Women Pregnancy

In the years before Roe v. Wade, women seeking to end their unwanted pregnancies had limited options - many of them dangerous, even potentially fatal, and nearly all of them illegal. This groundbreaking work by sociologist Nancy Howell Lee, first published in 1969, takes an intimate look at the entire abortion process - from the initial decision to terminate a pregnancy through the procedure itself and the aftermath - providing an incomparable view of what is still one of the most controversial and divisive issues in America.

In this memoir of her 40 weeks and five days in hell, Andrea Askowitz takes an unflinching look at her pregnant life from struggling with hormones to poor body image to a self imposed exile from family to take us on a ride through the turbulence of single lesbian motherhood. Along the way we meet her liberal parents as they struggle with their daughter's choices, the lover she longs to reconnect with who goes M.I.A. before the pregnancy, the friends who turn out to be no help at all and strangers who offer up some unlikely kindness.

High school teacher Kristin Caine has a black belt in settling for less and a dying mother who doesn't mince words when it comes to voicing how disappointed this makes her. But when Kristin's status quo is rocked by an unexpected pregnancy and the consequent breakup with her less-than-enthusiastic boyfriend, things change. Suddenly, agreeing to help her overbearing mother complete a bucket list before the big C wins seems not the worst thing in the world-despite their many differences and Kristin's fear of traveling.

Two years after the death of their mother, Jada and Maddy Battle both navigate unplanned pregnancies. Jada, a thirty-one-year-old psychology PhD student living in Pittsburgh, quietly obtains an abortion without telling her husband, but the secret causes turmoil in her already shaky marriage. Back home in rural Pennsylvania, nineteen-year-old Maddy, who spends her time caring for birds at a wildlife rehabilitation center, is paid off by the man who got her pregnant to get an abortion. But an unsettling visit to a crisis pregnancy center adds to her doubts about whether to go through with it.

Practicing GP, mother of two and Instagram’s popular doctor Preeya Alexander is a refreshing new voice in the parenting space. Her hands-on, inclusive and down-to-earth advice, combined with a big dose of fun, is the ultimate survival guide for the first two years of parenting. Preeya offers straightforward and trustworthy information about looking after both babies and new parents. From postpartum care and mastitis to feeding and sleep problems, nothing is off limits.

Pregnant. Single. Dating. It's going to be... a bumpy year! Trish Kirkpatrick never expected to find herself unmarried, pregnant... and not entirely sure who the baby's father is. With her ex, Pete, and her colleague, Elliot, in line for daddy duty while waiting on the DNA results, Trish finds her complicated world getting even more chaotic when a meet-cute on a plane to Tokyo with gorgeous architect Scott sparks a new flame. Now, as her bump grows so do Trish's troubles.

Teen pregnancy is never easy. When it is the result of pregnancy through rape, the public shame becomes even more unbearable. World-class lifestyle coach and visionary Michelle Graham overcame her fear of the unknown and of those shaming her by holding onto her faith in dark times.

The Stories We Cannot Tell is a contemporary novel about the emotional journey of two women. Rachel is a thirty-year-old married, Jewish woman who's wanted a baby for a long time. Katie's a thirty-two-year-old single, Catholic woman who has been trying to find a man who'll stick around. We follow the women individually as they find themselves pregnant, Rachel happily, Katie, not.

In Pleasure, Pregnancy, and a Proposition, Louisa is shocked when millionaire Luke Devereaux reenters her life - he’s been absent since their steamy one-night stand months ago. She’s even more surprised when the pregnancy test he demands comes back positive. Louisa no longer wants Luke in her life, but he offers her a tempting proposal - a marriage of financial stability and many more sleepless, pleasure-filled nights.

In this moving memoir, Shirley Smith, wife of NBA Champion and All-Star J. R. Smith, tells the story of giving birth to one of the youngest premature babies to survive - using her experience to heighten awareness of the crisis of Black maternal and infant health and pay tribute to Black women’s resilience.

