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"Empty Cradle, Broken Heart is written with great awareness and sensitivity. Deborah Davis gets it just right." -Sheila Kitzinger, author of The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth
"...there is comfort in these pages." -Mothering magazine
"This gentle book fills a void often overlooked how it feels to lose a baby during or shortly after pregnancy." -Booklist
"Davis speaks directly to the emotional and physical needs of bereaved parents." -Judith Lasker, author of When Pregnancy Fails
"This book is a comprehensive resource for bereaved parents and the practitioners who help them." -THANATOS, A Realistic Journal Concerning Dying, Death and Bereavement
"As the mother of a stillborn son, I find this book to be the best I've found to date (and I've read at least 20!)." -J. Walter, Pennsylvania
"The best book on this subject. I did a huge amount of reading after I lost my baby, and I can tell you that this book is head and shoulders above anything else I've read on this subject. -A. Douglas, Canada
About the Author
Deborah L. Davis, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist and writer who specializes in the emotional aspects of coping with crisis during pregnancy and infancy, and medical ethics and decision-making during pregnancy and in the NICU. She is the author of several books for bereaved parents and parents of premature babies and has written many articles for parents and professionals.
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before I read Empty Cradle, Broken Heart, I didn't think that I could ever lose any of the heaviness that enclosed my heart. I felt as if I gained membership into a private club and I could take comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone. It was the first time that I had a sane thought after losing our daughter Kara Jane Kaniewski - April 24, 1997. I still take out the book and reread passages that I have read over and over. The book still helps to relieve my heavy heart. I have given this book to 3 other women who have lost their children and each one has thanked me. Unfortunately the cost to get into this book club is priceless, for you have to have lost a child or known someone who has to gain admission. I want to thank Deborah L. Davis for her gift to me and my friends, for I would have surely been killed by the heaviness of my heart and the emptiness of my arms. Please read this book if you have experienced the loss of a child. You are not alone.
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Empty Cradle, Broken Heart is an excellent resource for bereaved parents. Debra Davis takes parents step by step through the grieving process and helps them to realize that they are not alone in their pain. Reading Empty Cradle, Broken Heart helped me to recognize that my feelings were not strange and that it is okay to grieve for my daughter in my own way and in my own time. Chapters include: grieving and emotional recovery, painful feelings, affirming your baby, you and your partner, your family, and support networks. Debra encourages parents to realize that they did the best that they could for their baby. When you feel that no one understands the pain you are going through, read this book, it helps.
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38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Out of the dozens of books I read after losing my daughter prematurely, this was the one book that i couldn't put down till it was finished. It was so helpful to me and to my husband. It was nice reading other people's experiences too. I found this book so helpful that i will be donating copies to the hospital where our daughter was born so other grieving parents can have a copy of their own. It's a wonderful book...
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
I think I may be one of the few people who did not find this book to be helpful (and instead found it rather damaging), however I do want to start off by saying that I am sure that it can be very helpful to some.
I was given this book after our son Griffin was stillborn last summer, and at the time I was looking for anything that could help me sort out what I was feeling. What I was feeling, however, has been nothing like what is described in this book. I didn't follow the normal stages of grief, and certainly didn't experience the denial and anger the book details. Instead of feeling encouraged, I was made to feel that I wasn't grieving our son 'properly', which in turn made me question whether I was being a good mother.
Thankfully, a great midwife and good support system helped me to see that however I am grieving is exactly the way I am supposed to grieve him; no one new him the way I did, and no book should say what you should and shouldn't be feeling. This book was like a catalogue of extreme emotional reactions, and while some people probably need that validation, I needed the complete opposite.
The worst part was a chapter detailing what the next few months to a year would look like, and I remember thinking that some of it was downright ridiculous (one day seeing the faults in your unborn child), and most of them were things I had already accomplished by a month after our loss.
Obviously there are people out there that feel the way this author describes, otherwise this book wouldn't be in existence, but please know that if you are not moving through the grief the way the author describes, you are still authentically grieving your child and you should navigate these waters in a way that honours you and your child.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
After giving birth to my son and having him die 10 days later, I was so confused as to what I was supposed to be feeling.
"Empty Cradle, Broken Heart" helped me to understand what I was feeling and made me realize that I was not alone, and that what I was feeling was normal.
By using quotes from bereaved parents, the reader realizes that they are not alone in their thoughts. It encourages the reader to examine how they feel and accept their grief.
This book helped me through the saddest and most difficult period of my life. A copy of the book was lent to me, and I was so impressed by it that I am purchasing my own copy to refer back to it later in my life.
An excellent gift idea for a close friend or relative who is going through a similar situatation, or read it yourself to understand how that person is feeling.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
This is one of the best books out there on pregnancy/infant loss. It covers the spectrum of issues including difficult decisions and an EXCELLENT chapter on subsequent pregnancy. Dr. Davis is a bereaved parent herself with extensive experience working with grieving families. Her heart and her expertise is in this book. It's definitely worth your time and your money.
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This item: Empty Cradle, Broken Heart, Revised Edition: Surviving the Death of Your Baby
