Involuntary childlessness: advice, topics and issues Books

Book Synopsis‘The book to recommend to patients when they face coming to terms with unavoidable childlessness.' – British Medical JournalIn Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day addresses the experience of involuntary childlessness and provides a powerful, practical guide to help those negotiating a future without children come to terms with their grief; a grief that is only just beginning to be recognized by society.This friendly, practical, humorous and honest guide from one of the world’s most respected names in childless support offers compassion and understanding and shows how it’s possible to move towards a creative, happy, meaningful and fulfilling future – even if it’s not the one you had planned.Millions of people are now living a life without children, almost double that of a generation ago and the numbers are rising still. Although some are childfree by choice, many others are childless due to infertility or circumstance and are struggling to come to terms with their uncertain future. Although most people think that those without children either 'couldn't' or 'didn't want’ to be parents, the truth is much more complex.Jody Day was forty-four when she realized that her quest to be a mother was at an end. She presumed that she was through the toughest part, but over the next couple of years she was hit by waves of grief, despair and isolation. Eventually she found her way and in 2011 created Gateway Women, the global friendship and support network for childless women which has now helped almost two million people worldwide.This edition, previously titled Rocking the Life Unexpected, has been extensively revised and updated, with significant additional content and case studies from forty involuntarily childless people (mostly women) from around the world.Trade ReviewThis book, Jody’s beautiful baby, changes lives. And probably saves a few, too. By offering love, support and empathy – and, crucially, practical help on moving through the grief of childlessness and finding joy in your unexpected future – Jody offers hope. Nobody gets this like Jody does. The devastating visceral past, present, future pain of being childless by circumstance. And nobody deals with this like Jody does. She talks of the agony, of course – but then she offers hope. This book’s practical help on moving through the grief of childlessness and finding joy in your unexpected future is priceless. -- BIbi Lynch, Journalist and BroadcasterThe book to recommend to patients when they face coming to terms with unavoidable childlessness. * British Medical Journal *A huge part of my coming to terms with my child-free status came via Jody Day’s Gateway Women – a support network for childless women. Jody (whose marriage failed after repeated attempts to get pregnant) is passionate about helping other childless-by-circumstance women grieve their losses and restructure their lives. Her book helped remove the guilt and shame I felt about my childless status and I would urge anyone struggling with these issues to grab a copy. -- Rachael Lloyd * Independent *Everyone needs a loyal friend and a plan B. However hard we try, life doesn’t always work out as we hope and expect. Jody recovered from the identity-threatening blows of Fate; the inexplicable, unfair journey that is unchosen childlessness. She makes sense of our painful wounds, fears, grief and even shame of reproductive death. She gently helps us find meaning to transform these into useful anger or refound creativity. This is a remarkable and empowering book. -- Dr Susan Bewley, Professor of Women’s Health, Kings College LondonJody Day’s Gateway Women – a support network for childless women – was a joyous discovery. Jody (whose marriage failed after repeated attempts to get pregnant) is passionate about helping other childless-by-circumstance women grieve their losses and restructure their lives. Her book helped ease the burden of what I previously considered to be a major personal failing on my part: the failure to breed. After the grief, I started to feel anger at the prejudice experienced by childless women. This also helped dissolve my shame. -- Rachael Lloyd * Daily Telegraph *I wish this book had existed in the early 2000s when my wife and I were trying to become mothers. I wish it had existed in 2004 when it was time to stop trying for our mental, physical and emotional health, time to stop trying for our lives. I am so glad it exists now. -- Stella Duffy OBE, author, theatre maker and Founder and Co-Director of Fun PalacesLiving the Life Unexpected is a gem of a book that offers something for everyone regardless of where they call home. Her work is a gift for those seeking revealing insights, useful exercises and food for thought. I’ve no doubt Living the Life Unexpected will become a trusted companion you can revisit and learn from in the years to come. -- Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos, author, Silent SororityWarm, witty, and wise, Living the Life Unexpected is essential reading for any woman whose life has taken her down paths that she did not anticipate. Blending personal stories with an impressive understanding of the historical and social contexts of childlessness, as well as creative activities to help readers embark on different life journeys, this book is an unexpected pleasure. It never forgets heartbreak, but also frequently makes you laugh. Jody Day is both counsellor and friend – someone who will help readers to live with, perhaps even to love, their scars.’ -- Professor Tracey Loughran, Chair in Modern History, University of Essex, Editor (with Gayle Davis) of The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History

