, anger, guilt, values, personal boundaries and intimacy. A deceptively simple book with an odd title that makes a wonderful reference for your library. I found the discussion of loss to be particularly compelling.
BOOK: How to Heal Toxic Thoughts – Simple Tools for Personal Transformation
By Sandra Ingerman
One of the challenges of struggling with family-building is that it is so easy to get down on yourself and to let your thoughts run away with you. I found this book to be a constructive way to notice and become aware of the power of my toxic thoughts, and then to change my behavior to achieve more satisfaction, acceptance and hope.
BOOK: Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui
By Karen Kingston
If you are a bit curious about Feng Shui and have an issue with clutter in your home or office, this is a quick, easy-to-follow book. Karen Kingston talks about how clutter can keep you from getting what you want in your life. I had a huge garage sale after reading this book!
BOOK: Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress-free Productivity
By David Allen
If you’re feeling like you don’t have time to think the big thoughts because you are constantly mired down in your To Do list and the various half-finished projects around your home and office, this book may be for you. David Allen explains a method for gathering, categorizing, filing and organizing your To Do’s in a way that is, once implemented, easy to maintain. It’s a different way to look at organizing, and is very powerful.
BOOK: Meditations for Pregnancy: 36 Weekly Practices for Bonding with Your Unborn Baby
By Michelle Leclaire O’Neill, Ph.D., R.N.
If you are fortunate enough to become pregnant at some point during your journey, you may find that you’re in uncharted territory and may feel like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. Consider picking up this week-by-week guide to help you concentrate on the little life you have growing inside you. There is a short entry for each week of your pregnancy, as well as a CD with a 20-minute guided meditation.
To discuss how coaching can help you with fertility challenges, please contact Merideth at 510.864.0249, or e-mail her at mer@fertileperspectives.com.
