Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and poignant!
Review: A friend of mine told me to read this book, and I couldn't thank her enough. This book touched me deeply in so many ways, and I feel it was an act of courage to finally express the unthinkable loss of a child. I especially liked the way the author captured the sense of being shocked at the loss of control that accompanies birth (and motherhood). I recommend this book to any woman who has considered moving past loss into a second or third chance at the greatest experience: motherhood: with all of its terrors and confusions and poignant heart splitting moments of unbearable love and vunerability. As someone who has considered having a child, Shadow Child has opened some harsh realities about the trauma and pain of losing one's child. Kudos to this author for transformming what could have been a destructive and bitter experience into hope and a kind of triumph...

Rating:
Summary: Loving Our Children
Review: This is a beautifully written book. It weaves art and nature, marital love and familial connections, great losses and sweet celebrations. It chronicles childbearing--not just the physical but the emotional, from welcoming a child into the world to seeing a child off for the first day of school. It also beautifully describes the heartache of a first son who died at birth.

Rating:
Summary: A Family's Story of Loss
Review: This is the biography of Beth Powning. Her first child, Tate, was stillborn at term in the 1970s. Beth struggled with her right to grieve for her son. When her third child Jacob arrived, her long silent grief flooded over her.