Tall Poppy Review: You’re Not Alone in “The Trying Game”

Trying to get pregnant is exhausting, especially when it seems like everyone around you gets pregnant when a brisk breeze passes over their partner’s genitals. When struggling to get pregnant, the uncertainties and challenges can make you feel isolated: the doctor appointments, the injections, the unsexy sex. No matter what happens, it can feel like you’re going through it alone.

In Amy Klein’s debut book, The Trying Game: Get Through Fertility Treatments and Get Pregnant Without Losing Your Mind (Ballantine Books), she reminds want-to-be parents they are not alone and shares the tools that helped her get through it.

With an upbeat tone of the best friend who says all the right things, she shares her personal experiences, knowledge from experts and stories from other parents who have struggled, all with two primary goals — knowledge is power and you are not alone.

“Honey, I’m taking my basal body temperature!”
does not scream “sexy” the way “I’m so hot for you!”
does (although they literally mean the same thing).

In the book, Klein covers common tests and medical practices, knowledge from fertility experts and common acronyms (the fertility community is loaded with acronyms like 2WW, POAS, IUI, IVF and hundreds more). She dispels common misconceptions, the importance and how-tos of physical and emotional health, the crucial questions to ask when selecting a fertility doctor and what to expect on your first visit.

Costs can quickly escalate during the journey to a baby, she asks the reader to consider the cost, not just on the want-to-be parents, but on the bank account. How much money is too much?

Even if a pregnancy happens, miscarriages can still occur. She discusses when to worry, what to do and offers support on how to get through it, emphasizing the importance of a support network. Along the way, she even provides helpful (and humorous) responses to intrusive and insensitive questions the unknowing might ask. Even the footnotes and appendix are full of useful resources beyond the pages of her book.

Amy Klein’s book is “What to Expect When You Want to Expect But It’s Not Been Easy,” full of the nitty-gritty, sometimes hard-to-read, sometimes funny information about fertility. I’d go one step further to add that if someone you love is struggling with infertility, this book can help you understand a little bit what your loved one is experiencing.

Buy this Book!

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