Giffords trying to get pregnant when shot: Book

It's been 10 months since a gunman shot Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head, and killed six other people.

At the time, a new memoir, written by Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, reveals, Giffords was on fertility treatments, Betsy Gleick, executive editor of People magazine, said on "The Early Show."

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"That is something we did not know," Gleick says. "They were right about to try to have a baby, right in the month, basically, that she was shot."

People magazine got a sneak peek at the book, "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," and took some exclusive photos of the couple. An excerpt of the book will be available on the People website Wednesday.

The book also shares a look at the relationship between Kelly's teenage daughters and their stepmother, Gabrielle Giffords.

"Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill noted, "It wasn't exactly smooth sailing at the beginning."

Gleick said, "That's right. There's a really honest chapter about how the stepdaughters, who are now 14 and 16, were not that into their new stepmother. She wasn't around, she was in Arizona, they were in Houston. She was either in Arizona or Washington. She was a stepmother and they weren't that into her. And then, when she was shot, they suddenly realized what a phenomenal person she was and they were filled with regret."

"Early Show" co-anchor Jeff Glor remarked, "This has been an unusual recovery, to say the very least, because Gabby processed this a couple months after everyone else did. She didn't realize what had happened, and even when she found out, she couldn't really talk to people about it."

"That's right," Gleick said. "The doctors advised Mark Kelly to tell her as soon as possible that she had been shot, that it was important for her to know that. But because she had such a serious brain injury, it took her quite a while to take that in. And then, once she took that in, there was the extra realization that other people had died in the shooting, including somebody she was very close to, somebody on her staff."

Gleick added that Giffords and Kelly are not ruling out the possibility of Giffords' re-election to the House of Representatives.

Gleick, who has read the entire book, said the memoir is "incredibly honest."

"It's a very vivid detailed account of the shooting, of her recovery, which is ongoing, and also of the couple and their love story and who they really, really are," she said. "It's fantastic."

People magazine hits newsstands Friday.