Kirjahaku

The memoir of the Reverend Eugene R. "Woody" Widrick, Minister Emeritus of the First Religious Society in Carlisle, Massachusetts, reflects on his 87 years of life, from his early childhood in a large Mennonite family in upstate New York to the nine years he spent hospitalized for tuberculosis to his high school, college and graduate school years and on to the journey that brought him his life's work as a Unitarian Universalist minister, in communities as diverse as a Connecticut mill town; New Hampshire's lakes region; Cape Town, South Africa; the Berkshires; and finally the small New England town of Carlisle, Massachusetts, where he and his wife Trudi put down roots, raised a family, and immersed themselves in a vibrant church community.

Giving birth is a unique process. Each woman's experience is different, and women in the U.S. have an array of choices regarding how and where to deliver their babies. Hospital, birthing center, home? Doctor, midwife, doula? In a tub, on a bed? (In a car? Well, maybe not by choice....) Just you and your partner, or family members and other children in attendance? And then, of course, once all those choices have been made, the moment comes....and sometimes plans have to change. In this collection of birth stories, twenty-one women have offered a candid, uncensored, and inspiring retelling of how they brought their babies into the world. Compiled not only for mothers-to-be but for anyone with an interest in the birthing process and its myriad variations, their stories are a source of insight, motivation, hope, and above all else authenticity regarding the birth experience.