Carry Me

Stories of Pregnancy Loss

Frieda Hoffman

• Publisher: She Writes Press
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN:
  9781647423605
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Gynecology, Obstetrics & Midwifery

After Frieda Hoffman’s second miscarriage, she felt alone, ignorant, and overwhelmed with emotions. Finding little literature or support available, her entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and she decided to create the resource she wished she’d had: real stories about pregnancy loss from real women without the off-putting lens of religion or academia so typical of the self-help genre.
Through Hoffman’s own journey and those of nineteen women she interviewed, Carry Me explores universal themes of grief, bearing witness, transforming adversity into opportunity, and the paradox of feeling alone while sharing a common experience. The diverse women and narratives unpack the physical, emotional, and financial challenges of loss; notions of womanhood and motherhood; and the intersections of public health, body politics, and patient care. Readers are called to action to share their own stories in order to heal themselves and support others.
Nearly everyone knows someone affected by pregnancy loss, yet most of us are not comfortable, even in the relative safety of the company of friends and sisters, discussing this serious health issue. It’s time to normalize the dialogue and help one another through our losses by sharing our resources, our wisdom, and our stories—by carrying one another.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Introduction: Frieda
• Chapter 1: Molly: “It’s essential that we have other people.”
• Chapter 2: Desiree: “Feel what we feel and let it heal!”
• Chapter 3: Ashley: “You don’t have to be Wonder Woman.”
• Chapter 4: Suzy: “No baby, no client.”
• Chapter 5: Kari: “As a woman of color, I really expected more.”
• Chapter 6: Abby: “Nobody walks you through the finances of loss.”
• Chapter 7: Rae: “We remade our lives around this.”
• Chapter 8: Joanna: “I knew my babies were out there.”
• Chapter 9: Noreen: “You just end up quiet.”
• Chapter 10: Jackie: “I was entitled to feel a loss.”
• Chapter 11: Beth: “I needed to believe there was a greater purpose.”
• Chapter 12: Shirley: “Freeze your fucking eggs.”
• Chapter 13: Katie: “Life seems so much more fragile now.”
• Chapter 14: Miranda: “I can’t believe it’s still like this!”
• Chapter 15: Deven: “We’re transformers.”
• Chapter 16: Rose: “Bottom line is, we were killing him.”
• Chapter 17: Janice: “The assumption is pregnancy.”
• Chapter 18: KT: “The world needs our love!”
• Chapter 19: Golda: “I love being a woman.”
• Glossary
• End Notes
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author