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The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy: A History of Miscarriage in America Illustrated Edition

by Lara Freidenfelds (Author)

4.6 16 ratings

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When a couple plans for a child today, every moment seems precious and unique. Home pregnancy tests promise good news just days after conception, and prospective parents can track the progress of their pregnancy day by day with apps that deliver a stream of embryonic portraits. On-line due date calculators trigger a direct-marketing barrage of baby-name lists and diaper coupons. Ultrasounds as early as eight weeks offer a first photo for the baby book.

Yet, all too often, even the best-strategized childbearing plans go awry. About twenty percent of confirmed pregnancies miscarry, mostly in the first months of gestation. Statistically, early pregnancy losses are a normal part of childbearing for healthy women. Drawing on sources ranging from advice books and corporate marketing plans to diary entries and blog posts, Lara Freidenfelds offers a deep perspective on how this common and natural phenomenon has been experienced. As she shows, historically, miscarriages were generally taken in stride so long as a woman eventually had the children she desired.

This has changed in recent decades, and an early pregnancy loss is often heartbreaking and can be as devastating to couples as losing a child. Freidenfelds traces how innovations in scientific medicine, consumer culture, cultural attitudes toward women and families, and fundamental convictions about human agency have reshaped the childbearing landscape. While the benefits of an increased emphasis on parental affection, careful pregnancy planning, attentive medical care, and specialized baby gear are real, they have also created unrealistic and potentially damaging expectations about a couple's ability to control reproduction and achieve perfect experiences.

The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy provides a reassuring perspective on early pregnancy loss and suggests ways for miscarriage to more effectively be acknowledged by women, their families, their healthcare providers, and the maternity care industry.

ISBN-10

019086981X
ISBN-13

978-0190869816
Edition

Illustrated
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

January 2, 2020
Language

English
Dimensions

9.3 x 1.1 x 6.2 inches
Print length

256 pages
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Lara Freidenfelds
10
Hardcover
2 offers from $10.00
Jessica Zucker
330
Paperback
94 offers from $2.04
Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
652
Paperback
8 offers from $22.60
Barbara A. Anderson DrPH CNM FACNM FAAN
16
Paperback
35 offers from $40.94
Tina Cassidy
347
Paperback
55 offers from $1.25

From the Publisher


Sketches of embryonic development from Dr. Seth Pancoast’s 1865 Ladies’ Medical Guide.	Sketches of embryonic development from Dr. Seth Pancoast’s 1865 Ladies’ Medical Guide.	Sketches of embryonic development from Dr. Seth Pancoast’s 1865 Ladies’ Medical Guide.	April 30, 1965 Life magazine cover photographed by Dr. Lennart Nilsson.


Sears’ innovative “Baby Book,” published in 1907, was a comprehensive catalog for pregnancy and infant needs. Sears, Roebuck and Company, The Baby Book (Chicago, IL, 1907), ID #08078751, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, DE 19807, pages 2 and 15.	Sears’ innovative “Baby Book,” published in 1907, was a comprehensive catalog for pregnancy and infant needs. Sears, Roebuck and Company, The Baby Book (Chicago, IL, 1907), ID #08078751, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, DE 19807, pages 2 and 15.	Miscarriage remembrance jewelry featuring the tiny feet that are a symbol of the pro-life movement.	Ultrasound of a pregnancy at eight weeks gestation. iStock/pixalot.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy charts its way through pregnancy in American history...in a broadly sweeping narrative and yet one filled with details, archivally rich and thoroughly thought provoking. Over almost 300 years of history, Freidenfelds is able to substantially weave together the medical, consumer, feminist and rhetorical history of American pregnancy....Freidenfelds serves up this history in a compelling book that also provides advice to the modern American pregnant person (or anyone considering pregnancy). She closes each chapter with a reflection on what we, as a 2020 reading audience, can take away from this history and how we can use these historical lessons to improve the pregnancy experience for all Americans....An important addition to the library of reproduction scholars and all reproducing Americans." -- Shannon K. Withycombe, Social History of Medicine

"The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy does a remarkable job of weaving together historical and contemporary analysis....[It] breaks new ground...as Freidenfelds brings women's online voices, captured in pregnancy websites, apps, and discussion forums...into this history....[It] is a lively, innovative, and highly readable book, well-suited to undergraduate teaching in a range of fields, including women's history and the histories of medicine, science, and technology. Freidenfelds does an admirable job of situating the commonness of miscarriage experiences in broad historical context, underscoring the damaging effects of much of the cultural rhetoric surrounding 'modern' pregnancy, and offering substantive recommendations for a better way forward." -- Whitney Wood, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

"...clearly written and innovatively researched book...The readership for this book is wide: in addition to being an excellent text for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in the fields of medical history and gender and women's studies, it will be of interest to digital historians looking for exemplary models of how to work with internet sources." -- Cassia Roth, Isis

