Nausea.
Sore breasts.
A missed period.
Two pink lines.
These words, for some, bring along with it a sense of: Excitement. Elation. Anticipation. Planning.
Still others: Fear. Dread. Uncertainty. Anxiety. A different set of "What ifs?"
Sadly, not all pregnancies end happily. For some women, miscarriage. For others, stillbirth or infant death.
Go into your local bookstore and peruse the shelves, and you will see titles like: Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year (Anne Lamott), Down Came the Rain (Brooke Shields), A Better Woman: A Memoir of Motherhood (Susan Johnson), Belly Laughs (Jenny McCarthy), A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother (Rachel Cusk),
Many of the books on the shelves talk about the anticipation during the pregnancy, about the end result, the new family, the beautiful baby, navigating motherhood for the first time.
But what about those women who don't come home with a baby in their arms?
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir
Elizabeth McCracken allows us into her world and puts her heart out on the table for us to see what it is like for a woman to lose a child.
Her words are raw.
Honest.
And her words strike a chord within women who have suffered through, and still suffer through the aftermath of a child's death.
Reading this memoir made me want to hop on a plane to meet her.
To sit and cry with her.
One thing that she said in her memoir made me want to stand up and say, "Damn it, you're absolutely right!"
To read the full review, and participate in a chance to win one for three copies of Exact Replica, visit Antonette's book review blog, Books In Every Room
Antonette can also be found at Mama Writing So I Don't Go Crazy writing about life with a toddler and product reviews.
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Thanks for this post! I am one of those who lost 7 babies to miscarriages. We have one blessing! A 9 year old son.
This summer I had to have surgery so that stage of life is over for me now! I am ok with it but love to reach out to others who are struggling with it.
Tina,
Thank you so much for commenting! How sad that you had to go through that seven times. Once is painful enough.
Here is a blog that you need to see. This mom is absolutely unbelieveable. http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/04/letter-to-my-daughter.html
There is another category of pregnancies and that is those that bring children with serious illnesses and birth defects. These parents are given the unique experience of helping a child thru life that really and truly can't do it alone. You never meet one that would trade the experience but watching your child go thru painful medical procedures and being unable to fix it is unbelievably painful for the parents. There is a different kind of mourning here and it's so hard to put your finger on how to wade thru it.
Anyway-it's just another group to parents to think about.