Birth, Breath, and Death: A Doula's Memoir

Doulas have written groundbreaking books in recent decades, from The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin, to Debra Pascali-Bonaro's Orgasmic Birth, to my own The Doula Guide to Birth. However, I am not aware of many doulas who have written memoirs, a genre that I love, so I was particularly intrigued to read Amy Wright Glenn's new publication, Birth, Breath, and Death: Meditations on Motherhood, Chaplaincy, and Life as a Doula.  The book is a riveting spiritual autobiography, and an account of Glenn's work both as a doula and a hospital chaplain to the dying.  It is also the story of her complicated relationship with her mother, and becoming a mother herself.  She writes, "I am captivated by the study of life's thresholds. What is more mysterious than the great unknown existing beyond the frontiers of birth and death? Through the bodies of women, we are all born into time and space. Each one of us must also walk through that great, uncharted door of death."  I am grateful to Amy Wright Glenn for her permission to share the opening pages of her book with you below.  To purchase and read her book in its entirety, click here.

How My Mother’s Death Makes Me Fear Motherhood

The loss of a mother affects a woman whether she chooses to have children of her own, chooses not to, or finds herself becoming a mother after years of believing she was not destined to do so.  Nicole Clark is a social worker and activist who writes about her personal experience with this below.  To view her full Web site, which contains a wealth of information about a broad range of reproductive health and justice issues, click here.  (Another pioneer on the topic of motherless daughters is Hope Edelman, whose books explore many issues, including the helpful role of doulas in supporting women who have experienced mother loss as they become mothers themselves.  Also, women whose mothers are not deceased, but who were absent due to other challenges, sometimes relate to these same issues.)  I am grateful to Nicole Clark for sharing her story here.