Review by Booklist Review
Women who are struggling with infertility, miscarriages, or fetuses with chromosomal abnormalities or even with newborns or spouses who die may find solace in knowing they're hardly alone. Thompson, a physician who specializes in women's and children's health, shares many reproductive stories, including her own. After three pregnancy losses and a surgery that leaves her with just one fallopian tube and one ovary, she is despondent yet optimistic. Now a mom of two, she wants to help others who feel isolated and overwhelmed during their own complicated paths to motherhood. Even post-delivery, women may struggle with problems such as colicky, unsoothable babies. A couple that spends 15 years trying to have a baby gets a call that the newborn boy they're assigned to adopt is ready for pickup, only to arrive at the hospital as the birth mother changes her mind at the last minute. A mom with a young son becomes a widow after her husband (unaware that he had a congenital cardiac defect) dies while playing soccer. Even the stories without fairy-tale endings should make women feel less solitary.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this moving debut, physician Thompson weaves an account of her complicated path to becoming a mother with recollections from colleagues, friends, and patients on their own experiences with parenthood. She recounts miscarrying, getting her right ovary removed because of an ectopic pregnancy, and anxiously monitoring whether her placental tissue would become cancerous as the result of a rare complication before giving birth to a healthy baby boy on her fourth pregnancy. Among other contributors, one mother describes the "roller coaster of heartache and disappointment" she felt through four rounds of IVF. Others focus on social rather than medical complications, such as the case of a woman who put her child up for adoption after getting pregnant as a high schooler. Elsewhere, contributors share unvarnished accounts of living with grief over an adoption that fell through and dealing with the disappointment of being unable to bear children after a life-saving hysterectomy. The varied selections prove there's no single, "normal" route to motherhood, and throughout, the writers keep the focus squarely on the steep emotional toll of unsuccessfully trying to have kids ("Nothing could distract me from the obvious void. Everywhere I looked, women were snuggling babies in carriers," Thompson remembers of the months following her miscarriages). This will be a comfort to anyone who's experienced pregnancy complications. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Family medicine and public health physician Thompson endured several life-threatening pregnancy losses and rare medical conditions. In this book, she discusses the physical and emotional scars she was left with after five pregnancies. She became overwhelmed and lonely. To combat those feelings, she decided to share her story and found others wanted to talk about their ordeals too. Each section in this book begins with Thompson's own experiences and then broadens to include first-person accounts from others who have faced similar obstacles. From infertility and pregnancy loss to surrogacy, job loss, mental illness, or genetic disorders, the narratives come from women worldwide of varied backgrounds. This book indicates that many of the women gained wisdom from each other's stories, and they were grateful for that. VERDICT This touching, beautifully written work will help many people who have endured loss or complicated paths to parenthood. They are sure to find experiences that resonate with them.
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