Eight years ago this month, I was powering through the early weeks of pregnancy nausea with my fifth pregnancy. At that point, I’d experienced two full-term pregnancies with two miscarriages sandwiched in between. I thought (hoped, maybe) that since my most recent pregnancy had ended after 41 weeks with a beautiful, healthy baby girl, that my miscarriages were behind me.
I was wrong.
Because of my history, my doctors wanted to see me early in pregnancy. My husband was away on extended work travel when I received the news that this ultrasound, too, showed a baby whose heart no longer beat.
After my first loss, I remember my toddler trying to comfort us by suggesting we plant a tree instead of having another baby. And blurting out in an elevator full of people that our baby died.
Novels to Mark Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month Click To TweetI can’t say it ever got easier. Probably the contrary, with the losses compounding my anxiety. During my last two pregnancies, I felt as if I were heading to my execution when I entered the medical facility for those early ultrasounds.
Testing following that third miscarriage revealed the reason for my repeated losses, and I went on to deliver two more healthy babies. The feeling of relief at seeing a heartbeat was immense.
But those two pregnancies were marked by a rare complication with a risk of stillbirth: intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.
In short, pregnancy and infant loss, through abortion, miscarriage, still birth or infant death, have a special place in my heart.
These novels address one or more those issues. I’ve grouped them for convenience by novels I’ve read, Catholic and nonCatholic Christian fiction, and those that have been suggested to me that address these issues but which I have not yet read.
Catholic novels
- Emily’s Hope by Ellen Gable
- In Name Only (O’Donovan Family Book 1) by Ellen Gable
- A Subtle Grace (O’Donovan Family Book 2) by Ellen Gable
- Stealing Jenny by Ellen Gable
- Rosa, Sola by Carmela Martino
- The Rose and the Sword (The Veritas Chronicles Book 2) by Gina Marinello-Sweeney
- Bane’s Eyes (I Am Margaret Book 4) by Corinna Turner
- Ornamental Graces by Carolyn Astfalk
- A World Such as Heaven Intended by Amanda Lauer
Christian Novels
- Red Rose Bouquet (Grace Revealed Volume 2) by Jennifer Rodewald
- Shadows of Hope by Georgiana Daniels
- Married ‘Til Monday (A Chapel Springs Romance) by Denise Hunter
Christian Novels Recommended to Me That I Haven’t Yet Read
- Ours for a Season by Kim Vogel Sawyer
- A Powerful Voice by Penelope Powell
- The Spindle Chair (The Barn Church Series Book 1) by Shellie Arnold
- Summer (Sunrise Series – Baxter 3, Book 2) by Karen Kingsbury
- Mountain Refuge by Sarah Varland
- Swimming in the Deep End by Christina Suzann Nelson
- The Innkeeper at Ivy Hill by Julie Klaussen
- Diamond of the Rockies trilogy by Kristen Heitzmann
- Home by Ginny L. Yttrup
Can you recommend any novels (any genre) that address pregnancy and infant loss? I’m fairly certain I’m forgetting some that I’ve read.
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Wow, thank you for sharing your story. As a woman who could never conceive, I have never known either the joys of carrying and delivering a child into the world or the agony of losing one that you’ve carried for a time. My heart goes out to you and to all mothers who have lost a child for whatever reason.
I love how you put it: “…pregnancy and infant loss, through abortion, miscarriage, still birth or infant death, have a special place in my heart.”
Beautiful post. Thank you for sharing your particular story with followers.
Thanks so much for sharing your story and for highlighting infant loss awareness month. I’m sorry for the losses you’ve experienced. While I’ve never lost a child, I do know what it’s like to have a sibling who was stillborn. My novel, Rosa, Sola, was inspired by that experience. Thanks for including the novel in your list and for sharing all these titles.
Thanks, Carolyn, for sharing your story. Like you, I know all too well what it’s like to lose seven precious babies through miscarriage. It’s a club I never wanted to be a part of. (But we now have precious intercessors in heaven that we will meet again one day!)
Thanks for all of your kinds words!