I Had a Miscarriage
A Memoir, a Movement
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5.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Jessica Zucker weaves her own experience and other women's stories into a compassionate and compelling exploration of grief as a necessary, nuanced personal and communal process. She inspires her readers to speak their truth and, in turn, to ignite transformative change within themselves and in our culture.
Sixteen weeks into her second pregnancy, psychologist Jessica Zucker miscarried at home, alone. Suddenly, her career, spent specializing in reproductive and maternal mental health, was rendered corporeal, no longer just theoretical. She now had a changed perspective on her life’s work, her patients’ pain, and the crucial need for a zeitgeist shift. Navigating this nascent transition amid her own grief became a catalyst for Jessica to bring voice to this ubiquitous experience. She embarked on a mission to upend the strident trifecta of silence, shame, and stigma that surrounds reproductive loss—and the result is her striking memoir meets manifesto.
Drawing from her psychological expertise and her work as the creator of the #IHadaMiscarriage campaign, I Had a Miscarriage is a heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, and validating book about navigating these liminal spaces and the vitality of truth telling—an urgent reminder of the power of speaking openly and unapologetically about the complexities of our lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Psychologist Zucker delivers an illuminating discussion of miscarriage in her strikingly intimate debut memoir. A doctor specializing in reproductive and maternal mental health, Zucker miscarried her daughter during her fifth month of pregnancy in October 2012. Despite her own professional experience, grief "took over my body, seared my insides," and she sank into "an unnerving sense of vulnerability." In the aftermath, Zucker writes of being hurt by a friend who was revolted by a photograph Zucker showed her of her miscarried fetus, suffering from acute PTSD, and seeking help from a therapist who uncovered "visuals and physical feelings associated with death occurring in my body." She situates her own story within the bigger picture of miscarriage, noting that one in four pregnancies in the U.S. end in miscarriage (for an annual total of more than 3 million), and identifying "a strident trifecta" of silence, stigma, and shame that "obstruct conversations... and isolate those who experience it." For Zucker, comfort came in the form of a visit to Japan's Unborn Children Garden, which is "dedicated to those lost to miscarriage," and the birth of a second daughter, her "rainbow baby," in 2017. Zucker's story is a profound personal reflection, and her remarkable storytelling sheds new light on a difficult topic. Miscarriage survivors will find affirmation and hope in this stirring account.
Customer Reviews
Godsend!
This book was a Godsend. I miscarried this past week and found the “I Had a Miscarriage” page on Instagram, which led me to this book. It takes so much bravery to start this conversation, and I feel so inspired - and apart of something greater than myself - after reading this book.