Book: Marriages & Miscarriages

A couple of months ago I was privileged to “meet” a lovely lady through Twitter. Kathleen Smith is a wife, mom, and recently published author. Her book is what I would like to talk about today. This is not an “official” book review, but I would like to share about what she has written because I think it is important.

Her book is entitled Marriages & Miscarriages: One Woman’s Personal Experience. She describes her book as “…a personal account of the experiences and emotions surrounding her three miscarriages.” (From back cover) Within the pages of the book she further describes her purpose for writing as:

“Pretty simple. Because for the last couple of years I have had all these different thoughts going through my mind about miscarriages and how I felt when I was going through mine and started to wonder how many women have gone through the same feelings and emotions that I have had, and had or have no one to talk with.”

The book is open, honest, emotional, factual, and encouraging for those who have had any experience with miscarriage. Personally, I have not experienced one myself, but the book was very helpful for me to understand some of the complexities of thoughts and emotions that go along with the pain of losing a baby.

I was very impressed with Kathleen’s courage and willingness to express what she went through in order to be a help and encouragement to other women. She talks openly about how her miscarriages affected not only her, but also her relationship with her husband. The Introduction to the book is actually written by her husband and it is obvious that their family’s experiences were not easy, but did draw them closer together in the end.

The book is written in a conversational, informal style, and includes chapters dealing with topics such as emotions and crying, being around pregnant women, answering others’ questions, praying, and wondering “why me?” Kathleen does not desire for her book to be a how-to or self-help book, but a look into how her losses affected her personally.

More than anything, Kathleen’s story helps other women to know that they are not alone in their hurt and struggle. I love the fact that she invites readers to email her to ask questions, request prayer, or just to talk about what they’re going through. Her desire is to have her experiences benefit hurting women.

I would encourage you to look into getting a copy of her book (you can get it in either paperback or kindle version) if you or someone you know has walked through a miscarriage.

(I bought a Kindle copy of the book for myself, and Kathleen sent me a paperback copy to share with any of my doula clients that might benefit from reading her story.)