A Little Pregnant: Our Memoir of Fertility, Infertility, and a Marriage [Hardcover]

Linda Carbone (Author), Ed Decker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1999

Between 1986 and 1995 Linda Carbone and Ed Decker suffered three miscarriages, endured numerous surgeries and high-tech medical procedures, and spent thousands of dollars in a fruitless effort to bring a child into their home. This poignant and refreshingly honest account of a husband and wife struggling, over the course of a decade, to have a child is as much about the promises and pitfalls of modern medicine as it is about the vicissitudes of love.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Linda Carbone was scheduled for a fetal sonogram. A bit superstitious after having suffered two miscarriages, she wanted to skip the appointment, but the fertility clinic that helped her conceive this baby convinced her to go: "There aren't that many highs in life." Instead of seeing the baby's heartbeat, though, she watched as the technician kept enlarging the image on the screen, looking for a heartbeat or any sign of movement. The pregnancy wasn't viable, she was told, and the baby's body was about to "crumple." Carbone would soon miscarry for the third time.

A Little Pregnant is filled with moments like this that make one wonder just how much cruelty a person can endure. Carbone, an editor, and her husband, Ed Decker, a writer, faced nearly a decade of Job-like trials in their quest for a child. She was injected with dangerous, personality-altering hormones and underwent in vitro fertilization; his testicles were operated on to relieve low sperm count; they burst into tears whenever another couple or family member had a baby. And they drove each other crazy, nearly divorcing, not the least because Decker was obsessed with parenthood and Carbone was indifferent about it--and eventually developed a crush on her fertility doctor. All these soul-sapping events are told in a compulsively readable she-said, he-said format, suspended in a sort of magical realism, as if the pair can't now comprehend why they tortured themselves--or allowed themselves to be tortured by others--for so long.

The book escapes what might have been an overly oppressive tone because the reader knows from the start that Decker and Carbone did have a healthy baby girl, after--almost implausibly--an anguishing adoption attempt failed and they had finally resigned themselves to being childless. This is a magnificent examination of self-delusion, the cruelties of imperfect technology, and the gripping allure of parenthood. --Erica Jorgensen

From Library Journal

Carbone and Decker have written a personal diary of their struggles to have a child. In alternating chapters the two bare their souls, describing the invasive and impersonal medical procedures they endured to conceive the child he so desperately wants. Use of indelicate slang may startle some readers, and statements about various options can appear insensitive and offensive ("the hybrid child"), but midway through this sometimes whiney, wordy, self-centered story the reader is hooked. The adoption episode is particularly heart-rending. Carbone and Decker do not pretend to offer recommendations to others in a similar situation, and couples who remain childless may not find much comfort hereAafter nine long years Linda does become pregnant without intervention and gives birth to a healthy daughter. Written like a popular magazine article, this should circulate well in public libraries. There is little else of such a personal nature available.AMargaret Cardwell, Georgia Perimeter Coll., Clarkston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871137518
• ISBN-13: 978-0871137517
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,634,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing, beautifully written love story, May 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Little Pregnant: Our Memoir of Fertility, Infertility, and a Marriage (Hardcover)

This book is spectacular. I was bowled over by the execution and moved by the content. It reads like a beautifully written novel, with perfect rhythm and pacing. The structure appears effortless yet it's incredibly complex, as the authors weave threads of time back and forth and shift perspectives from one to another.

Beyond the sheer artfulness of the writing, perhaps what is most impressive is the gutsiness of this book. The authors took a huge gamble and it paid off. The more open and courageous they were in telling this very harrowing saga, the more I found myself thinking, "God, these are two people I'd like to know. They are sensitive, smart, fascinating, and brave."

I hope reviewers realize that what this book is, more than anything else really, is a not so simple love story. You don't have to be suffering from infertility to find it utterly compelling to read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an honest depiction of a marriage & infertility, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Little Pregnant: Our Memoir of Fertility, Infertility, and a Marriage (Hardcover)

A Little Pregnant is an honest depiction of one couples struggle to get pregnant. The many steps, the little successes and the many set backs that this couple go through provide a direct insight into what has become an all too common experience for many. What makes this book unique is that it looks at the struggle from both the perspective of the husband and the wife. It vividly describes the stress the process put on their marriage, how they dealt with this stress and ultimatly how they prevailed. We would highly recommend this book to anyone going through the infertility battle or anyone interested in the inner workings of a real marriage and partnership. It provides real hope for those wanting children as well as those working through the changes in any relationship. Read it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid, frank, appealing story of a modern relationship, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Little Pregnant: Our Memoir of Fertility, Infertility, and a Marriage (Hardcover)

This husband and wife open their souls to tell a fascinating, at times funny, at times utterly tense story of their quest for a child. The book is bold in its emotion and full of memorable images of two people struggling to maintain their individual integrity and their deep affection for each other while being torn apart by forces within and beyond their control, such as their level of desire for a child and the medical system in this country. Falkneresque in its narrative style, the book challenged me to pay close attention--the authors demand to be seen as individuals. The book reminded me of An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., in which she offers readers, in brutally blunt but often amusing detail, the story of her own life with manic-depressive illness to educate others about a universal story.