Overview

When a couple plans for a child today, every moment seems precious and unique. Home pregnancy tests promise good news just days after conception, and prospective parents can track the progress of their pregnancy day by day with apps that deliver a stream of embryonic portraits. On-line due date calculators trigger a direct-marketing barrage of baby-name lists and diaper coupons. Ultrasounds as early as eight weeks offer a first photo for the baby book.Yet, all too often, even the best-strategized childbearing plans go awry. About twenty percent of confirmed pregnancies miscarry, mostly in the first months of gestation. Statistically, early pregnancy losses are a normal part of childbearing for healthy women. Drawing on sources ranging from advice books and corporate marketing plans to diary entries and blog posts, Lara Freidenfelds offers a deep perspective on how this common and natural phenomenon has been experienced. As she shows, historically, miscarriages were generally taken in stride so long as a woman eventually had the children she desired. This has changed in recent decades, and an early pregnancy loss is often heartbreaking and can be as devastating to couples as losing a child. Freidenfelds traces how innovations in scientific medicine, consumer culture, cultural attitudes toward women and families, and fundamental convictions about human agency have reshaped the childbearing landscape. While the benefits of an increased emphasis on parental affection, careful pregnancy planning, attentive medical care, and specialized baby gear are real, they have also created unrealistic and potentially damaging expectations about a couple's ability to control reproduction and achieve perfect experiences. The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy provides a reassuring perspective on early pregnancy loss and suggests ways for miscarriage to more effectively be acknowledged by women, their families, their healthcare providers, and the maternity care industry.

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9780190869816

Table of Contents

Reviews

This social and medical history of the role of miscarriage will be useful for people planning a family, women who have had a miscarriage, and gender studies students. -- Library Journal This lively and informative book is simultaneously an exploration of contemporary 'mommy blogs' and a deeply researched history of childbirth in America. By focusing on the history of miscarriage, it casts new light on almost every aspect of our modern reproductive system, from technological innovations like sonograms to the semantics of abortion debates. It is an innovative and powerful contribution to history and to present-day discourse on childbearing. -- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale Bravo! Freidenfelds has delivered a formidable and gripping account of pregnancy loss in America. She weaves the voices of women today and generations past with keen historical and scientific insights. The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy shines a much-needed light on miscarriage, a subject that has, until now, been hidden from both casual conversations and scholarly scrutiny. -- Randi Hutter Epstein, author of Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank Freidenfelds captures the dramatic transformation of the ideal of pregnancy over the past two hundred years, from a normal, accepted part of a colonial woman's life to the highly monitored, commercialized, and emotional-laden experiences of 21st century women. With sensitivity and care she explores the experience of pregnancy loss, which remains a common yet rarely publicly discussed occurrence. -- Rima D. Apple, author of Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy offers far more than a meticulously researched historical perspective on reproductive health and parenting attitudes. It also provides critical insight to the present, with a lesson that much of childbearing and childrearing is out of our control, to expect and accept the ups and downs of life and the inevitable mistakes we will make as parents. Freidenfelds has used facts to illustrate how our perfectionist parenting standards came about, so that we may forgive ourselves our imperfections. This is a message many parents, myself included, need to hear and be reminded of. Freidenfelds' work can help shift the current culture of parenting, and we will all benefit. -- Monique Tello, MD, MPH, FACP, Massachusetts General Hospital

Outstanding....filled with insights and...compassion...The book is...an important feminist text, analysing the way in which women's fertility has been and is a source of oppression. It sees women as victims - victims of relentless pregnancies in colonial times, of the requirement to mother 'intensively' in more recent times, and of aggressive marketing and medical surveillance in modern times. In the final chapter, the author suggests ways in which women might take back control....I found it inspiring and illuminating. -- Mary Nolan, De Partu Viewing what used to be called 'lost' pregnancies with an understanding of the fullness of women's reproductive lives and desires, Freidenfelds delivers a powerful history. Her excellent book should be read by public health practitioners and their students for the information it delivers about the historical experience of pregnancy and miscarriage and for the insights it provides about the ways new media and new technologies shape the modern experience of miscarriage. -- Janet Golden, American Journal of Public Health This is a book filled with insights and with compassion. It is always pro-women, especially when analysing the politics of pro-choice and pro-life still highly influential in the United States. I found it inspiring and illuminating. It is often said that it is only possible tounderstand the present by studying the past and this book has certainly thrown more light on women's contemporary experiences of pregnancy and mothering than many I have read that relate only to the 21st century. -- Dr Mary Nolan, Departu This social and medical history of the role of miscarriage will be useful for people planning a family, women who have had a miscarriage, and gender studies students. -- Library Journal This lively and informative book is simultaneously an exploration of contemporary 'mommy blogs' and a deeply researched history of childbirth in America. By focusing on the history of miscarriage, it casts new light on almost every aspect of our modern reproductive system, from technological innovations like sonograms to the semantics of abortion debates. It is an innovative and powerful contribution to history and to present-day discourse on childbearing. -- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale Bravo! Freidenfelds has delivered a formidable and gripping account of pregnancy loss in America. She weaves the voices of women today and generations past with keen historical and scientific insights. The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy shines a much-needed light on miscarriage, a subject that has, until now, been hidden from both casual conversations and scholarly scrutiny. -- Randi Hutter Epstein, author of Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank Freidenfelds captures the dramatic transformation of the ideal of pregnancy over the past two hundred years, from a normal, accepted part of a colonial woman's life to the highly monitored, commercialized, and emotional-laden experiences of 21st century women. With sensitivity and care she explores the experience of pregnancy loss, which remains a common yet rarely publicly discussed occurrence. -- Rima D. Apple, author of Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy offers far more than a meticulously researched historical perspective on reproductive health and parenting attitudes. It also provides critical insight to the present, with a lesson that much of childbearing and childrearing is out of our control, to expect and accept the ups and downs of life and the inevitable mistakes we will make as parents. Freidenfelds has used facts to illustrate how our perfectionist parenting standards came about, so that we may forgive ourselves our imperfections. This is a message many parents, myself included, need to hear and be reminded of. Freidenfelds' work can help shift the current culture of parenting, and we will all benefit. -- Monique Tello, MD, MPH, FACP, Massachusetts General Hospital [The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy] takes all of those truths and puts them in historical and contemporary context. The result is an important and fascinating book that... will resonate with, and maybe bring a measure of relief to, countless families. -- Heidi Stevens, The Chicago Tribune

