In order to maximize the chance of IVF success, couples need to ensure that their preconceptual health is optimal to increase the quality of gametes and reproductive fitness. This text reviews the medical and lifestyle factors that can affect the body at preconception stage, such as micronutrients, stress, hormonal and gynecologic assessment, as well as environmental factors such as optimal weight and age for childbirth. This book will enable all medical practitioners and healthcare professionals to give evidence-based advice to influence the success rate of subsequent IVF cycles, and ensure that every child is born in the best possible condition. Part of a four-book series on optimizing different aspects of the IVF cycle, this book focusses on preparing the body for assisted conception. Other books in the series focus on the egg and embryo, the endometrium, and the sperm.

In US security culture, motherhood is a site of intense contestation--both a powerful form of cultural currency and a target of unprecedented assault. Linked by an atmosphere of crisis and perceived vulnerability, motherhood and nation have become intimately entwined, dangerously positioning national security as reliant on the control of women's bodies. Drawing on feminist scholarship and critical studies of security culture, Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz explores homeland maternity by calling our attention to the ways that authorities see both non-reproductive and "overly" reproductive women's bodies as threats to social norms--and thus to security. Homeland maternity culture intensifies motherhood's requirements and works to discipline those who refuse to adhere. Analyzing the opt-out revolution, public debates over emergency contraception, and other controversies, Fixmer-Oraiz compellingly demonstrates how policing maternal bodies serves the political function of securing the nation in a time of supposed danger--with profound and troubling implications for women's lives and agency.

Examining cultures as diverse as long-house dwellers in North Borneo, African farmers, Welsh housewives, and postindustrial American workers, this volume dramatically redefines the anthropological study of menstrual customs. It challenges the widespread image of a universal 'menstrual taboo' as well as the common assumption of universal female subordination which underlies it. Contributing important new material and perspectives to our understanding of comparative gender politics and symbolism, it is of particular importance to those interested in anthropology, women's studies, religion, and comparative health systems.

Lifespan Development: Biopsychosocial Perspectives provides students with complete explorations of each developmental stage of the lifespan, beginning with conception and concluding with an examination of successful aging. The book presents human development theory and research within a biopsychosocial framework, presenting information regarding biological, psychological, and social functioning during each significant period of the lifespan. The first chapter of the text presents readers with an introduction to human development, addressing the meaning of age and aging, the four key principles of human development, the social factors that influence the study of human development, and more. The succeeding chapters progress in step with the human lifespan, beginning with conception and prenatal development, moving through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and concluding with chapters devoted to later life. The biopsychosocial perspective of the text emphasizes the transactional nature of biological, psychological, and social influences on the developing individual with a focus on positive development and the implications on health and wellness. It emphasizes the applied nature of the biopsychosocial perspective. Each chapter begins with a real-life scenario, challenging students to take the perspectives of individuals and practitioners dealing with issues at every stage of development. Designed to provide readers with a holistic understanding of the complex progression of human life and aging, Lifespan Development is an ideal text for courses in psychology and human development.

Meet Woody. Former journalist. Die-hard Oasis fan. High energy. Low sperm count. Training to be a vicar. Obviously. Matt Woodcock's frank, funny real-life diaries reveal what it was like for him to train as a vicar while struggling against all odds to become a father. In them he lays bare his joys and struggles as he attempts to reconcile his calling as a vicar with his life as a party-loving journalist, footie-freak and incorrigible extrovert. Becoming Reverend is a compelling and original account of how faith can work in the midst of a messy life, combining family, fertility, faith and friendship with the story of a divine - but unlikely - calling.