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Book SynopsisImpossible to put down, makes you laugh and cry, Sophie's story is inspirational. It gives us so much hope and encouragement. I don't think we would be where we are on our own journey without her advice.OLLIE LOCKEA read so twisty your heart pounds as you turn the pages.THE SUNDAY TIMESBrave, funny and honest, columnist Sophie Beresiner takes us on her complex journey to parenthood and shows us that there's more than one way to become a mother.Sophie's journey to motherhood began aged 30 with a cancer diagnosis that stole her fertility. Today, Sophie is older, wiser (and agonisingly excellent at hindsight), and somewhat battered. Through interminable cycles of hope and failure, her infertility story spanned three countries, five surrogates and a debt she'd rather not dwell on.Part memoir, part manifesto, The Mother Project is the epic story of Sophie's quest for happiness. Exploring the complexities, expectations and injustices faced by millions of women across the world, it is a book Trade Review “This unputdownable story of hope, determination and what it takes to do the one thing most of us take for granted is a witty, inspiring read, perfect for your summer holidays. It’s about love, relationships and overcoming tricky situations with smart thinking.” LORRAINE CANDY

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Book SynopsisThe Conception Plan is the expert, comprehensive guide to boosting your health and fertility.Whether you're struggling to conceive, are considering assisted conception, want to preserve your fertility for later in life or prepare your body for a baby in the future, The Conception Plan has fully customizable options for you.It is written by leading obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Larisa Corda, who has helped those wishing to become parents conceive through her unique programme, The Conception Plan (TCP), which blends the latest discoveries in Western medicine with the cutting-edge science of epigenetics and complementary alternative therapies. This 12-week, tried-and-tested holistic plan overhauls your health physically, emotionally and spiritually to give you the very best chance of getting pregnant.TCP not only increases your chances of conceiving, but also creates the optimum environment for ensuring your baby's lifelong health thro

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Book SynopsisIn Baby Making for Everybody, queer millennial midwives Ray Rachlin and Marea Goodman use their professional expertise to demystify the dizzying process of pursuing parenthood as queer and solo people, offering detailed, gender-affirming, body-positive advice on topics including:* Fertility tracking for people with uteruses* Choosing a sperm donor, egg donor, or surrogate* Legal considerations for LGBTQ+ families* Navigating pregnancy and gender identity* IUI, ICI, and IVF procedures* Foster parenting and adoption* Miscarriage and infertilityThe result is a much-needed compassionate step-by-step guide for every aspect of the complicated, messy, and glorious process of building a family. Combining practical information with personal narratives and first-person community wisdom, this book provides prospective parents with the information they need to grow their families.

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Book SynopsisSince the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry, the human population has multiplied by about one thousand in a ?demographic explosion?.However, in recent years, global fertility rates have begun to decrease significantly, and this is one reason to make a case for humans being becoming an endangered species. Many of the possible interpretations of this dramatic U-turn in the history of mankind may be found in modern ways of being born. For example, where caesarean rates are high, the average number of babies born per woman is very low. During the ultimate phase of the history of socialised birth, the hormonal dance that was previously essential is altered or eliminated.Today childbirth needs to be highly medicalised, after thousands of years of misunderstanding of the physiological processes involved. In a renewed scientific context, it may still be possible to rediscover the basic needs of labouring women and to try to ensure the future of our species. Is it too late to reach such a utopia? Michel Odent re-evaluates the comparative importance of recently acquired insights, to suggest links between data and ways of thinking from a great diversity of highly specialised disciplines.

