Great Expectations Twenty-Four True Stories about Childbirth

by Moore, Lisa; Crane, Dede

• ISBN13: 9780887847783
• ISBN10: 0887847781
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-01
• Publisher: House of Anansi Press

Summary

"In this collection of original essays, twenty-four celebrated writers take the reader on an emotional and physical journey like no other: giving birth. Lynn Coady relates the painful memory of her teenage pregnancy and the anguish of giving up her newborn for adoption; Peter Behrens expresses a father's feeling of utter helplessness and incomparable joy during the birth of his first child; Afua Cooper reflects upon giving birth in a new land with evolving customs; Anne Fleming describes the process of choosing a male donor with her same-sex partner; and Jaclyn Moriarty transcribes her grandmother's and her mother's birth stories, along with her own, to create a tender oral history, spanning three generations."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
Congratulations, It's a Toaster!	p. 3
Notes from St. Pantaleon	p. 13
Landings	p. 27
Four More of Us	p. 39
My Perfect Birth	p. 53
Moon Woman	p. 67
What They Neglect to Mention	p. 87
New Eyes, New Heart	p. 93
Driving Lessons	p. 111
Earth Mother	p. 115
Not a Natural Childbirth Story	p. 123
The Baby Listens	p. 139
Winter Star	p. 149
Five Times	p. 157
Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Fifty	p. 167
God's Radar	p. 185
Road Trips	p. 191
Animalia	p. 203
Gobsmacked	p. 213
Blood	p. 221
Flight of the Wendybird	p. 233
The Road to Hectanooga	p. 249
Helpless	p. 271
The Spaces In Between	p. 281
About the Contributors	p. 304
Acknowledgements	p. 313
About the Editors	p. 314
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