For thirty years Liz has perfectly played the part of Mrs. Thomas Lightsey, exemplary pastor’s wife and mother. But maintaining appearances for the congregation and catering to her demanding husband takes a toll, and she’s lost herself in meeting the expectations of others. When Thomas suddenly dies, Liz feels shock, grief, and, to her surprise, the siren song of freedom. Dare she dream of a life to call her own?

Twenty-one-year-old Mallie Williams—scrappy, headstrong, and wise beyond her years—has just landed on her feet following a tumultuous youth when the unthinkable happens: She is violently assaulted. The crime leaves her comatose, surrounded by friends and family who are hoping against hopes for a full recovery. But soon Mallie's small community is divided. The rape has left Mallie pregnant, and while some friends are convinced that she would never keep the pregnancy, others are sure that a baby would be the only good thing to come out of all of this pain. Who gets to decide?

Allegra Elsom is caught in the middle. Some days she's 11, and others she feels closer to 19. Some days she knows too much, and others she feels hopelessly naive. Some days she is split in three, torn between conflicting loyalties to her grandmothers, Matilde and Joy, and her father, Rick—none of whom can stand to be in a room together since the decades-old tragedy that hit their family like a wrecking ball. Allegra struggles to make peace in her family and navigate the social gauntlet at school while asking bigger questions about her place in the world.

A candid, ultimately buoyant debut story collection about the realities of the "baby years", whether you're having one or not.

Meet Silicon Valley executive Tessa Callahan, a woman passionate about the power of technology to transform women’s lives. Her company’s latest invention, the Seahorse Solution, includes a breakthrough procedure that safely accelerates human pregnancy from nine months to nine weeks, along with other major upgrades to a woman’s experience of early maternity. The inaugural human trial of Seahorse will change the future of motherhood - and it’s Tessa’s job to monitor the first volunteer mothers-to-be. But then Tessa discovers disturbing truths behind the transformative technology she’s championed....

Liz has spent years working a gazillion hours a week picking up the slack for coworkers with kids, and she's tired of it. So one day when her stress-related nausea is mistaken for morning sickness by her bosses - boom! Liz is promoted to the mommy track. She decides to run with it and plans to use her paid time off to figure out her life: work, love, and otherwise. It'll be her "meternity" leave.

For young single women, every night is Ladies' Night. For Brett Paesel and her friends, Friday happy hour is all they get, if they can wrangle the babysitting. Like most mommies, they support each other through pregnancies, sleep deprivation, and the need to talk about it all. Instead of meeting at the playground, they convene at the local watering hole while sipping Black and Tans and flirting with the cute bartender.

Kate Hardy is the best-selling author behind books such as Good Girl or Gold Digger?, Hotly Bedded, Conveniently Wedded, and Seeing Stars. In Playboy Boss, Pregnancy of Passion, workaholic tycoon Luke Holloway wants nothing to do with family, romance, or children. But when he falls for and beds his new personal assistant Sara Fleet, his world is thrown into tumult. Things only get more complicated after she reveals to him that she is pregnant with their child. Now this busy rogue is going to have to seriously reevaluate his life and priorities.

Christa Parravani was 40 years old, in a troubled marriage, and in bad financial straits when she learned she was pregnant with her third child. She and her family were living in Morgantown, West Virginia, where she had taken a professorial position at the local university. Haunted by a childhood steeped in poverty and violence and by young adult years rocked by the tragic death of her identical twin sister, Christa hoped her professor’s salary and health care might set her and her young family on a safe and steady path.

Bridgette, Ivy, and Savannah have always been close, and as with any sisterhood, it hasn't been without its challenges, but they always manage to come together in times of need. When the youngest, Savannah, is faced with a life-altering illness which threatens her lifelong desire to have children, one of her sisters offers to give her the ultimate gift - to become her surrogate. While Savannah is overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude about motherhood, not everyone in the family shares her sentiments. The upcoming addition to their family seems to cause discord rather than joy.