"""This social and medical history of the role of miscarriage will be useful for people planning a family, women who have had a miscarriage, and gender studies students."" -- Library Journal ""This lively and informative book is simultaneously an exploration of contemporary 'mommy blogs' and a deeply researched history of childbirth in America. By focusing on the history of miscarriage, it casts new light on almost every aspect of our modern reproductive system, from technological innovations like sonograms to the semantics of abortion debates. It is an innovative and powerful contribution to history and to present-day discourse on childbearing."" -- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale ""Bravo! Freidenfelds has delivered a formidable and gripping account of pregnancy loss in America. She weaves the voices of women today and generations past with keen historical and scientific insights. The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy shines a much-needed light on miscarriage, a subject that has, until now, been hidden from both casual conversations and scholarly scrutiny."" -- Randi Hutter Epstein, author of Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank ""Freidenfelds captures the dramatic transformation of the ideal of pregnancy over the past two hundred years, from a normal, accepted part of a colonial woman's life to the highly monitored, commercialized, and emotional-laden experiences of 21st century women. With sensitivity and care she explores the experience of pregnancy loss, which remains a common yet rarely publicly discussed occurrence."" -- Rima D. Apple, author of Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America ""The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy offers far more than a meticulously researched historical perspective on reproductive health and parenting attitudes. It also provides critical insight to the present, with a lesson that much of childbearing and childrearing is out of our control, to expect and accept the ups and downs of life and the inevitable mistakes we will make as parents. Freidenfelds has used facts to illustrate how our perfectionist parenting standards came about, so that we may forgive ourselves our imperfections. This is a message many parents, myself included, need to hear and be reminded of. Freidenfelds' work can help shift the current culture of parenting, and we will all benefit."" -- Monique Tello, MD, MPH, FACP, Massachusetts General Hospital ""[The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy] takes all of those truths and puts them in historical and contemporary context. The result is an important and fascinating book that... will resonate with, and maybe bring a measure of relief to, countless families."" -- Heidi Stevens, The Chicago Tribune"

The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancy offers far more than a meticulously researched historical perspective on reproductive health and parenting attitudes. It also provides critical insight to the present, with a lesson that much of childbearing and childrearing is out of our control, to expect and accept the ups and downs of life and the inevitable mistakes we will make as parents. Freidenfelds has used facts to illustrate how our perfectionist parenting standards came about, so that we may forgive ourselves our imperfections. This is a message many parents, myself included, need to hear and be reminded of. Freidenfelds' work can help shift the current culture of parenting, and we will all benefit. * Monique Tello, MD, MPH, FACP, Massachusetts General Hospital * Freidenfelds captures the dramatic transformation of the ideal of pregnancy over the past two hundred years, from a normal, accepted part of a colonial woman's life to the highly monitored, commercialized, and emotional-laden experiences of 21st century women. With sensitivity and care she explores the experience of pregnancy loss, which remains a common yet rarely publicly discussed occurrence. * Rima D. Apple, author of Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America * Bravo! Freidenfelds has delivered a formidable and gripping account of pregnancy loss in America. She weaves the voices of women today and generations past with keen historical and scientific insights.The Myth of the Perfect Pregnancyshines a much-needed light on miscarriage, a subject that has, until now, been hidden from both casual conversations and scholarly scrutiny. * Randi Hutter Epstein, author of Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank * This lively and informative book is simultaneously an exploration of contemporary 'mommy blogs' and a deeply researched history of childbirth in America. By focusing on the history of miscarriage, it casts new light on almost every aspect of our modern reproductive system, from technological innovations like sonograms to the semantics of abortion debates. It is an innovative and powerful contribution to history and to present-day discourse on childbearing. * Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale *

Author Information

A historian of health, reproduction, and parenting in America, Lara Freidenfelds is the author of The Modern Period: Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America. She holds a PhD in the history of science from Harvard University and blogs at nursingclio.org and larafreidenfelds.com. She and her family live in New Jersey.

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