Customer Reviews

Miscarriage: Women Sharing from the Heart

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you have experienced a miscarriage, BUY THIS BOOK!

I lost my first pregnancy at 17 weeks after trying to conceive for 2 1/2 years. After the loss I was in a fog of despair I had never come close to experiencing. This book put into words so many of my feelings that I was too lost and raw with pain to even begin to explore. All of the books I had read only dealed with early loss or stillbirth. I felt like my feelings of mourning weren't normal and I felt completely alone--like I was the only person in the world to suffer a second trimester loss.

This book had accounts of women who had lost their babies at the same point in pregnancy I had and those accounts saved me. Also, some people have mentioned that the physical aspects aren't mentioned, but the most important physical aspects for me were talked about. My milk coming in, seeing my body no longer growing with life, etc. were some very physical aspects that no one had discussed with me but were touched on in the book.

Through reading this book I stopped feeling like I was crazy or losing it. I learned to honor my grief and allow myself to mourn the life of my child and the hopes and dreams that were dashed when we lost our baby.

This book also helped me deal with my mother. She kept getting upset when I'd cry. She would call my sisters and say "oh no, she's crying again" as if I was doing something criminal. I gave her the book finally and she read it and hasn't said one thing to me since to make me feel guilt over mourning my child.

Good luck to all of you out there that are so unfortunate to have to buy this book. And a huge thank you to the authors for providing a much needed bible for women dealing with loss.

Having had a miscarriage myself recently, I wanted to read all the books I could about it. I found most of them to be pretty dry, very "fact based" and brushing over the emotional aspect of miscarriage. You see, miscarriage is much less a PHYSICAL experience but an EMOTIONAL one. The pain and grief you suffer is much like the death of a close family member. However with miscarriage there are no rituals--no burials, no supportive phone calls, most women don't even know if the baby was a boy or a girl. It is a very sad and lonely time and society certainly does not recognize the emotional aspect. No one can understand the devastation until they have gone through it themselves.

What I love about this book is that there are no medical facts--this book is about FEELINGS. There are hundreds of interviews with women who lost babies to miscarriage or stillbirth. They share their feelings, how they coped. Even "weird" things they did to help comfort themselves that many women (myself included!) could relate to. I felt less alone after reading this book. It made me realize that many women felt the same way I do after their miscarriages, and that it is ok to grieve. I absolutely LOVE this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who has suffered a miscarriage or knows someone who has.

I discovered this book after my 3rd miscarriage, and I am incredibly grateful for it. It has helped me to begin work through my grief. It was so reassuring to realize that many other women have had similar feelings, and that my feelings are normal and healthy.

After reading this book, I decided that rather than getting rid of any `mementos' from my pregnancies (such as ultrasound pictures and journal entries), I wanted to gather them to together and keep them as a concrete reminder of my babies' brief lives. I also decided to name each of my children. I found that acknowledging and honoring their lives has not caused me to dwell more on the losses, but to be able to grieve for them, which I believe is really the first step to `recovering' from the loss. Obviously I will never `recover', but the sadness does decrease over time.

I would recommend this book to any woman who has had a miscarriage, whether recently or years ago. If any of my friends are unfortunate enough to suffer a miscarriage in the future I think that I would bring them this book and a large box of tissues (and maybe a heating pad and something for the cramps too :-) ! )

I also wish that this book was required reading for every OB (or any medical professionals who deals with pregnant women). I was lucky enough to have a wonderful midwife, but I have heard horror stories about treatment from many other women. I think that this book would give them a better perspective on miscarriage from a woman's point of view.

I was also glad to see that this book was not overly religious. So many of the books on miscarriage are incredibly "Christian" - many bible quotes etc. There is a wonderful chapter at the end of the book that definitely deals with spirituality and religion that I appreciated, but it was not the main focus of the book.

This book really helped me deal with my grief and the emotional upheaval of miscarriage. It is designed for grief. There are no medical facts in this book, so if that is what you are looking for than this is the wrong book. But if you are trying to sort your emotions, this book is the best and will bring you to the tears, you so desperately need to cry.
I am a Christian, so I was a little disappointed that there wasn't any mention of the Bible, itself, which will help as well. They do talk a lot about spiritual things, which was nice. Great book.

I don't know if I would ever have described a book as supportive before reading this. A friend of mine (who lost a pregancy in week 16) sent this to me right after I lost my baby. It really helped me during my grieving process, which lasted about 5-6 months. By reading this book, I realized that I was not alone, nor was I crazy or overreacting to what was a devastating loss for me. I read it, cried, scribbled notes in the margins, and grieved (and grieved and grieved). It felt like a support group in a book!

The book was also useful in helping my husband understand what it was I was going through. I was too angry, sad and exhausted to be able to explain myself to him and it helped me to be able to simply underline passages and have him read them.

It's important to note that this book deals almost exclusivley with the emotional side of miscarriage. It does not attempt to explain the physical components of loss. It is for that reason that I think it is so valuable. After all, most of us are fine physically after losing a pregnancy. It's the emotional scars that take so long to heal.

Sadly, I have bought four more copies of this to give to friends of mine who have also suffered miscarriages. While I am grateful that this resource exists, I wish so much that none of us needed it.

I read this book shortly after I miscarried my first baby (and first pregancy) at 12 weeks. I was a little surprised when a good friend sent it to me because it seemed like too much too soon. But in actuality this was the ideal book for me to read immediately following the miscarriage. It helped me to begin my grieving process and it validated every emotion I was experiencing. I highly recommend this book to women (and men) who have experienced a miscarriage prior to the 20th week of pregnancy. The narratives spoke to me and the author's words helped me begin to work through the pain, fear, anger, guilt and confusion. I cannot give this a higher recommendation.

many women are not aware how often miscarriage happens. this book helped me feel i was not alone and that my grief is valid and real. very helpful.

I bought this book after my third consecutive miscarriage. I bought three other books and this book was by far the best and the most helpful!! Reading this book is like being in a support group with many other women who have had miscarriages. It made me feel okay to feel crazy, lonely, isolated, angry, hopeful. I have done a lot of reading on miscarriage and this book really helped me to understand why women who miscarry grieve so deeply. If you are even reading these reviews, you NEED this book!

I am really loving this book, I recently lost my baby at 10 1/2 weeks gestation, and wanted a book to help me through my grief. This book is helping me move through it. I feel supported, understood, and allowed my feelings. It feels like a good friend.

This book is specifically about dealing with the grief of a pregnancy loss in the 1st trimester or early 2nd trimester. The experiences and emotions of a hundred women are presented in their own words, with extensive commentary by the two authors, who give insights into all the factors that can complicate our grieving and interfere with emotional healing after a miscarriage.

I have suffered two miscarriages at 11-12 weeks. I came across this book after my second loss and found it immensely helpful in working through the unresolved emotional issues that were blocking my path to full expression and understanding of my grief. The book became almost like a friend or companion who understood how I was feeling and stayed with me as I worked through my grief.

If you have suffered a pregnancy loss, you will find so much to relate to in these pages, as well as reassurance that all your feelings (however dreadful) are a normal part of grief. It also suggests ways of working through the grieving process, expressing what you feel, and commemorating a baby who you loved with all your heart even though you may have been deprived of the chance of ever seeing it, touching it, knowing its sex or feeling it move inside you.

A book which validates our grief and helps us to work through it towards healing.