Pregnancy Memoir

Tara Blair Ball thought she had it all: a handsome husband, beautiful infant twins, and a great house in the suburbs. But then came a discovery that worked just like a grenade lofted into the middle of her superficially serene life: her husband had been secretly abusing drugs for years, he had a secret card, and he'd embezzled from his job. After trying to work things out and having two devastating miscarriages, she'd then commit her own great betrayal: having an affair. Told with suspense, humor, and unflinching honesty, The Beginning of the End captures the agonies and joys of one ...

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An intimate memoir from Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay, delving into everything from the origin story of the iconic show, to her struggles with fertility and pregnancy loss, and the behind-the-scenes moments that were left on the cutting room floor...

A New Statesman and Daily Mail BOOK OF THE YEAR 'The best book I've ever read about motherhood' Jude Rogers, Observer 'I kept scribbling in the margins: 'We need to know this stuff!'' Joanna Pocock, Spectator A radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind...

The Pregnant Peoples is a memoir-manifesto that shatters the narrow script of pregnancy. For generations, carrying a child has been described only as a woman’s story — written into forms, whispered in waiting rooms, shouted in politics. But bodies tell truths that words resist. In this powerful and intimate account, a transgender man shares the journey of carrying his child: the awe and dysphoria of a changing body, the fight to claim words like “father” in a system that insists on “mother,” the strain and resilience of love under pressure, the dangers of being visibly pregnant ...

One in three births is traumatic. It doesn’t have to be that way. Rebecca planned to give birth at the hospital affiliated with her university. But hospital practices and policies that were more than 20 years out of date left her with complications that seemed preventable. Embark on a journey with Rebecca as she exposes the stark realities of institutional care during childbirth and reveals inspirational solutions for parents and professionals alike.

In this intimate national bestselling memoir, actress and musician Jamie Lynn Spears opens up for the first time, telling her unfiltered story on her own terms. You’ve read the headlines, but you don’t know Jamie Lynn Spears. The world first met Jamie Lynn as a child star, when it was her...

The experience of motherhood is an experience in contradiction. It is commonplace and it is impossible to imagine. It is prosaic and it is mysterious. It is at once banal, bizarre, compelling, tedious, comic, and catastrophic. To become a mother is to become the chief actor in a drama of human...

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 Close your eyes and picture the...

Whether offering insight into the rise in home births, the alarming rise in America’s maternal mortality rate, or the history of involuntary sterilization, Karkowsky offers a window into all that pregnancy, labor, and birth can entail - birth and joy, but also challenge and loss - illustrating the complexity of reproductive life and the systems that surround it. With historical insight and journalistic verve, Karkowsky unpacks what is involved for women, for a family, and for us as a society; and explores what’s at risk when these aspects of medicine remain clouded in mystery and misinformation.

At 53, Kevin Nealon thought he had it all: a massive international celebrity with legions of loyal fans; a fabulous modeling career; hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank; and the most recognizable face on the planet. Nealon had accomplished the impossible: a 30-year career in show business with only limited trips to rehab. But just like every other celebrity, he felt that was not enough. The perpetually insatiable Nealon wanted more, and for him "more" meant a little addition that drooled, burped, and pooped (no, not a Pomeranian).

Brooke Shields's emotional, heartfelt memoir about her experience with postpartum depression provides readers with inspiration and the knowledge that they're not alone. When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis, into the world, something unexpected followed—a crippling...

We stay fighting, even if we don't call it war. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a poet’s memoir about family, survival, and one servicewoman’s search for autonomy. Yanked out of college and torn from her sunny hometown of Los Angeles in the early 1990s, Khadijah Queen finds...

Trystan and Biff had been dating for just a year when the couple learned that Biff's niece and nephew were about to be removed from their home by Child Protective Services. Immediately, Trystan and Biff took in one-year-old Hailey and three-year-old Lucas, becoming caregivers overnight to two tiny survivors of abuse and neglect. From this unexpected start, the young couple built a loving marriage and happy home - learning to parent on the job.

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.

This is my story: one journal entry, one experience, one moment at a time. Baby Bump, Cancer Lump is a heart-wrenching but hopeful look into the two years during which author Stephanie Partridge battled breast cancer and gave birth to her fifth child, a healthy boy. The story begins at discovering an unexpected pregnancy that led to early detection of an invasive ductal carcinoma in her breast. As she faces the challenges before her, she writes journal entries and online posts to share her insights on this journey, which are full of charming humor, gritty details, and spiritual ...

Ghostbelly is Elizabeth Heineman’s personal account of a home birth that goes tragically wrong—ending in a stillbirth—and the harrowing process of grief and questioning that follows. It’s also Heineman’s unexpected tale of the loss of a newborn: before burial, she brings the baby home for overnight stays.

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Memoir/Biography In this searing and uplifting memoir, a young Black queer woman fresh out of college adopts her baby brother after their incarcerated mother dies, determined to create the kind of family she never had. Growing up, Nikkya...

This heartfelt memoir chronicles one woman’s emotional and deeply personal journey to parenthood. After two years of trying to conceive naturally, Danielle and her husband, Ray, turn to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the hope of starting a family. Their path is marked by relentless challenges—failed treatments, devastating pregnancy losses, and the crushing weight of infertility. As the story unfolds, Danielle reflects on the love that anchors her marriage, the resilience that fuels her perseverance, and the deep longing that keeps her moving forward, even when hope feels out of reach....

There are books galore for expectant mothers but just a grubby handful for their male companions. Finally this void is filled. "Peanut" tells the touching and hilarious story of one man's journey from dilettante to daddy, exploring all of the doubts, miststeps, misconceptions, exhilaration, and pride along the way. A memoir of a normal first pregnancy, normal but for the parents, grandparents, doctors, and pets involved. By the international bestselling author of Everyday Matters, The Creative License and An Illustrated LIfe.

Meredith Hall's moving but unsentimental memoir begins in 1965, when she becomes pregnant at sixteen. Shunned by her insular New Hampshire community, she is then kicked out of the house by her mother. Her father and stepmother reluctantly take her in, hiding her before they finally banish her altogether. After giving her baby up for adoption, Hall wanders recklessly through the Middle East, where she survives by selling her possessions and finally her blood.