Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss [Paperback]

Ann Douglas (Author), John R. Sussman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Trying Again lessens the uncertainties about pregnancy after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss by providing the facts to help you determine if you and your partner are emotionally ready for another pregnancy. It also imparts essential advice about preparing and planning for another baby when you decide the time is right.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Featured in The Dallas Morning News.

The authors cover every topic (from how to cope when there's no known medical reason for a baby's death and how to prepare physically and emotionally for a complicated pregnancy) with expertise, candor and compassion. (Publishers Weekly )

Trying Again extends a helping hand to couples coping with their loss and at the same time contemplating future pregnancies. (Genese Valley Parent )

From the Inside Flap

Written especially for parents who have lost a child, Trying Again lessens the uncertainties about pregnancy after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss by providing the facts to help you determine if you and your partner are emotionally ready for another pregnancy. It also imparts essential advice about preparing and planning for another baby when you decide the time is right.

Accompanied by ob-gyn authority Dr. John R. Sussman, Ann Douglas draws from her own trial of losing a child to share firsthand details about the physical and emotional challenges of a subsequent pregnancy. She also includes the emotional stories of other women's ordeals with pregnancy or child loss, imparting their advice and letting you know you're not alone. By countering common fertility myths and teaching the facts about prenatal testing, Trying Again explores in detail all the pertinent procedures and measures to create the best possible conditions for a healthy baby.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing; 1 edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878331824
• ISBN-13: 978-0878331826
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Infertility

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compassionate, insightful, practical, helpful, October 17, 2000

By A Customer

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This review is from: Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss (Paperback)

It is said that no loss in life affects us as deeply and profoundly as that which we experience when a child of ours dies. Whether the child is a 6-week-old embryo, a 39-week-old fetus, or a grown adult, the mother or father in us feels a sadness that is hard to understand, describe, or come to terms with. Making the decision to try again can be courageous, impetuous, desperate--and a supreme physical and emotional sacrifice. This book can help make the decision informed.

Many books are available for people who are pregnant, who want to get pregnant, or who are grieving the loss of a baby. This book is different because it focuses on that fragile period between having lost a child and the decision to, and the act of, trying to become pregnant with another one. Instead of glossing over or whispering about death, this book faces this common experience head on, offering both compassion and practical information and advice about why this happens and how to go on from here. The personal accounts of the several women and men who went through miscarriage, stillbirth, and early infant death are especially helpful, because readers can understand that this experience is not uncommon--even though their emotional response to it may be unique.

I wish this book had been available when I lost my first baby at 12 weeks into the pregnancy. It would have helped me get through the five months of grief, anger, resentment, guilt, and shattered trust and self-confidence that followed. I plan to give copies of this book to friends, and I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to try again.

70 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" if you are trying again., December 21, 2000

By 

Cheryl A. Forbes (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss (Paperback)

I wish I'd had this book four years ago when I first started "trying again" to have a baby. I am one of the parents interviewed for this book.

It's so true that when you lose a baby so many well-meaning people urge you to try again - as if being pregnant again will make everything better. I too thought everthing would be better but in my case my efforts to try again resulted in two more losses. I too thought that everything would be better if I could just hold onto another pregnancy. When I became pregnant fear and anxiety were my constant companions. Reading Ann's book has given me a sense of normalcy. I certainly am not the only one out there whose pregnancy was 38 weeks of near panic. This is a book that acknowledges those feelings and gives you ideas for how to cope.

The one area that I wish Ann had discussed was when you decide to stop "trying again". I had three losses before we had our precious 3 year old. We tried to get pregnant a fifth time and after a year finally decided to stop trying. That decision created another loss for us. Somehow our grief was deeper as we re-grieved all our losses and then grieved for the children we would not have.

This is a good book. I have given copies to friends that are trying again.

79 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not recommended for someone who has experienced a single loss, January 9, 2007

By 

a reader (Oxford, CT United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Trying Again: A Guide to Pregnancy After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss (Paperback)

I think this is a very good book for some women, but I would not recommend it for the couple who has experienced one loss and are not at greater than average risk for experiencing another. I was also dissappointed that the book did not contain very much original writing, instead it was mostly a compilation of interviews. Most of the women profiled had experienced multiple losses. I have experienced one loss and the last thing I want to imagine is going through this 3 or 4 times more! If you have experienced multiple losses, and are looking for "honest" rather than sugar-coated answers to your concerns, this may be the book for you. But, if you are not at a greater than average risk, and want to focus more on the positives of "trying again," I would look for another book.