Editors Eleanor Henderson and Anna Solomon realized that among the dozens of books on preparing for childbirth, shopping for infant equipment and selecting baby names, there weren't many personal accounts of the birth experience itself. Labor Day, a collection of "artful, unvarnished, hilarious, harrowing" stories from 30 published authors, aims to fill the gap.
Each essayist--from Cheryl Strayed and her pragmatic "What Not to Believe" tips to Julia Glass's reflections on her son's speedy arrival--entertains her fans with an unusual, candid story. Edan Lepucki laments the Cesarean she had after planning a "natural" birth. "But the word 'should' doesn't belong anywhere near childbirth. It's an unpredictable process, and different for every woman. In that sense, it's kind of like parenthood," she writes. Sometimes these brutally honest histories touch on infertility, stillborn babies and insensitive medical procedures, but ultimately, the stories are celebrations, and humor abounds. Eleanor Henderson remembers her husband stopping for money to tip the hospital valet: "What man with a wife in labor stops at the ATM?"
These moms credit their families and medical teams for support, but some, like Heidi Pitlor, recall less-positive interactions: A nurse chided her to "be a strong woman" as she labored with the first of her twins. While anyone who's experienced a birth will relate, anxious moms-to-be might find some stories a bit scary. And though the collection invites picking and choosing, it's likely most mothers will wish they could talk to the authors and share, "Oh, but here's what happened to me...." --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco