Date: Fri 23-Apr-1999

Publication: Hea

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Douglass-Sussman-pregnancy

Full Text:

HEALTH MONITOR: Area Obstetrician Writes Y2K Pregnancy Guide

By Amy D'Orio

The Unofficial Guide To Having A Baby, by Ann Douglas and John R. Sussman, MD;

Macmillan Lifestyle Guides, 818 pages, $15.95 paperback.

The eyes are glazed and you watch the lids fall.

Then open.

Fall. Open. Fall and stay shut.

An hour goes by and you are still gazing at your infant contentedly sleeping

on your lap.

If that is not the right daydream, how about this one: You are squatting and

cheering as your one-year-old takes five teetering steps into your safe,

outstretched arms. The smile on your face and your newly anointed toddler is

enormous. These moments, of course, are what you think about when you decide

you want to bring a child into world.

But, guaranteed, if you don't conceive in the first month you try to, you will

want to read about conception. And guaranteed, once you do conceive, your

appetite for information will grow voraciously.

Area physician John R. Sussman has collaborated, with writer Ann Douglas, to

produce a book that takes the readers from preparation for conception through

postpartum. Released by Macmillan in March, The Unofficial Guide To Having A

Baby (paperback, $15.95) offers more than 800 pages of facts, tips, advice,

charts and Web site addresses -- for those whose appetite has only been

whetted. This new guide says it is the book to buy when "You Want More Than

The Official Line," but it is also very comprehensive, especially the section

on preconception.

Dr Sussman, an obstetrician and gynecologist in New Milford/Brookfield and

chief of medical staff at New Milford Hospital, is not new to the bookshelves.

He already has published Before You Conceive: The Complete Prepregnancy Guide.

In a recent interview, Dr Sussman said he he wanted to write a sequel, but did

not have the energy to do one by himself. Running a private practice, being

involved with New Milford Hospital, and working as an assistant clinical

professor at the University of Connecticut School does not leave much spare

time, he explained.

But the publishing world was not about to let Dr Sussman go. About a year ago,

Macmillan teamed Dr Sussman with Ann Douglas to complete the second book.

"She was unbelievably professional and talented," he said. "She thought of

things that I didn't."

Ms Douglas is responsible for much of the "domestic" advice in the book, such

as, is it really necessary to get a bottle warmer? She honed in on ways to

save money, provided a candid look at how parenthood affects careers, and even

covered tax breaks.

Dr Sussman said he is pleased to have been able to update information on

pre-conception care and is especially proud of the book's chart on medicines

and how they affect baby and mother.

"I knew there was nothing like that ... It was tedious work. It was hard work,

but it was wonderful to see the finished product," he said.

The subtitle of the book, "For When You Want More Than the Official Line,"

certainly gives the reader the impression that they will be getting inside

information. Macmillan publishes an entire line of "unofficial" books that

tout they are not influenced by "the corporate line of any organization or

industry." "We give you the hard facts, whether those institutions like them

or not," the book's Bill of Rights declares.

Dr Sussman said perhaps the most important bit of "unofficial" information he

provided for the book touches on the slew of prenatal testing many expectant

mothers undergo. He cautions readers about what he terms "the prenatal test

merry-go-round" when one test leads to another and another, producing much

anxiety and sometimes few answers. He said parents need to be more involved in

deciding whether they should have certain tests, especially those that involve

risks. "I just think I am encouraging patients and my colleagues to be more

thoughtful," he said.

Dr Sussman realizes most expectant parents turn to the best-selling What to

Expect When You are Expecting when they discover they are having a baby, but

he said it falls short in some categories. The introduction to Dr Sussman's

book says that some books manage to scare parents and are too negative, while

others "are so full of new-age warm and fuzzies that you couldn't find a cold,

hard medical fact to save your life."

The Unofficial Guide certainly is somewhere in between. It contains plenty of

facts and advice put together by Ms Douglas and Dr Sussman on a wide range of

topics, but the reader also gets the assurance that the book was vetted by a

panel of experts and contains the hard-earned wisdom of a panel of 150

parents. In another words, there is room for this book on any expectant

parent's night stand.