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Book SynopsisA meditation on in vitro fertilization that expands and complicates the stories we tell about pregnancy. Medical interventions become an exercise in patience, desire, and delirium in this intimate account of bodily transformation and disruption. In candid, graceful prose, Isabel Zapata gives voice to the strangeness and complexities of conception and motherhood that are rarely discussed publicly. Zapata frankly addresses the misogyny she experienced during fertility treatments, explores the force of grief in imagining possible futures, and confronts the societal expectations around maternity. In the tradition of Rivka Galchen’s Little Labors and Sarah Manguso’s Ongoingness, In Vitro draws from diary and essay forms to create a new kind of literary companion and open up space for nuanced conversations about pregnancy.Trade ReviewTODAY, “Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2023”Vulture, "Best Memoirs of 2023""An insightful personal history but also a brilliant philosophical text about the very nature of sacrifice and autonomy." —Arianna Rebolini, Vulture“In this essay-like collection, Zapata examines in vitro fertilization and the narratives that drive societal expectations and pressures in conception and pregnancy. Unveiling a nuanced view of motherhood and fertility treatment, In Vitro will illuminate aspects of pregnancy not often discussed.” —Lupita Aquino, TODAY“This lyrical meditation by Mexican poet Zapata reflects on the life-changing power of pregnancy and motherhood. . . . With poetic prose, sensitively translated by Myers, Zapata’s sometimes surprising perspective offers a fresh take on the pregnancy memoir. Elegant and sharp, this is worth seeking out.” —Publishers Weekly“Zapata probes the enduring mysteries of pregnancy and birth in In Vitro, a memoir in fragmentsthat travels from fertility treatment through to the early weeks of pandemic-time motherhood. . . . A resolute account of a personal metamorphosis, In Vitro alchemizes tender experiences into enchanting vignettes.” —Rebecca Foster, Foreword Reviews, starred review“From its first sentences, I was riveted to In Vitro. Isabel Zapata has an effortlessly engaging style, at once casual and thrillingly deep. Her skill at playing with language, chronology, and genre will leave her readers feeling spellbound, affirmed, and, most of all, free. This is a profoundly liberatory book.” —Emily Gould “Isabel Zapata has created an elegant and brave poetics of the body. This is transformative literature that gives birth to a new language capable of expanding what it means to mother a child, or an idea, or a society.” —Terry Tempest Williams Praise for Isabel Zapata “Isabel Zapata writes with a fluidity that can only come from wisdom. Sometimes it feels like we’re listening to her speak more than reading her on the page; it even feels like we can speak back.” —Alejandro Zambra

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis beautifully rendered ethnography makes visible the haunting social challenge of infertility for Indian women, and especially Muslim minority women, whose reproduction is always suspect. Stories of women's secret but valiant attempts to conceive animate the pages of this book, which is essential reading for scholars of gender, kinship, and religion in South Asia, as well as those interested in reproductive justice in the Global South. -- Marcia C. Inhorn, author of Cosmopolitan Conceptions: IVF Sojourns in Global DubaiBy focusing on infertility, this book fills a huge gap in the study of reproduction in India. Bringing together material from Indian films, literature, extensive ethnography, and her own experiences as a daughter-in-law in India, Holly Donahue Singh weaves an anthropologically informed and fascinating account of people's reproductive desires framed by the real world of inequalities and lack of reproductive justice. Yet, it is not all doom and gloom as people forge their way out of difficulties or find new paths outside of reproductive mandates. -- Ravinder Kaur, Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Indian Institute of Technology DelhiWhile the story of female reproductive systems has multiple dimensions, Holly Donahue Singh's narrative introduces us to a fascinating picture of how such dimensions find expressions in everyday life and popular cultures. With an in-depth understanding of vernacular symbols, metaphorization, and narrative strategies, this book moves the reader closer to a setting where the ordinariness of life emerges as an intriguing space to rethink various complex processes. In addition, this book provides a gendered lens to translate multilayered theoretical aspects. Singh's sensibilities and careful observations make this work more accessible as well. -- Afsar Mohammad, author of The Festival of Pirs: Popular Islam and Shared Devotion in South IndiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on TransliterationIntroduction: Hiding Reproduction1. Aulad: Reproductive Desires2. Preludes to Aulad: Making Mothers3. Clinical Dreams: Measuring Hope4. Reproductive Realities: Managing Inequality5. Quietly Planning Families: Misdirecting ConventionConclusion: Reproductive Openings and Reproductive Justice in Contemporary IndiaAfterword: Family Plans, Or, Waiting for AuladGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis This wise, compassionate book teaches proven cognitive-behavioral strategies for coping with infertility and pregnancy loss. You will learn about common grief experiences that occur with such losses, as well as ways to find perspective and meaning, identify and change unhelpful thoughts, gain acceptance, reconnect with others, and reengage in life. Pregnancy loss can be devastating, regardless of whether it is early or late in pregnancy or in the short period after a baby is born. In many instances, similar emotions are experienced when a couple learns that their fertility treatments were unsuccessful. Here the well-known psychologist Amy Wenzel applies the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy—a thoroughly-researched approach for treating mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and stress-related disorders— to the experience of reproductive loss. She offers strategies for coping with loss and provides a step-by-step guide to reengaging iTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Normalizing Emotional Experiences Getting By in the First Weeks Getting Involved in Life in the Later Weeks Coping With Disturbing Thoughts and Images of the Loss Coping With Disturbing Thoughts and Images About the Future Interacting With Others Gradual Exposure to Avoided Situations Problem Solving and Decision Making Staying Mindful and Achieving Acceptance Creating a New Normal and Finding Meaning Postscript Appendix: Mindfulness Resources Notes Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisA memoir of hope for the thousands of women struggling with infertility, from one who beat the odds by simply tuning in to her body and tapping her well of sheer determination.At a time when more and more women are trying to get pregnant at increasingly advanced ages, fertility specialists and homeopathic researchers boast endless treatment options. But when Julia Indichova made the rounds of medical doctors and nontraditional healers, she was still unable to conceive a child. It was only when she forsook their financially and emotionally draining advice, turning inward instead, that she finally met with reproductive success. Inconceivable recounts this journey from hopeless diagnoses to elated motherhood. Anyone who has faced infertility will relate to Julia’s desperate measures: acupuncture, unidentifiable black-and-white pellets, herb soup, foul-smelling fruit, even making love on red sheets. Five reproductive endocrinologists told her that there

