Fort Worth Star-Telegram Book Review

Listening to the sound of your baby's heartbeat can be one of the most joyful and reassuring experiences of pregnancy --- unless you have lost a baby. Before a pregnancy loss, you might never consider the possibility that your baby's heart could stop beating, but in a subsequent pregnancy, it could very well become an obsession, especially before you are far enough along to feel movement from the baby, says Carol Cirulli Lanham. "Now that you know your baby could die, there may be days when you can't relax until you have actually heard the sound of your baby's heart. Fortunately, most doctors will be more than willing to accommodate your needs," Lanham says. A resident of Dallas, Lanham has been a journalist for The Associated Press, Reuters, Newsweek and Vatican Radio. She is author of the new book Pregnancy After a Loss. Lanham suffered a full-term pregnancy loss in 1994 and has since given birth to two healthy sons. But, Lanham says, when well-meaning family and friends tell you that you can always try again, you may need more than simple reassurance that the odds of giving birth to a healthy baby are in your favor. "Instead of making plans, we ask questions: Why did my last pregnancy end in a loss? What could have been done to prevent it? Could it happen again? How long should I wait before getting pregnant? Should I keep the same doctor, go to the same hospital or use the same baby things?" she notes. Lanham interviewed almost 100 women and physicians to answer those questions and many others in her book. The incidence of pregnancy loss has risen in recent years as more women put off childbearing until later in life, when the associated medical risks are higher and as reproductive technology allows more women to get pregnant who might otherwise not have been able to conceive. For anyone considering pregnancy after the loss of a baby, this book is a godsend, with many poignant and personal answers to help ease anxiety and fear.

--Carolyn Poirot