"Accessibly and sympathetically written about women's experiences with pregnancy loss. Freidenfelds even offers suggestions for simple but powerful changes that could alleviate some of the inevitable grief that accompanies miscarriage today, such as informational inserts on miscarriage in home pregnancy testing kits. Scholars of women's history and medicine will find this a welcome addition to the historiography on abortion, birth control, pregnancy, child birth, fertility, and motherhood. Undergraduate and graduate students will undoubtedly find Freidenfelds's work an engaging and thoroughly researched point of introduction to this vast subject. Finally, anyone who has been touched by miscarriage firsthand may find comfort in seeing their experience expertly woven into this humane and beautifully written historical narrative." -- Jessica Martucci, Journal of American History

"Outstanding....filled with insights and...compassion...The book is...an important feminist text, analysing the way in which women's fertility has been and is a source of oppression. It sees women as victims - victims of relentless pregnancies in colonial times, of the requirement to mother 'intensively' in more recent times, and of aggressive marketing and medical surveillance in modern times. In the final chapter, the author suggests ways in which women might take back control....I found it inspiring and illuminating." -- Mary Nolan, De Partu

"Viewing what used to be called 'lost' pregnancies with an understanding of the fullness of women's reproductive lives and desires, Freidenfelds delivers a powerful history. Her excellent book should be read by public health practitioners and their students for the information it delivers about the historical experience of pregnancy and miscarriage and for the insights it provides about the ways new media and new technologies shape the modern experience of miscarriage." -- Janet Golden, American Journal of Public Health

"This is a book filled with insights and with compassion. It is always pro-women, especially when analysing the politics of pro-choice and pro-life still highly influential in the United States. I found it inspiring and illuminating. It is often said that it is only possible tounderstand the present by studying the past and this book has certainly thrown more light on women's contemporary experiences of pregnancy and mothering than many I have read that relate only to the 21st century." -- Dr Mary Nolan, Departu

This social and medical history of the role of miscarriage will be useful for people planning a family, women who have had a miscarriage, and gender studies students." -- Library Journal

This lively and informative book is simultaneously an exploration of contemporary 'mommy blogs' and a deeply researched history of childbirth in America. By focusing on the history of miscarriage, it casts new light on almost every aspect of our modern reproductive system, from technological innovations like sonograms to the semantics of abortion debates. It is an innovative and powerful contribution to history and to present-day discourse on childbearing." -- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale

Bravo! Freidenfelds has delivered a formidable and gripping account of pregnancy loss in America. She weaves the voices of women today and generations past with keen historical and scientific insights. The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy shines a much-needed light on miscarriage, a subject that has, until now, been hidden from both casual conversations and scholarly scrutiny." -- Randi Hutter Epstein, author of Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank

Freidenfelds captures the dramatic transformation of the ideal of pregnancy over the past two hundred years, from a normal, accepted part of a colonial woman's life to the highly monitored, commercialized, and emotional-laden experiences of 21st century women. With sensitivity and care she explores the experience of pregnancy loss, which remains a common yet rarely publicly discussed occurrence." -- Rima D. Apple, author of Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America

The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy offers far more than a meticulously researched historical perspective on reproductive health and parenting attitudes. It also provides critical insight to the present, with a lesson that much of childbearing and childrearing is out of our control, to expect and accept the ups and downs of life and the inevitable mistakes we will make as parents. Freidenfelds has used facts to illustrate how our perfectionist parenting standards came about, so that we may forgive ourselves our imperfections. This is a message many parents, myself included, need to hear and be reminded of. Freidenfelds' work can help shift the current culture of parenting, and we will all benefit." -- Monique Tello, MD, MPH, FACP, Massachusetts General Hospital

[The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy] takes all of those truths and puts them in historical and contemporary context. The result is an important and fascinating book that... will resonate with, and maybe bring a measure of relief to, countless families." -- Heidi Stevens, The Chicago Tribune

Book Description

The first history of early pregnancy loss and its impact on modern childbearing culture in America.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition (January 2, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 019086981X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190869816
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.3 x 1.1 x 6.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #698 in Obstetrics & Gynecology (Books)
- #1,410 in History of Medicine (Books)
- #3,979 in Women in History

Customer Reviews:
4.6 16 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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BHodges

Outstanding and bracing

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

A helpful history of how real grief is tethered to shifting cultural expectations.

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joeytree

A must-read for women and their partners who are family-planning

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2020

The book's message is that miscarriage is common, normal and we should not be afraid to talk about it. While we should all be grateful for advances in medical knowledge and technology around pregnancy, this book explains how they have been used by profit-driven businesses to encourage women to use ovulation kits, pregnancy tests, and pregnancy-tracking apps to encourage them to invest in their pregnancies earlier and earlier (before 8 weeks when the chance of miscarriage is 1 in 5), which (1) masks the normalcy and frequency of miscarriage and (2) causes emotional devastation. Anyone who is family-planning should be aware of this, and this book provides a clear-eyed, non-judgmental, evidence-based perspective. Highly recommend!

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