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisAuthor Heather Huhman guides readers through every stage of the process-from knowing when to seek medical advice to parenting after infertility, and everything in between. There's the medical nitty gritty: getting a diagnosis (or not); selecting a fertility clinic that's right for you; understanding IUI and IVF and genetic testing; a comprehensive list of medications and their side effects, and much more. There are emotional high and lows: staying hopeful while managing grief and depression, maintaining and strengthening your relationship, and navigating religious and ethical concerns. And then there is the practical and often complicated questions around affording treatments, dealing with your workplace (including the military), and everything you need to know about insurance and fertility treatments.Stronger Than Infertility breaks down complicated clinical information and expert medical advice from top specialists in the field. The book includes first-person stories and hard-won advice from women who have been down this long and often painful road (Huhman included) and offers a clear-eyed look at the emotional and psychological landmines that come with the journey. The result is a book that inspires as much as it educates and is a much-needed source of support and inspiration for readers hungry for understanding and hope.Table of ContentsIntroduction THE MEDICAL/PHYSICAL NITTY GRITTY 0 How to Be a Self-Advocate 1 Infertility 101 2 Finding a Fertility Clinic 3 Getting a Diagnosis 4 Understanding Genetics 5 Introduction to Fertility Medications PATHS TO PARENTHOOD 6 Timed Intercourse and IUI 7 IVF 8 Preparing for Treatment 9 Let's Talk Multiples 10 Donor Eggs, Sperm and Embryos 11 Surrogacy 12 Adoption 13 Child-Free FEELINGS 14 Emotions 15 Stronger than Infertility 16 Maintaining and Strengthening Relationships 17 Miscarriage and Recurrent Loss 14 Grief and Depression During Infertility 18 Religion and Ethics THE PRACTICAL STUFF 19 Insurance 20 Affording Family-Building 21 Infertility at Work 22 Navigating in the Military LIFE AFTER INFERTILITY 23 Pregnancy After Infertility 24 NICU 25 Depression and Anxiety After Infertility 26 Parenting 27 Advocating for Benefits and Others

