This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sarah Zadek will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
An evidence-based guide to optimizing egg, sperm and uterine health for improving the odds of a healthy pregnancy (whether naturally or with advanced reproductive technologies such as IVF), no matter your gender, sexual orientation, or relationship status. This witty and easy-to-follow guide addresses key factors in fertility such as your: genetics, gut and vaginal microbiomes, diet, physical activity, sleep, stress, and exposure to environmental toxins.
Understand the science behind fertility, how to troubleshoot “unexplained infertility,” PCOS, endometriosis, and the challenges with conceiving in your 30s and 40s. Learn how to track ovulation, when to have sex (or inseminate), and which supplements may help along the way.
Enjoy an Excerpt
Bringing a live baby into the world is an incredible capability of humans, but a more impressive miracle starts about nine months before that. The number of steps and processes that must occur (or not occur) for conception to happen and for a fetus to grow is almost unbelievable.
Of the millions of sperm introduced into the vagina, roughly 5%–10% are actually “normal.” One in those 5%–10% has to then blindly travel— relying only on the fluid they’re swimming in and the changes in physical conditions around it—to make it all the way from the vagina, up the cervix, into the uterus, then up the correct fallopian tube to meet an egg that we hope is healthy and ready. That sperm then must have a healthy head so it can fuse with and break into that egg. Once inside, both cells need to merge their DNA, creating the DNA of a new living creature.
But they’re not done yet.
That egg needs enough energy to sustain this transaction and the five-to-six-day journey to the uterus.
So now you have an embryo (yay!). That embryo has to undergo cell division, cleaving that single zygote cell into sixteen cells. Each of those cells is compacted and forms different layers while hoping that the lining of the uterus is ready for it. That uterine lining also has to make changes to create a receptive landing pad. It sends out signals and changes the layout of the ground to make sure the embryo can attach properly. And don’t forget about the timing: it must be done within the proper “implantation”…
About the Author:
Dr. Sarah Zadek ND, is a writer and licensed Naturopathic Doctor in Ontario, with an honours degree in biological sciences and a Doctor of Naturopathy degree. Sarah currently practices at Conceive Health at TRIO Fertility in Toronto, an integrative clinical model that supports collaboration between naturopaths and medical practitioners. When she’s not working or spending time with her husband and daughter, Sarah loves getting lost in a good book or going for a run with her dog Maple.
Buy the book at Amazon
