Author: Elizabeth Swire-Falker
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher:Riverhead Trade; Riverhead Ed edition (April 6, 2004)
ISBN-13: 978-1573223812
ISBN-10:1573223816

I got this book from Singapore National Library. Interesting title! But how is the content? Is it as interesting as the title?
First of all, this book is written by Elizabeth Falker, a lawyer who is struggling from infertility with trying IVF five times. She finally decided to give up with the struggle and pick adoption for her motherhood. So from the background, you will see that the book is more how she shared her struggling with infertility. she shared her own personal experience and offers insight into what challenges to expect along the way-from getting support to finding the right doctor into dealing with insurance. Heartfelt, honest and well-informed flowered with some jokes, the author gave a well-documented personal experience. However coz the author is not with medical background, don’t expect this book with the detail of medical treatment option. She though explored also about IUIs, IVF and some of mostly infertility related sickness but she tell in patient way not in doctor’s way. For me she’s lacking with medical theory and the medicine related. Should this book call a infertility survival handbook? Handbook for me is like a bible. Calling this book as a handbook is just not right.

I recommend you if you’re purchasing an infertility book you’re probably find it which is dealing with yourself. Infertility is a complex problem. You will not get good and complete inform from the book which covers all like this book. However if you just borrowed from library or friends, this book is OK to read. Yeah just OK not great.
Score: 3 out of 5

Below I copy from the cover of the book:

From the Author
People often ask me why I decided to write this book and why I chose to be so honest and straight-forward about what it’s like to be infertile. The answer is simple: I was confused by the information I found on infertility treatment and I felt tremendously isolated and alone. I was walking to my car after an acupuncture session one day and I was angry (why me?), frustrated (for every step forward it seemed we were taking two steps backward), confused (was the acupuncture really a waste of time and money?). But most of all I was scared – was I ever going to have the baby I dreamed of and longed for?
I wandered into a bookstore hoping to find “the one book” that could help me deal with my pain and confusion. Book after book was written by physicians who seemed to know nothing about what infertility was like for the patient (clearly these men had all impregnated their wives on the first try). They may have explained what a Hysterosalpinogram involved, but none of the books told me how absolutely horrific it was to live through or why it’s so important to have it done.
And so it began: endless research and a decision to go so painfully public with my own story that my family is still trying to recover (sorry guys!). I chose to be honest because I knew that if I was open about my experience then someone reading the book might not feel so isolated. The research I did for the book made me empowered – no longer fearful or confused, I was able to take power back and gain some control over my life. There was so much I didn’t know, so much that was unsaid about being infertile; I chose to change that. No one should feel alone and confused as they wander down the street aching for a baby. (And by the way, acupuncture does work. Research now proves that undergoing acupuncture during an IVF cycle increases pregnancy rates!)

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