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The Gift of a Child
enlarge	Author: Mary Ann Thompson Publisher: Inner Ocean Publishing Category: Book List Price: ~~$17.95~~ Buy New: $11.49 as of 9/10/2010 15:30 CDT details You Save: $6.46 (36%) Qty 1 In Stock New (3) Used (5) from $4.79 Seller: actsone Rating: 5 reviews Sales Rank: 3174999 Media: Hardcover Pages: 325 Number Of Items: 1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6 Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 ISBN: 1930722176 Dewey Decimal Number: 306.8743 EAN: 9781930722170 ASIN: 1930722176 Publication Date: November 25, 2002 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days



Editorial Reviews: Product Description Thousands of women who want to bear children but cannot, endure tremendous emotional, physical, and financial costs when they explore alternative approaches. This is the heartening story of two women who chose a very personal option. The author, a former protestant minister married to a physicist, decides to bear a child for her longtime friend Alycia, who is infertile. She writes movingly about her pregnancy and the childs birth, but is quite unprepared for the distancing of the couples, which is compounded by the heart-wrenching sense of loss at giving up her newborn daughter. What had begun with the good intentions of two compassionate women becomes a moral and spiritual crisis for both mothers. This crisis is resolved a year later in an astonishing encounter in which they explore their profoundly complex emotions. They come to accept each others journey and celebrate the love of their daughter. An inspiring story of a wondrous gift of love and compassion, told with clear-eyed, simple eloquence, by an author uniquely qualified to examine the moral and spiritual issues.

Customer Reviews: Emotional truthtelling November 23, 2002 Carol Peters (Charleston, SC) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful Human childbearing surrogacy is an odd concept -- how does one bear a child for someone else? This emotionally naked memoir tells one woman's life-changing story, and of the child given and the friend and mother immeasurably blessed. A gift beyond friendship, a tale enacted without lawyers or contracts or insurance or social agencies. Bravery and trust. A gift from a woman to herself, from a woman to her friend, from the child to both women. Next to the clear honesty is the lustrous storytelling. Copies of this book will by my gifts to my family and friends. a must-read November 28, 2002 2 out of 2 found this review helpful I'm so happy I stumbled across this book. What a story--a 41-year-old woman decides to carry a child for her best friend who cannot conceive, and then as the pregnancy progresses they unexpectedly grow further and further apart. At the end of the book, the author tells you how they finally came back together after the baby was born, and you see that this difficult project was truly a succeess, a wonder, a gift. It's written beautifully. No holds barred, everything you want to know about how they did it, what everyone was thinking, how it went. I was so impressed with this woman who wrote the book. What a gift she gave her friend (and the world). And what a book she later wrote about it. She's a talented writer and it's a heartfelt book that I highly recommend. A gift in itself December 1, 2002 pattie rechtman (Los Angeles, CA USA) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful "When any child is born, many are born. A father is born, he who a moment earlier was only a man. A mother is born, who for months had been merely a pregnant woman...And beyond that: cousins, aunts, grandparents, perhaps the whole world is changed by one moment of emergence, that draining out of water and drawing in of breath. She is born, and we are born, too, changed by the startling, wavering announcement of life, of autonomy, of existence...." (The Gift of a Child, p.3) This book is itself remarkable journey, as much as it is the telling of one. From the conception of the idea--to carry a child for a friend who is unable to conceive--to the birth of her daughter, the author's luminous writing invites us to share this experience as it unfolds in all its intensity. As her tiny daughter leaves her birth mother to begin life with her parents, we see, too, how a wounded friendship is made whole again. This is a must-read for those considering surrogacy, there is much to be learned in its pages. More than that, however, it is a book for anyone exploring what it means to love with an open heart....A lovely gift for anyone who has been a mother, or who has had a mother. In other words, a splendid gift for all of us... It's all in there! January 24, 2003 Alycia Johnson (Asheville, NC United States) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful It's all in there: Friendship and hope, anguish and tears, reconciliation and joy. Mary Ann Thompson, the mother of my daughter, has told our story with candor and sensitivity. She gave me our daughter. This book is another gift. A true story of how love and courage restore brokeness. I highly recommend it. You will not want to put it down until you read the very last chapter. HOORAY FOR MARY ANN THOMPSON! December 7, 2002 2 out of 2 found this review helpful THIS BOOK IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING. MARY ANN THOMPSON OPENED HER HEART TO FIRST GIVE HER FRIEND A CHILD, AND THEN AGAIN TO WRITE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE WITH SUCH HONESTY AND DEEP FEELINGS. THE GIFT OF A CHILD IS ONE OF THOSE TREASURE CHESTS THAT YOU WILL WANT TO DIP INTO AGAIN AND AGAIN ONCE YOU HAVE READ IT, WHICH YOU WILL PROBABLY DO IN ONE SITTING. I DIDN'T WANT TO STOP ONCE I OPENED THE LOVELY COVER. BUY TWO - YOU'LL WANT TO GIVE ONE TO A CLOSE FRIEND, BUT YOU WON'T WANT THE BOOK TO LEAVE ONCE YOU HAVE BROUGHT IT HOME.