Women Pregnancy

Rebecca Little and Colleen Long, childhood friends who grew up to be journalists, both experienced late-term loss, and together they take an incisive, deeply reported look at the issue, working to shatter taboos that have made so many pregnant people feel ashamed and alone.

Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is pregnant! She couldn't be more overjoyed, especially since discovering that shopping cures morning sickness. Everything has got to be perfect for her baby: from the designer nursery, to the latest, coolest pram, to the celebrity, must-have obstetrician. But when the celebrity obstetrician turns out to be her husband Luke's glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky's perfect world starts to crumble.

When your baby dies, you find yourself in a life you never expected. And even though pregnancy and infant loss are common, they're not common to you. Instead, you feel like a stranger in your own body, surrounded by well-meaning people who often don't know how to support you. In Unexpecting, bereaved mom Rachel Lewis is the friend you never knew you'd need, walking you through the unique grief of baby loss. When nothing about life after loss makes sense...this book will.

Ovaries. Most women have two; journalist Natalie Lampert has only one. Then, in her early twenties, she almost lost it, along with her ability to ever have biological children. Doctors urged her to freeze her eggs, and Lampert started asking questions. The Big Freeze is the story of Lampert’s personal quest to investigate egg freezing, as well as the multibillion-dollar femtech industry, in order to decide the best way to preserve her own fertility.

Your guide to the emotions of pregnancy and early motherhood, from two of America’s top reproductive psychiatrists. With a combined 30 years of counseling new and expectant mothers, Dr. Sacks and Dr. Birndorf have seen firsthand how the pressure to be perfect, and perfectly happy, leaves women feeling confused and even ashamed of the emotions that can bubble up during pregnancy. Now, in What No One Tells You, the two psychiatrists show why it’s natural for “matrescence” - the birth of a mother - to be as stressful and transformative a period as adolescence.

On June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the impact was immediate: by 2024, abortion was virtually unavailable or significantly restricted in 21 states. In Undue Burden, reporter Shefali Luthra traces the unforgettable stories of patients faced with one of the most personal decisions of their lives.

Ten million people each year suffer - often in private shame and pain - because they’ve been told that they can never conceive children of their own as a couple (literally billions of dollars are spent each year on fertility cures); or because they’ve been conditioned to believe that it’s normal to struggle through a painful and difficult pregnancy; or because they fear whether they have what it takes to be affirming, joyful parents.

In a quiet North Carolina town in 1968, a seventeen-year-old girl’s life is forever changed when a summer romance leads to an unplanned pregnancy. She is sent to an abusive “maternity home,” where she is shamed and deceived into signing adoption papers.

After catching her fiancé cheating - with another man - usually straitlaced, workaholic scientist Ellie Fisher liberates her wild side just long enough to indulge in a passionate one-night stand with a tall, dark stranger she meets at a trendy Miami bar. Embarrassed by her recklessness, she ducks out the following morning without learning the guy's full name, something that shouldn't have been a problem - until a pregnancy test turns positive.

Jada Brooks couldn’t have known how her life would change when she fell for Maddox Richardson back in high school. She couldn’t have known his troubled brother would leave hers forever crippled. Or that she’d be forced to shun Maddox completely - only to discover she was carrying his child. Although Maddox was devastated by the events that transpired that fateful night, losing Jada was the worst of it. He’s back in Silver Springs, ready to make amends and provide the kind of youth outreach that once saved him. If he’d known Jada was in town, too, he wouldn't have come.

Becky Brandon’s life is blooming. She’s working at London’s newest big store, The Look, house-hunting with husband Luke (her secret wish is a Shoe Room) . . . and she’s pregnant. She couldn’t be more overjoyed—especially after discovering that shopping cures morning sickness. Everything has to be perfect for her baby: from the designer nursery and the latest stroller to top-of-the-line medical care.

In this timely and necessary book, New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose dismantles two hundred years of unrealistic parenting expectations and empowers today’s mothers to make choices that actually serve themselves, their children, and their communities.

On a frigid January night, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Reverend Clare Fergusson are called to the scene of a raging fire, that quickly becomes a double homicide and kidnapping. Which is the very last thing Russ needs...Currently he's struggling with the prospect of impending fatherhood. And his new wife is not at all happy with his proposal for their long-delayed honeymoon: a week in an unelectrified ice-fishing cabin. The vestry of St. Alban's Church has called for the bishop to investigate Clare's "unpriestly" pregnancy.

Alongside their personal stories, the writers -decorated novelists, poets, and essayists - address the history of the C-section as well as its risks, social inequities, impact on the body, and psychological aftermath. My Caesarean is a heartfelt meditation, offering much-needed comfort through shared experience.

The Fertility Diet reveals startling new research from the landmark Nurses' Health Study, which shows that the food you eat can boost your fertility. The Nurses' Health Study exhaustively examined the effects of diet and other lifestyle changes on fertility among nearly 20,000 female nurses. Two of the study's lead researchers translate its groundbreaking findings into changes you can put into practice today. This book prescribes 10 simple changes in diet and activity that can increase your chances of getting pregnant.

Too many women put up with pelvic floor discomfort, thinking their symptoms are “just part of motherhood and aging.” And for far too long, the American health care system has normalized pelvic problems, leaving women feeling hopeless, ashamed and suffering in silence. Board-certified pelvic floor physical therapist Dr. Sara Reardon helps women prevent and overcome common pelvic floor issues so they can trust and enjoy their bodies again.

Each time she knelt to "catch" another wriggling baby - nearly 3,000 times during her remarkable career - California midwife Peggy Vincent paid homage to the moment when pain bows to joy and the world makes way for one more. With every birth, she encounters another woman-turned-goddess: Catherine rides out her labor in a car careening down a mountain road. Sofia spends hers trying to keep her hyper doctor-father from burning down the house. Susannah gives birth so quietly that neither husband nor midwife notice until there's a baby in the room.

"I'm not picking up a heartbeat." These are the most dreaded words an expectant mother can hear. As joy and anticipation dissolve into confusion and grief, painful questions refuse to go away: Why me? Did I do something wrong? How will this affect my ability to have a family? What do I say to my children without scaring them? With the warmth and compassion of a Licensed Professional Counselor and writing as a mother who has suffered the loss of a baby and a 16-year-old son, Pam Vredevelt offers sound answers and advice.

Midwife Kim Osterholzer ushers listeners behind the doors of Amish homes as she recounts her adventures answering God's call to the craft of midwifery. Kim chronicles her nine-year apprenticeship grappling with the nuances and idiosyncrasies of homebirth. She recounts the beauty and painstaking effort of those early years spent catching babies by the light of crackling woodstoves, oil lamps, and lanterns. Every birth enthralled her, whether it involved halting hemorrhages, sharing breath with tiny lungs, or bouncing through wild rides in ambulances.

More and more women are choosing to have children later in life, but since fertility declines starting at age 30, many moms-to-be are forced to turn to invasive, expensive treatments to conceive. But there is a better way. With How to Conceive Naturally: And Have a Healthy Pregnancy After 30, listeners will discover that it's possible to have a healthy pregnancy in your 30s or early 40s.