Product Description

Written with humor and insight by a mom who herself rode the conception roller coaster, The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians will guide you every step of the way—from your first ovulation kit right up through the first weeks after your baby’s birth.

Rachel Pepper’s lively, easy-to-read guide is the first place to go for up-to-date information and sage advice on everything you need to know:

* Charting your body’s own fertility signs * New! Preconception planning for both singles and couples * Selecting a sperm bank or donor * Inseminating to maximize your chances of pregnancy * New! Latest information on fertility drugs * New! Sex, desire, and self-esteem during pregnancy * New! Protecting your legal rights as a lesbian family * New! Negotiating family roles * Labor, birth, and welcoming your baby * Support for partners and coparents * New! Completely updated resource guide featuring lesbian-friendly sperm banks and clinics, midwives, doulas, birth centers, and online resources

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132228 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 250 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781573442169
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"At last, a lesbian-specific treatise on making a baby and what to do with it once it arrives." -- The Advocate

"You could scour bookstores, libraries and the Internet for months without finding the logistical and emotional support [in] this book." -- Ariel Gore, author of The Hip Mama Survival Guide

About the Author
Rachel Pepper is the book editor at Curve magazine and works in the Lesbian and Gay Studies program at Yale.

Customer Reviews

Fresh, timely edition of this indispensable book
Hooray! The second edition of this first-of-its-kind book has even more useful information and is totally up-to-date. The best thing about it is still the author's voice, which is strong and supportive -- and funny -- on every page. This book is infused with the wisdom of someone who's been through it all, back when there weren't any books about it, and is eager to shepherd others through the process. Equally encouraging are the many quotes from other dyke mamas (and mamas-to-be) describing their own experiences, from the just- thinking-about-it stage to actually giving birth.

Some questions this book will help you think through: am I (are we) ready for kids? can I do it alone? how to choose a donor? what is it like, trying to get pregnant? what are my options if I don't get pregnant quickly? how will I handle being pregnant? what kind of birth do I hope for? what is it like for the non-bio mom? and what kind of family will we be in those early days?

In each case the author doesn't tell you what to do, but helps you figure out what YOU want to do. She clearly has her own preferences -- unmedicated birth is best; circumcision sucks; breastfeeding rocks! -- but they are carefully argued, pretty persuasive, and the tone is consistently pro-child and pro-women.

Sensibly, Pepper puts the tough stuff up front: the first chapter is about getting yourself as physically, mentally, financially and legally ready to start a family as you can possibly be. Then it's on to getting the goods, finding out what's going on under the hood, and starting the crazy ride on the conception "rollercoaster." The chapter offering Ten Tips to Keep You Sane during this crazy period is worth the price of the book alone!

These early chapters are the most detailed and probably the ones you'll read over and over, but there are also useful roadmaps to each trimester, as well as a helpful section on sexuality and pregnancy, birth options, and the early weeks with your baby. There's also a comprehensive index and a helpful section on extra resources, from lesbian-friendly sperm banks to useful books to dyke-mama blogs.

In a nice touch, the new edition is dedicated not only to "every lesbian dreaming baby dreams" but also "the many dyke daddies and tranny pops out there." Right on.

As a further bonus, the new cover is gorgeous, as is the photo of the author and her now seven year old daughter -- clearly that rollercoaster was worth it! It all adds to the supportive, happy vibe of this indispensable guide to what the author calls "the wacky world of lesbian conception and pregnancy."

USER FRIENDLY AND COVERS EVERYTHING!
Rachel Pepper's new edition of her Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians is a welcomed event. With her clear writing and pull-no-punches style, Rachel takes the mystery and fear out of this amazing and popular process. Lesbians deserve to be spoken to in our own language, and this book is accessible and smart in the best ways. Things I didn't know I didn't know are answered fully, informatively, and often with a lightheartedness that reaches across the page to the reader so we can understand what's going on. I would recommend this book to any single or coupled lesbians who are thinking of embarking on the baby journey.

Amazing - every woman should have this book!
This book is fantastic - gives you all the details from when babies are just a mear thought, to when the real little munchkin is in your arms... All the details you don't normal hear about when speaking with doctors etc. This is a womans real life account of her own experiences and what she went through - it's so easy to read you feel as if you are sitting there with a friend chatting for hours.
Well worth the purchase - it provides you with contacts/groups/places to go all listed at the back - it would be great if I could find a book like this for a lesbian mother to be in Australia. AMAZING BOOK!!! THANK YOU!!