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Informationen zum Autor Emily Oster and Nathan Fox, MD Klappentext "A guide to navigating a second pregnancy when the first did not go as planned-with Dr. Nathan Fox, Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist. In Expecting Better, Emily Oster revolutionized the pregnancy landscape with her data-driven approach. In the years since, she kept hearing questions from readers on how to approach a second pregnancy when the first has not gone as planned. The Unexpected is a book that Oster hopes no one needs--but in reality, 50 percent of pregnancies include complications, and we don't talk about it. Preeclampsia, miscarriage, hyperemesis gravidarum, preterm birth, postpartum depression: these are lonely experiences, and that isolation makes treatment harder to access--and crucial research and policy change less likely to happen. The Unexpected lays out the data on recurrence and treatments shown to lower or mitigate risk for these conditions in subsequent pregnancies. It also provides readers roadmaps to facilitate productive conversations with their providers, with insights from lauded maternal fetal medicine specialist Dr. Nathan Fox. By bridging the knowledge gap and making space for difficult conversations, The Unexpected promises to make the hardest parts of pregnancy a little bit less so"-- Leseprobe Chapter 1 Prepare Yourself There are many technical things to do to prepare for another pregnancy after one that was complicated: collect medical records, decide about doctor changes, perhaps undergo additional testing. We'll talk about all of that in depth in the next chapter. Before any of this, though, you need to do perhaps the most important thing: prepare yourself emotionally. So, what does that mean? Very broadly, it means looking back on what happened before, trying to process it, and thinking deliberately about your steps going forward. It sounds straightforward in theory, but it can be anything but. What this means for you will depend tremendously on what happened. Complicated pregnancies take many forms, and both the medical and the emotional experience will inform what comes next. What is obvious to most people is that your history will influence the medical choices in a later pregnancy. What may be less obvious but equally important is the recognition that the life choices you make may be affected by this history. More specifically: it may make sense to engage in detailed planning for a possible repeat of complications in a later pregnancy even if there is nothing to do medically. Many of the people I spoke with for this book hadn't been encouraged to think about this step. Consider one woman who suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (severe nausea and vomiting): One year after our son was born, we began the discussion of a second. We talked through the cost of child care, impacts to our careers (both were taking off), desired age gap between children, and the belief in our ability to handle two children. The discussion of my experience with HG never came up . . . In this case, HG did return during her second pregnancy, and the experience was extremely challenging for the entire family. It is not clear that her choice to conceive again would have been impacted by this risk, but if they had grappled with it from the beginning, they would have been able to put more support in place. They could have had a more concrete plan for backup childcare. She could have had a conversation with her employer about how her team could have prepared to adapt if necessary. There are a variety of ways this might have made the experience at least somewhat easier than the previous. One reason I think people avoid these questions is that we require acknowledgment of things we wish were not true. Acknowledging the fact that this debilitating pregnancy condition might return in a later pregnancy forces u...
