A Silent Sorrow: Pregnancy Loss-- Guidance and Support for You and Your Family

...and then you should keep it and read at the holidays, at the anniversary of your loss, at the anniversary of your baby's due date, and any other time you need to understand the experience of losing a baby. If you have a friend or relative who has experienced a pregnancy loss, send her (or him) a copy of her own. No other book covers such a wide range of medical, phyical and emotional experiences that surround pregancy loss. I should know -- after the stillbirth of my first daughter, I read everything in print about pregnancy loss. I just read the recently revised edition, and was happy to see that it increased information about the kinds of losses that so many women are experiencing in this age of high-tech infertility treatments, and that Kohn and Moffitt are dead-on about the complex range of emotions women and their partners undergo. Combining deep wisdom about ageless issues of parenthood and grieving with the often terrifying new territory of high tech childbearing, this is a book that will touch many lives.

For anyone who has had the sadness to suffer the loss of a child, A SILENT SORROW is THE definitive book to own. It is not only written for the Mother and Father, but grandparents, siblings, friends and health care professionals. It's section on dealing with your loss, understanding the devastation of the grief and coping with it were instrumental in helping me deal with the loss of my daughter, who was stillborn at nine months. I read it, and reread it - sometimes daily - because it provided the comfort and support I needed. It also provides practical advice on creating services, coping with others, thinking about second pregnancies and anniversary reactions. I cannot say enough good things about this book, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a sensitive and practical insight on the sad, and often little known subject of pregnancy loss.

As a psychologist, I highly recommend this book to both mental health professionals and non-professionals. The authors address such relevant issues as grief, social isolation, ramifications on the primary relationship, and mourning in ways that inform my professional practice, while still being accessible to the general public. This book brings much needed attention to a topic, pregnancy loss, that has long been neglected. Indeed, it has proven to be a valuable resource by providing not only important information, but also cruical validation for experiences and feelings that have been minimized. A Silent Sorrow is necessary reading for care providers treating those who have experienced pregnancy loss, for friends and family of those who have had this experience, and for those who have had such an experience themselves.

This is the ultimate guidebook for those who have lost a preganacy or newborn. It offers many suggestions for rituals and support groups as well as pertinent medical information. I would suggest it to anyone in need.