Book Review: High Risk Pregnancy: Why Me?Title: High Risk Pregnancy- Why Me?
Author: Kelly Whitehead

When I finally got pregnant with Jacob after six years of trying, I was terrified that something come along and snatch away my “dream come true.” My first two trimesters were practically straight out of a pregnancy text-book, complete with insane morning sickness during weeks 8-13, heartburn, constant peeing, random food cravings that send me all over town looking for the perfect strawberry shortcake parfait- you know, the normal stuff. I loved every minute of it, even the uncomfortable ones. Then, at 7 months, I swelled up like a balloon, gained 35lbs in once week, and started getting horrible headaches. My pre-eclampsia was caught late because an on-call doctor blew off my symptoms before they got to that point. By the time they caught it at a routine appointment, I was dumping +3 protein in my urine (it should be 0), and my blood pressure was 185/110.

The point is, I never suspected back when those two lines appeared on the stick that I would become a high-risk pregnancy. I don’t think any first-time mom does. If I ever decide to have another child, I’ll have to be monitored closely because I have about a 60% chance of developing preeclampsia again. I’m too scared to go through that again, and my current circumstances make it impossible and impractical anyway. But High Risk Pregnancy Why Me? would be my go to book if I ever did change my mind, and it’s actually made me feel a little better about what I went through.

Kelly Whitehead wrote the book after going through her own high risk pregnancies. She lost her first baby at 22 weeks, but went on to deliver her daughter at full term. Kelly knows about high risk pregnancy because she lived through it, and her book clearly reflects that. With the help of Dr. Vincenzo Berghello, she wrote an extensive, amazing resource for other women going through the same thing. The 414 page book (not including the index) outlines everything from causes and risk factors of high risk pregnancy (of which there are a lot) to the different treatmetns to the emotional impact. Throughout the book, others going through the same situation share their own stories.

Kelly’s non-nonsense, blunt, totally non-sugarcoated writing makes this book an invaluable resource. She doesn’t coddle the reader, but rather tells you straight out what you need to do and how to be more assertive when it comes to getting what you need from your doctor. She set out to write the definitive resource on high risk pregnancy, and she definitely succeeded.