Trying to Conceive? These Are the Books (and Podcasts!) We Recommend for Your Pregnancy Journey

This useful book frames fertility from the lens of egg quality—something we might not first think of when considering ‘successful’ conception. It dives into the science and most up-to-date research on why and how egg quality matters for optimal fertility. If you’re action-oriented, then it’s a super comprehensive guide not only for expanding your reproductive health but body awareness in general.

By the same author as the wildly-popular What to Expect When You’re Expecting, this book offers a complete picture of all the things you might be curious about when you’ve decided you’re ready to start trying to conceive. What’s the best time to have sex? How often? In what position? Will stress impact getting pregnant? These are just a few of the many questions you’ll have answered, alongside practical tips, thoughtful advice, nutrition insights, and more. 

Exactly as the title says, this bestselling book covers everything you need to know about feeling empowered and equipped to both conceive and enhance your overall reproductive health. It can seem dense at first glance, but the author engages you with friendly language and illuminating stories. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants that ultimate fertility and trying to conceive resource.

If you’re thinking about trying to conceive from a more pragmatic point of view, then this is a great choice for straightforward, time-sensitive lifestyle choices you can make for a fulfilling journey. It considers how to increase your odds of getting pregnant without reproductive assistance, identifying your fertility type, and several detailed programs you can explore depending on your fertility type.

Have you ever thought about your menstrual cycle as an essential indicator of your total wellness? This empowering women’s health book centralizes the importance of intimately familiarizing yourself with your cycle and how it connects to your fertility awareness. It’s brimming with research-backed evidence that you can apply with confidence as you start trying to conceive.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the leading causes of fertility challenges. In this reassuring book, the author advocates for anybody diagnosed with PCOS who has been told they’re infertile. With expertise in nutrition, exercise, and fertility treatment, she shares an evidence-based PCOS program that targets the root causes of PCOS’s common symptoms and helps you believe in your fertility. 

Those in a same-sex or queer relationship will welcome this knowledgeable and compassionate guide to getting pregnant together. Written by a midwife who identifies as both queer and trans, it inclusively and sensitively addresses every-body’s fertility and how to begin taking substantial action toward starting your family.

If all the ‘preparing your temple’ talk feels a tad too involved for the time and energy you can realistically devote to getting ready to conceive, then this is the resource for you. It arms you with all the need-to-knows, delving into the medical, psychological, social, and sexual aspects worth understanding in order to successfully get pregnant ASAP.

What’s nice about this book is it’s as much about nutrition and recipe sharing as it is fertility awareness. Not only does it teach you how to use nutritional choices as your ally in getting pregnant, but it helps you understand all that’s at play—mentally, physically, environmentally, etc.—for your fertility to support conception. 

This is a lovely book that examines nutrition’s connection to fertility from a refreshingly holistic perspective. It takes you on a special journey that starts with the dreams you hold around beginning to try to conceive, all the way to ensuring that your body, mind, and spirit are in harmony and ready to create life. With touching anecdotes, colorful photos, and lovingly curated recipes, it’s an incredibly encouraging read.

For a book that goes into wonderful detail about the evidence-based dietary choices that can best support fertility, this one’s your go-to. It’s an awesome blueprint for what to eat and how to make it happen. Rather than assume it’s an instant transformation to seamlessly incorporate new eating and lifestyle habits, the authors are mindful of how it’s a process to evolve your relationship to food and eating with intention.  

As the sister book to the bestseller It Starts With the Egg, this is a valuable cookbook that gets you preparing the kinds of food that your eggs will thank you for. It clarifies why health providers often recommend the Mediterranean diet as ideal for egg quality and TTC and presents a whole host of delicious recipes so you can smoothly integrate it into your life.

Need a concrete plan for changing up your current diet and state of mind so that you feel like you’re supporting your womb’s readiness to conceive? This book boils down many of the current perspectives about how to do so to the essentials. The author is a holistic fertility expert who presents an approachable way to eat and journaling prompts so that you’re enriching your body as much as your mind.

