Surviving Motherhood

Kristina, the second of four children, begins by telling how a little sip of vodka sipped secretly at a party her parents were giving started her on a pathway to addiction. In that instant, alcohol became her pathway to comfort. Over the next eight years, she sank further into addiction, moving on to cocaine and methamphetamines. In telling her story, she gives a brutally honest description of her addiction and crimes.

Do you ever wonder if your efforts as a mom make any difference? Take heart. Whether you're struggling through sleepless nights with your toddler or endless battles with your teen, September McCarthy's story offers practical insights and powerful inspiration to encourage you on your own mothering journey. As a mom for 25 years who continues to raise young children and love her young adults, September imparts words of wisdom and grace in key areas of Christian parenting.

With heartfelt and hilarious advice, Lou Beckett provides much-needed comfort and community for the one who is depended on the most (and often feels appreciated the least), and maybe–just maybe–how we can begin to rebalance the parenting scales and muddle through a little better, together.

In the streaming reality series Selling Sunset, Mary Fitzgerald Bonnet is the charismatic, calm, and level-headed agent who effortlessly lands multi-million-dollar homes while sidestepping the drama of a cutthroat business in one of the wealthiest and most glamorous places in the world. Often thought of as the “big sister” of her co-stars for her compassionate advice and uplifting attitude, Mary is admired for her unwavering kindness. But behind her sunny personality is a remarkable story of resilience, forged by a life filled with profound challenges.

Packed with cutting-edge research and real, raw mom-life wisdom, this book serves up bite-sized, actionable strategies for reclaiming your energy, nutrition, movement, and mental health. It’s time to thrive in the beautiful chaos, not just survive it.

In Motherhood, Marchiano draws from a deep well of Jungian analysis and symbolic research to present a collection of fairytales, myths, and fables that evoke the spiritual arc of raising a child from infancy through adulthood. Divided into three major segments similar to the stages of a hero's initiatory journey, (Descent, Sojourn, and Return), Motherhood charts how events like pregnancy, the calamities of childhood, and the empty-nest experience are all parts of an odyssey to which every mother receives an invitation.

In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adulthood with candor, originality, and humor. In her late 30s, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of Heti’s intimate and urgent audiobook considers whether she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner, and her duties to her forebearers, she struggles to make a wise and moral choice.

Taking an honest look at her own journey as a mother, Ethington presents pieces of advice for each moment of motherhood—the good, the bad, the ugly, and every part of the in-between. Filled with raw, honest anecdotes, Ethington’s portrayal of motherhood is fully transparent—at times humorous, at times painful—never shying away from the tougher subjects of motherhood that may often get pushed under the rug. While motherhood may often feel like an uphill battle, Ethington is here to guide mothers inward, where they are encouraged to reflect upon their own journeys as mothers.

Three years after giving birth to twin daughters, Kate and Jon Gosselin became pregnant again - with sextuplets. Kate's candid and emotionally-charged book chronicles the exhausting challenges she and Jon faced from the time the babies were conceived through the first two years of their lives, and the faith it took to get through each day.

In A Simpler Motherhood, Emily's on a mission to remove stress from the lives of moms and busy families seeking less stuff and more joy in their daily life.

Survival Guide to Motherhood provides you with wisdom, encouragement, and companionship on your mothering journey. In this uplifting guide, you will encounter sage biblical insights into many different aspects of motherhood while being to encouraged to invite God into every life circumstance. As you are freed from the prison of perfection and the fear of failure, you will believe that not only can you survive motherhood—you may even thrive!

With raw vulnerability, a deep well of wisdom, and the practical knowledge of someone who's been there, Kim Erickson walks grieving moms through the life-after-death process from how to plan the funeral to how to deal with friends, family, holidays, and birthdays. This is a profound and powerful resource that's invaluable for the mom who has lost a child - and for her friends and family who want to love her well.

An alcoholic mother of three children, married, then divorced, then homeless, Patty Tierney lived a double life as a sex worker for 17 years. She looked for love in all the wrong places, saying “I love you” when she was really saying, “Do you love me?” Patty struggled to be the mother she knew her children needed, until she realized that she had become her own mother—the alcoholic mother who had abandoned her when she was five.

Following on from the success of Your Baby, Your Birth, renowned birth and parenting Coach Hollie de Cruz applies her much-loved approach to the first year of motherhood. This empowering and thought-provoking book will guide you through the ever-changing landscape of your baby's first year, month by month, and will help you feel assured that you know your baby best.

What if Augustine's Confessions had been written not by a man, but by a mother? How might her tales of desire, temptation, and transformation differ from his? In this memoir, Natalie Carnes describes giving birth to a daughter and beginning a story of conversion strikingly unlike Augustine's - even as his journey becomes a surprising companion to her own. The challenges Carnes recounts will be familiar to many parents. She wonders what and how much she should ask her daughter to suffer in resisting racism, patriarchy, and injustice.

Raising a teenage girl can be overwhelming for the most important female figure in her life: her mother. From handling the often delicate situations surrounding academic performance, athletics, friendships, sexual activity, and drug and alcohol experimentation to instilling a healthy body image and providing a strong role model, mothers often feel alone in their struggle to cope with all that they must do for their daughters.

In the first six weeks after her son was born, Jamila Rizvi felt isolated, exhausted and frustrated - as if the world she knew had disappeared forever. Then her salvation came in the form of a letter. A dear friend - who had been there herself - wrote to tell her that she would get through this. That she was seen and supported. That she was not alone. Now Jamila wants to pay it forward to other new mothers.

Mom-life is wacky. Between the kids, work, housework, schoolwork, sports, activities...having a feeling of overwhelm is inevitable. We look at the moms around us and feel inadequate. We see the pictures on social media and feel like everyone else "gets it". So what is wrong with us? The answer is - nothing! Everything that you need to rock the mom-life is in you right now - and with a little perspective and some strategies in your big mom purse, you can knock that overwhelm right out.

What sets this book apart from others is that it encourages the use of your intuition. Because, even if it doesn’t feel like it, you are perfectly equipped to raise your son to be a strong, well-respected, intelligent adult. This book will guide you in how to trust your mothering skills as your son starts to become a man, while honoring your son’s impending adulthood—all without losing the closeness you enjoy so much.

Motherhood is beautiful, challenging, and downright exhausting. As a new mom, you’re navigating sleepless nights, endless questions, and moments of self-doubt. You’re giving your all—but who’s there to lift you up when you need it most? This book is here to do just that.