September 23, 2005
Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic by Martha Beck
Having just discovered I was pregnant, I read Expecting Adam feeling somehow as if I had to read it. All I knew about it was that it was the story of a Harvard couple who knowingly decided to continue a pregnancy after discovering their baby had Down Syndrome. This book is so much more than that. Adam does have DS, but Beck's story is really one of almost supernatural proportions as she chronicles her pregnancy with Adam. Filtered throughout the story are more current vignettes from her life as Adam grows up, but the bulk of the book is about an almost horrific and frightening pregnancy in which time after time some "force" steps in to help her, reassure her, save her. Regardless of your religious sensibilities, it's a book that will make you wonder; it's also a beautiful book about making tough parenting choices, choices that go against the odds, and it all working out in the end.
Posted by amyo at September 23, 2005 10:25 PM