Communicating Pregnancy Loss

Contents: Patricia Geist-Martin: Foreword: The Sacred Number Four - Rachel E. Silverman/Jay Baglia: The Politics of Pregnancy Loss - Maria Brann: Nine Years Later and Still Waiting: When Health Care Providers' Social Support Never Arrives - Jennifer J. Bute: Honoring Stories of Miscarriage in the Medical Context: A Plea to Health Care Providers - Jennifer L. Fairchild/Michael Irvin Arrington: Looking for Their Light: Advancing Knowledge and Supporting Women by Listening to Pregnancy Loss Narratives - Julie L. G. Walker/Benjamin M. Walker: Unscripted Loss: A Hesitant Narrative of a Reconstructed Family - Elissa Foster/Jodi McGivern: A Story We Can Live With: The Role of the Medical Sonographer in the Diagnosis of Fetal Demise - Kristann Heinz/Elissa Foster: Searching for Grace - Lisa Jo Schilling/Rachel E. Silverman: When the Professional Is Personal: Case Studies of Pregnancy Loss, My Story of Pregnancy Loss - Caryn E. Medved: Infertility, Professional Identity, and Consciousness-Raising - Rebecca Kennerly: Hidden in Plain Sight: Mystoriography, Melancholic Mourning, and the Poetics of [My Pregnancy] Loss - Michaela D. E . Meyer: On the Identity Politics of Pregnancy: An Autoethnographic Journey Through/In Reproductive Time - Deleasa Randall-Griffiths: The Healing Journey - Lisa Weckerle: Once Upon a Time: A Tale of Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, and (Re)Birth - Elizabeth Root: The Empty Woman: Dealing With Sadness and Loss After a Hysterectomy - Jay Baglia: Melancholy Baby: Time, Emplotment, and Other Notes on Our Miscarriage - Jennifer Morey Hawkins: Dying Inside of Me: Unexplained Recurrent Early Pregnancy Loss - Renata Ferdinand: Moving Through Miscarriage: A Personal Narrative - Julie Novak/Eduardo Gargurevich: Barren and Abandoned: Our Representations Left Unshared and Uncharted - Desiree Rowe: Cruel Optimism and the Problem With Positivity: Miscarriage as a Model for Living - Sherokee Ilse/Kara L.C. Jones: Turning Tragedy Into Triumph: A Hero's Journey

Rachel E. Silverman (PhD, University of South Florida) is Assistant Professor of Communication at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Jay Baglia (PhD, University of South Florida) is Assistant Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University.
Jay Baglia (PhD, University of South Florida) is Assistant Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University.

«Deeply moving and evocative, Communicating Pregnancy Loss strikes a perfect chord that will resonate throughout the field of health communication. This courageous collection is unique in its pairing of compelling narratives of loss with critical analyses that contextualize authors' experiences within cutting-edge theory and concepts. Silverman and Baglia's volume is the perfect text for enriching health communication courses, a must-have for researchers in women's health and narrative medicine, and a deep comfort for women and their partners living with pregnancy loss. Bravo to the authors and editors for breaking the silences that surround miscarriage and infertility.» (Laura L. Ellingson, Santa Clara University, former Senior Editor for Qualitative, Interpretive, and Rhetorical Methods at Health Communication and author of Communicating in the Clinic: Negotiating Frontstage and Backstage Teamwork)
«The most exciting development in scholarship on pregnancy loss in years. Moving personal accounts paired with savvy theoretical insights. A must-read for health care providers who may encounter those undergoing pregnancy loss.» (Linda Layne, University of Rochester, National Science Foundation, and author of Motherhood Lost: A Feminist Account of Pregnancy Loss in America)
«Bearing witness. Imagining otherwise. Moving audiences and mobilizing resources. The potential of storytelling to transform selves and society is revealed in this poignant collection of stories artfully compiled by Silverman and Baglia. The storytellers who populate this volume write with clarity and raw honesty, inviting readers to consider the social and political dimensions of pregnancy loss. Healthcare practitioners and the general public alike will find Communicating Pregnancy Loss an invaluable resource for enacting social support and shifting public dialogue surrounding pregnancy loss specifically and vulnerability writ large.» (Lynn Harter, Ohio University; author of Imagining New