Motherhood Memoir

She never imagined the pursuit to parenthood would involve the emotional assault of an adoption agency's flexible morality or invasive surgical procedures that brutalize both their bodies - but it did. Lauri M. Velotta-Rankin and her husband were sent overseas by an unscrupulous adoption agency to chase the ghosts of children they'd never bring home. After turning to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a life-threatening diagnosis sent them reeling with fear and to the brink of emotional collapse.

When journalist and podcaster Liadán Hynes' marriage ended, it felt like a loss: of her best friend and of the happy ending she had envisaged on their wedding day. In the months that followed, she had to adjust to a different future - as a single mum juggling work and managing a home - without someone to share the ups and downs of the everyday. Here, in this honest, poignant and beautifully written memoir, she gives an account of her experience.

Dana Bowman can't escape the lure of perfectionism, trying to be a flawless wife, mother, and person in recovery. When Dana experiences a short-lived relapse during the Christmas holiday, she has the startling realization that recovery is more than just giving up alcohol. In this funny and revealing follow-up to her best-selling book Bottled, Dana reflects on how we live in a society of excess, always pushing ourselves to do and be better. However, it doesn’t take her long to realize that self-care and getting over herself is the key to happiness.

Marianne Leone's Ma is in many senses a larger-than-life character, one who might be capable, even from the afterlife, of shattering expectations. Born on a farm in Italy, Linda finds her way to the United States under dark circumstances, having escaped a forced marriage to a much older man, and marries a good Italian boy. She never has full command of English, especially when questioned by authorities, and when she is suddenly widowed with three young children, she has few options.

On August 6, 2011, 30 American soldiers aboard Extortion 17 perished in the single greatest loss of Navy SEAL lives. Among them - Aaron Carson Vaughn, a small-town boy who grew up in the hills of Tennessee and lived a life larger than most. Told through the eyes of Karen, Aaron's mother, this tender story of faith, family, and love grips the heart and shows how one family raised an American warrior filled with courage, tenacity, and patriotism. The Vaughn's story is not one about war or about a grieving family, but rather one of triumph.

Longing to return to beer halls and boys, a teenager gives birth to a daughter during the Great Depression but shows the ultimate lack of maternal instinct when her baby is discovered to be missing. Though she claims that a nurse abducted the newborn, the infant, and the anonymous nurse are never seen again. In Minneapolis, Lorene Hermanson is raised on discipline and Christian morality.

Linda is not a woman who shies away from a challenge - the only female swordfish boat captain in the country and a survivor of the real Perfect Storm, she is also a New York Times best-selling author. Through hard work and determination, she had created the peaceful, independent life she craved, living on a rugged island off the coast of Maine. It was all finally coming together… Then came Mariah.

For fans of the beloved TV show Little House on the Prairie, a self-help audiobook by Melissa Francis, best-selling author of Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter and child star of Little House on the Prairie, revealing important life lessons inspired by a childhood on set. Melissa Francis was only eight years old when she won the role of a lifetime: Playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on the world's most famous prime-time soap opera, Little House on the Prairie.

Enthusiastic, spunky, and positive, Punky Brewster was the quintessential eighties kid. Nearly thirty years later, Soleil Moon Frye---the adorable girl who played her on TV---is all grown up. Now she's a married mom of two, an entrepreneur who parlayed her successful kids' clothing line into a partnership with Target, and a social media whiz with millions of followers.

When Catharine H. Murray travels to a small town on the banks of the Mekong River to work at a refugee camp, she falls in love and marries a local man with whom she has three sons. When their middle son is diagnosed with cancer at age five, their pursuit of a cure takes them from Thailand to Seattle, before they eventually return to Thailand, settling on a remote mountaintop. Full of honesty and grace, Now You See the Sky allows the listener to witness the fathomless loss of a beloved child and learn how tragedy can transform us, expand our vision, and make us more fully alive.

Two months to live. That's what the doctor says. Sally responds with grace and optimism. Marisa responds by closing herself off. If her mother is going to die before she graduates from high school, why even try. Cancer has already ruined everything. Honest and heartfelt, The Goodbye Diaries offers a touching glimpse into both sides of a terminal diagnosis - the one who will leave and the one who will be left behind.

When Sharon, aged 15, becomes a teenage mom to an adorable girl, she is elated to spend the rest of her life with her boyfriend and newborn daughter. However, things take an ugly turn when her once-charming sweetheart takes the role of an abuser, making Sharon's life a living hell. It's only with her incessant bravery and faith in God that she manages to break free from the instances of abuse, creating a loving and safe life for herself and her daughter Jennifer.

In Zusammenarbeit mit einer Psychotherapeutin entstand diese mutige Produktion mit Ute, Inge und Ramona, drei psychisch erkrankten Frauen und Müttern, die ihre persönliche Geschichte der seelischen Krise erzählen. Zur Sprache kommen ihre traumatische Kindheit, die katastrophale Härte sozialer Umstände, ständig wiederkehrende Krankenhausaufenthalte und tief in die Persönlichkeit eingreifende Medikationen.

Hur kommer det att bli när barnet väl är här? Moderskap är någonting som många drömmer om och har bestämda idéer kring, men det är omöjligt att förutspå vad som faktiskt väntar. Som nybliven mamma förstår författaren Karin Milles att det inte är samma sak att se någon annan gå igenom moderskapet som att göra det själv. Sömnlösa nätter, att på daglig basis bli nedspydd och ett par konstant rödsprängda ögon går helt enkelt inte att förbereda sig mentalt på.

The Mama Sutra spans an 18-year journey through motherhood as a spiritual practice, chronicling Cushman’s first pregnancy, her daughter's tragic stillbirth, the joyful birth of her son, the “home retreat” of early motherhood, the challenges of parenthood, the diagnosis and gifts of her son’s developmental differences, the meltdown of her nuclear family and its reconfiguration into a new and joyful form, and more. This is a powerful story of the rawness and beauty of life.

In a bold and brilliant memoir that reinvents the form, the acclaimed author of the novel Museum Pieces and the collection Mendocino Fire explores the ferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her writing life as well as her rich, dramatic, and constantly surprising personal life.

This diary of acclaimed psychologist and radical feminist icon Phyllis Chesler was a pioneering work when it was first published in 1979. A look into the second wave of feminism and the era’s changing attitudes toward motherhood and pregnancy, With Child - now with an updated preface from her son - remains relevant for mothers today.

If you are a mom, want to be a mom, know a mom, or have a mom, this inspirational audiobook is for you! With humor and candidness, Ann Van De Water shares her personal experiences of motherhood by giving glimpses of her journey in the form of short read-and-run anecdotes that will have you laughing out loud one minute and tearing up the next! You will come away with the reminder to take yourself less seriously and enjoy a good laugh every day. However, have a box of tissues on hand as well.

In Hot Flush, Michelle traces her path from pop stardom with Liberty X through her burgeoning television career and how she came to discover the truth about a gene mutation and its consequences for her. Though her story is undoubtedly unique, what's not is her understanding of living and dealing with the menopause as a hardworking mother and wife, and it is this wisdom that she wants to share with other women - over 13 million women in the UK - estimated to be experiencing the menopause.

Melissa Wirt thought she had everything—she'd built her own company and moved to a beautiful farm with her family. Then during a personal crisis, she realized: despite having created an online community reaching thousands of moms, she’d also somehow, become utterly isolated.