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Book SynopsisInvolving a third person in a child's conception raises many difficult issues and dilemmas. This book provides a comprehensive guide to the place of third party assisted conception within health care provision, drawing on local ethical and religious standpoints as well as political and economic factors.Eric Blyth and Ruth Landau have brought together authors from a broad range of professional backgrounds to consider the social, legal and ethical aspects of third party assisted conception in thirteen countries dispersed through North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australasia. Third Party Assisted Conception Across Cultures addresses many contemporary social issues including the role of the state in family creation, the changing forms and conceptualizations of a 'family' and concerns about the potential commodification of body-parts and functions. All health care practitioners and policymakers who wish to develop their knowledge and understanding of the policies underlying third party assisted conception practice and the ethical context surrounding it, will find this book invaluable.Trade ReviewThis is a collection of articles descriptive of third party assisted conception practices and regulations in a variety of countries. At the outset it must be said that for a book that deals with a rather esoteric topic, one that appears to be distant from the average reader, it is well written and holds the interest even of those who may not be familiar with that area of endeavour... It is an interesting text to be perused. The authors, scholarly professionals themselves, demonstrate an understanding not only of infertility and third party assisted conception, but also of the religious and cultural contexts in which these practices arise. -- European Journal of Social WorkAnyone concerned with the artificial creation of families, including adoption, should study this volume and take note of what happens when relatively unregulated processes, dominated by money, medical technology and the needs of adults, reign supreme. -- Adoption and FosteringCompact as it is, this book contains a wealth of fascinating research into the way in which assisted conception is regarded at social, legal and ethical levels in each of thirteen countries across the world, from places as diverse as Argentina and Finland, Singapore and Poland. The book presents a wealth of facts in a most digestible format. It fascinates as much as it informs. -- British Journal of Social WorkGiven the government's recent decision to allow infertile couples one course of IVF on the NHS more people will have access to third party assisted conceptions, this is a timely book, writes Kathryn Evans. It may answer some of the myriad questions raised by those unfamiliar with the subject. The introduction provides a readable potted history of assisted conceptions in each country despite international knowledge of the different techniques. -- Community CareTable of ContentsIntroduction. Eric Blyth, Univerity of Huddersfield and Ruth Landau, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 1. Argentina: Hopes, Results and Barriers. Luisa Baron, Buenos Aires University. 2. Australia: Choice and Diversity in Regulation and Record Keeping. Helen Szoke, Infertility Treatment Authority, Melbourne. 3. Canada: The Long Road to Regulation.Jean Haase, London Health Services Centre, Ontario. 4. Finland: Unregulated Practices, Familiarity and Legality. Maili Malin, STAKES, Finland and Riitta Burrell, Researcher, Michigan. 5. Germany: The Changing Legal and Social Culture. Petra Thorn, Protestant University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt. 6. Hong Kong: A Social, Legal and Clinical Overview. Ernest Ng, Athena Liu, Celia Chan and Cecilia Chan, University of Hong Kong. 7. Israel: Every Person has the Right to Have Children. Ruth Landau. 8. New Zealand: From Secrecy and Shame to Openness and Acceptance. Ken Daniels, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. 9. Poland: Provision and Guidelines for Third Party Assisted Conception. Eleonora Bielawka-Batorowicz, University of Lodz. 10. Singapore: Practice and Challenges. Rosaleen Ow, National University of Singapore. 11. South Africa: Cultural Diversity. Charlene Laurence Carbonatto, University of Pretoria. 12. The United Kingdom: Evolution of a Statutary Regulatory Approach. Eric Blyth. 13. The United States of America: Eric Blyth with Jean Benward, psychotherapist, California. Conclusion Eric Blyth and Ruth Landau. Editor and Contributor Biographies. Subject Index. Name Index.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis beautifully rendered ethnography makes visible the haunting social challenge of infertility for Indian women, and especially Muslim minority women, whose reproduction is always suspect. Stories of women's secret but valiant attempts to conceive animate the pages of this book, which is essential reading for scholars of gender, kinship, and religion in South Asia, as well as those interested in reproductive justice in the Global South. -- Marcia C. Inhorn, author of Cosmopolitan Conceptions: IVF Sojourns in Global DubaiBy focusing on infertility, this book fills a huge gap in the study of reproduction in India. Bringing together material from Indian films, literature, extensive ethnography, and her own experiences as a daughter-in-law in India, Holly Donahue Singh weaves an anthropologically informed and fascinating account of people's reproductive desires framed by the real world of inequalities and lack of reproductive justice. Yet, it is not all doom and gloom as people forge their way out of difficulties or find new paths outside of reproductive mandates. -- Ravinder Kaur, Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Indian Institute of Technology DelhiWhile the story of female reproductive systems has multiple dimensions, Holly Donahue Singh's narrative introduces us to a fascinating picture of how such dimensions find expressions in everyday life and popular cultures. With an in-depth understanding of vernacular symbols, metaphorization, and narrative strategies, this book moves the reader closer to a setting where the ordinariness of life emerges as an intriguing space to rethink various complex processes. In addition, this book provides a gendered lens to translate multilayered theoretical aspects. Singh's sensibilities and careful observations make this work more accessible as well. -- Afsar Mohammad, author of The Festival of Pirs: Popular Islam and Shared Devotion in South IndiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on TransliterationIntroduction: Hiding Reproduction1. Aulad: Reproductive Desires2. Preludes to Aulad: Making Mothers3. Clinical Dreams: Measuring Hope4. Reproductive Realities: Managing Inequality5. Quietly Planning Families: Misdirecting ConventionConclusion: Reproductive Openings and Reproductive Justice in Contemporary IndiaAfterword: Family Plans, Or, Waiting for AuladGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisWhen you want to have a baby but are struggling with fertility challenges, it’s normal to experience a range and mixture of ever-changing feelings. These feelings are a natural and necessary form of grief. Whether you continue to hope to give birth or you’ve stopped pursuing pregnancy, this compassionate guide will help you affirm and express your feelings about infertility. Tips for both women and men are included.

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