Whether you’ve experienced fertility challenges, an irregular cycle, a fleeting sex drive, mental health setbacks, or you’re just looking to deepen your relationship to your fertility and vitality, WomanCode will greet and support you. The author is a certified holistic health coach who has written what reviewers have even called the ultimate women’s health bible. From clean living to soulful takeaways, it helps you get in touch with lifestyle factors big and small that can help you live like the abundant, fertile woman you are. 

Written by a licensed acupuncturist who has helped countless women conceive, this is an upbeat book that invites you to learn about the natural ways you can nurture your fertility. Between internalizing affirmations, understanding your hormones, befriending your womb, eating mindfully, etc., it will keep you focused on remembering that your birthright as a woman is being born to create life.

There’s no shortage of do this, don’t do this advice when it comes to how to get pregnant, and it can be overwhelming. But when you’re stressed out or all in your head about trying to conceive, it can interfere with making it happen. Fertile Ground is a comforting read that helps you relate to your TTC journey with the utmost compassion. It helps you believe in the research that says if you can get your state of mind to work with your body, you’re that much closer to conceiving.

There aren’t many books that speak to the spiritual dimension of trying to conceive first. If you’re spiritually inclined in any way, then this book will come as a welcome companion. It reminds you of the greater forces at play beyond biology that can positively influence your fertility, and helps you fully align your energy to the tune of believing, wholeheartedly, that you can conceive. 

Some liken Emily Oster to a parenting guru because she’s no-nonsense and data-driven (she’s a Harvard-educated economist) toward everything you’ve been told is the ‘right’ way to approach your pregnancy. As you’re getting ready to conceive, this is a reliable book that prepares you for confidently confronting common advice you’ll receive once you do. But first, it starts with the lowdown on the data of conception and how you can apply it to your TTC efforts.  

If you want a source that’s as credible as it gets, the Mayo Clinic’s resourceful guide is rich with know-how on everything from preparing to become pregnant, to pregnancy month-by-month, to labor and delivery, to how partners can be their most supportive. If your style’s more encyclopedic toward discovering everything you can know about a topic, this text will be perfect for you.

Sometimes, you crave the opposite of clinical if you’re trying to get a handle on something as miraculous as creating life. Bumpin’ is the ideal down-to-earth book that feels relatable while still being reliable from a scientific vantage point. It will get you excited and comfortable navigating the magic of those first TTC moments up through your fourth trimester. 

Nurture is an amazing book for getting you grounded throughout the entire experience of your pregnancy—before, during, and after. Written by a seasoned birth and postpartum doula, the author has accompanied an abundance of women through every stage of pregnancy. Her book is filled with self-care and mindfulness rituals, delightful illustrations, holistic remedies, nutritious foods, and, of course, key topics and tips related to fertility and pregnancy.

This series is like fertility 101 in podcast form. If you’d love to learn from a variety of experts as you get acquainted with the assortment of topics tied to fertility, the show has done a fantastic job sourcing its interviewees. What’s more, they’ve interwoven a whole host of episodes with personal stories as well. You’re left with plenty to choose from, whether you’re in the mood to get more objectively informed or just feel the feels of fertility and TTC.  

The advantage of this podcast is that it’s intended for everyday listeners and women’s health professionals alike. Geared toward spreading fertility awareness from equally academic and personable POVs, it will spark your curiosity about everything that makes the female body as unique, rhythmic, and precious as she is. 

Host Blair Nelson is determined to provide as many women as possible with the tools, education, and inspiration they need to appreciate the various sides of fertility. With illuminating guest interviews and heartfelt stories, you won’t be able to help but find optimism wherever you are as you nourish your fertility and/or try to conceive.

If you’re right in the throes of trying to conceive, this podcast could be the encouragement you need if you’re finding it a bit more stressful than you anticipated. The episodes are like breaths of fresh air, highlighting the healthy mindset and constructive actions that can leave you more patient and accepting of your process. Listeners have shared that they value how honest, inclusive, and uplifting the show is. 

In this podcast, fertility doctors weigh in on all the fertility questions you may or may not have already scoured the internet for in search of answers. Hoping to distinguish what’s fact from fiction, you can hear their takes on the myths of getting pregnant, age and fertility, nutrition’s role in conception, egg quality, the challenges of conceiving, assisted reproductive technologies, and a whole lot more.