Here to Help: Fertility and Conception

For life’s big and small moments Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh staff have created Here to Help booklists. Here to Help booklists provide information and support in navigating life experiences. Librarians at your neighborhood library are here to help too and can offer suggestions for these or other topics of interest, as well as community information and resources. Through these booklists you can create opportunities to find connection, solace, comfort, or information for action.

The books in this list provide information and resources for adults about fertility and conception. 

Not every book is available at all locations, but any title can be requested. Feel free to suggest some titles to us. New books are always being added to the collection.

For more resources see the CLP Social Services Guide.


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Building Your Family: the Complete Guide to Donor Conception

Building Your Family is the first all-inclusive guide by experts to cover both the medical and emotional aspects of becoming a parent through donor conception. In a compassionate and authoritative narrative, they help hopeful parents-to-be find their way forward with confidence and joy.


The Expert Guide to Fertility: Boost Your Chances for Pregnancy

The journey to fertility can be daunting and filled with obstacles. In The Expert Guide to Fertility , OB-GYNs Joseph S. Sanfilippo, MD, MBA, and Aarti Kumar, MD, offer the information you need in your journey to achieve pregnancy.

You can also check out this title as an eAudio on Hoopla. 



Inconceivable: Super Sperm Donors, Off-the-Grid Insemination, and Unconventional Family Planning

Combining memoir and investigative reporting to reveal an underground community of sperm donors and recipients who have chosen to circumvent traditional fertility avenues and meet up on their own terms, Inconceivable is a window into the unfair legal, financial, and medical entanglements that compel many single women and LGBTQ+ couples to take their fertility into their own hands.

You can also check out this title in eAudio on Hoopla. 


Mayo Clinic Guide to Fertility and Conception

Mayo Clinic physicians break down what contributes to healthy eggs and sperm, steps you can take to get ready for pregnancy, how babies are made, and tips for ovulation tracking, timing sex, and improving your chances. This comprehensive guide also demystifies miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies, as well as many common fertility problems.

You can also check out this title as an eAudio on Hoopla. 



Stronger Than Infertility: The Essential Guide to Navigating Every Step of Your Journey

An indispensable, comprehensive, and accessible reference book, Navigating Infertility provides people the tools they need to be their own best advocates as they navigate their fertility journey. Author Heather Huhman guides readers through every stage of the process–from knowing when to seek medical advice to parenting after infertility, and everything in between.


The Ultimate Fertility Guidebook

The principal mission of this book is to provide a simple and easy guidebook with proven tactics to help women tune into their body’s natural “language” and increase their chances of conceiving.

You can also check out this title in eAudio on Hoopla. 


Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began

A groundbreaking, triumphant investigation of the uterus—from birth to death, in sickness and in health, throughout history and into our possible future—from midwife and acclaimed writer Leah Hazard.

You can also check out this title as aneBook or eAudio on Hoopla.