YOU: Having a Baby: The Owner's Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy

Amazon Exclusive Essay from Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, Authors of YOU: Having a Baby

While many pregnancy books tell you what to do, we aim to add a deeper level of meaning in true YOU style and explain why. After all, when you truly understand the why, the what is much easier to adopt. Instead of giving you a week-by-week or hiccup-by-hiccup guide to pregnancy, we take a more holistic approach, focusing on how your mental and physical health affect your baby, and how--at the same time--pregnancy affects your mind and body. Of course, we provide plenty of our signature YOU Tips and YOU Tools to help you make the best choices for a safe and healthy pregnancy, but we're going to take you there a little bit differently than other pregnancy guides may. Here's what you can expect from us:

We want you to understand at the base level how epigenetics works and why it's important. Starting with the moment you go from making love to making a baby, we explain how you can influence your child's development through this field--perhaps the most important developed in the last decade. Many of us believe that the genetics of our children are predetermined the moment that the sperm locks on its desired egg. But the truth is that research from various sources is suggesting that during pregnancy, you may actually be able to turn your future baby's genes on and off--you have the ability to control genes anytime.

You'll also learn quite a bit about the key player that mediates between you and your baby, transmitting all signals that create those epigenetic changes. That player is the placenta. This beautifully functioning organ is the place where mom and child interact, where nutrients are exchanged, and where growth and development patterns are determined.

After explaining the workings of the placenta, we'll focus more closely on nutrition (both yours and baby's), explaining how too much, too little, or the wrong nutrients all play roles in the health of both you and your child. We also talk about such things as fetal brain development, how to manage (and prevent) postpartum depression, and important pregnancy-related medical conditions like gestational diabetes.

In the second half of the book, we'll help you manage the wide range of side effects you may be feeling--everything from heartburn and insomnia to medical complications like preeclampsia. Finally, we present a bunch of great features you can use, including:

Broadway to Birth: Our interactive board game will take you through the amazing adventure that is labor and delivery to help you understand which elements you can control and which elements you need to leave to the pros (whom we'll help you choose, based on your own labor and delivery goals).

A Top Eight List of Postpartum Issues: After you deliver your baby, you'll appreciate our chapter on everything you need to know to take care of yourself and your newborn in the first month of life. This is where the second adventure begins.

The Ultimate Pregnancy Flight Plan: Step by step, we provide the instructional dials, controls, and levers that will allow you to pilot your way to a safe landing. After all, you're carrying a very precious passenger. This plan is the shorthand version of all the best tips and strategies we give throughout the book.

YOU Tools: At the end of the book, we will give you specific advice about exercise, diet, vitamins, and the like that can serve as an action plan. We also provide guidance on everything from choosing a doctor or midwife to preparing your home for a baby to recipes your partner can make for you during your pregnancy.

We want you to relax and take time to enjoy the beauty of the pregnancy process. The most important thing to keep in mind is that most pregnancies turn out absolutely fine. Absolutely fine. Women's bodies are designed to carry children safely and efficiently. That doesn't mean everything will be smooth sailing on this journey, but it does mean that the odds are greatly in your favor. If you can learn how to maximize your chances that nature runs the course it's supposed to, you will increase those odds even further. This book will help show you how.

(Photo © James Robinson)