Exploring Your Unplanned Pregnancy: Single Motherhood, Adoption, and Abortion Questions and Resources

by Jeff Duffey MD

Overview

Looking only for books that confirm your pregnancy decision you may feel reassured at the cost of making a mistake that irreversibly changes your life. Please, read this award-winning book instead. Use it to get some distance from your immediate emotions and widen your perspective. You can reality- check your assumptions and make your own best decision. A physician wrote it with the help of 15 other professionals (12 women and 3 men). In it you’ll explore essential questions about single motherhood, adoption, and abortion to help you carefully think through your decisions about your unplanned pregnancy. You’ll find resource chapters that inform you and save you time in getting help. You can use the book to open a conversation with loved ones. It won the 2016 IndieReader Discovery Award in the Women's Issues category. Useful information on assessing your partner’s readiness for parenting and a video can be found at www.ExploringYourUnplannedPregnancy.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780986258381
Publisher:	Cairde, Karuna & Hedd Publishing,LLC
Publication date:	09/04/2016
Pages:	122
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.26(d)

About the Author

I'm a psychiatrist. I wrote this book because I wanted you to benefit from what my patients, over the years, have taught me about unplanned pregnancy. They trusted me with their insights. They confided in me the questions they were asking themselves and their concerns about the effect their decision would have on their life and others. Their questions and the consequences they experienced have shaped this book. Besides women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, I have worked with their parents, single mothers, women who have had abortions, birth-mothers, adoptive parents, people who have been adopted, people who have wished they had never been born, and people who were glad they were born. I suspect that they would stress the need for you to think carefully about your unplanned pregnancy to make your own best decision.
Davidson College taught me the importance of critical thinking. My experiences as a medical student at the Medical College of Georgia and as a psychiatric resident at Sheppard Pratt Hospital gave me faith in the resilience of the human spirit and a belief that courage can expand our lives even in the face of adversity.
You might ask, "Why should I waste time reading your book when I can search the Internet?" Unlike many Internet sites, my book does not try to make you decide a specific way. It's supportive, not judgmental or intimidating. Although I am not responsible for what my resource websites say, I have screened them and the other resources for accuracy, relevance, and usefulness. I have tried to contact each. You can save time by linking to these sites directly from the e-book. Unlike the Internet, this book can act like a safeguard to double-check that you have considered all the consequences of your decision. Its questions are essential but comprehensive. Working through this book and its resources will give you an assurance of thoroughness you might not get just from following where the Internet leads you.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Laying the Groundwork 1
This Is Your Decision
Reaching Out to Others
Avoiding Overload
Examining Your Values
Remembering Reassuring Beliefs
A Range of Feelings
Handling Self-Destructive Feelings
Taking the Long View
The Decision-Making Process
Perseverance
2 Basic Questions About Single Motherhood 9
You
The Biological Father
Your Child
Your Family
3 Basic Questions About Adoption 13
The Two-Parent Family
The Role of the Adoption Agency in Reflecting Your Wishes
Types of Adoptions
Expenses viii Exploring Your Unplanned Pregnancy
The Adoptive Parents
Your Future Relationship with Your Child
Issues About the Legal Father, the Biological Father, and
Your Other Children
Comparing Risks
4 Basic Questions About Abortion 21
Ethical Issues
An Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
Timing
Your Child's Interest
Outside Pressure
Emotional Health
Missing Motherhood
Illegal Abortions
Miscarriage
Abortion Types
5 Single Motherhood Resources 35
Books and Book Lists
Some Costs of Single Motherhood
Comprehensive Websites with Leads to Many Resources
Financial Assistance, Food Assistance, and Grants
Money Management
Saving Money
Sharing
Bartering
Avoiding Paying Full Price
Avoiding Extra Expenses
Doing It Yourself
Thinking Creatively About Making Money
Taking Care of You
Contents ix
Preparing to Date Again
Helping Your Child Get More Fathering
Being Approachable
Getting More Education and Job Skills
6 Adoption Resources 49
An Overview
Adoption Agencies
Independent Adoptions
Adoption Law
Maternity Homes
Choosing an Adoptive Family
Adoption Scams
Teen Pregnancy
Contraception
7 Abortion Resources 55
Seeking Answers About Your Pregnancy
Determining How Far Along You Are
Medical Abortion
Surgical Abortion
Examples of Specific Provider Websites
Finding a Provider
Paying for the Abortion
The Fetal Pain Issue
The Emotional Effects Issue
Emotional Support After the Abortion
The Laws in Your State About Abortion
Contraception
8 Conclusion 67
x Exploring Your Unplanned Pregnancy
APPENDIX
A-1 The Biological Father 71
Passionate
Permanent
Partner-Ready
Problem-Solving
Parent-Material
Productive
Personable
Protective
Secrets
Unhappily Married
His Parents
Inherited Diseases
Your Husband Is Not the Biological Father
A-2 Supplementary Questions About Single
Motherhood 77
The Joys of Single Motherhood
Positive Alternatives to Having a Child
Single Mothering Skills
The Effect of Your Single Motherhood on Others
Handling Stress
Physical Health Concerns
Finances
Your Energy
A-3 Supplementary Questions About Adoption 85
Considering Different Perspectives
Explaining Your Adoption Process to Others
Selflessness
Contents xi
The Adoptive Process
Added Responsibilities
Anticipating Future Relationships
A-4 Supplementary Questions About Abortion 89
Preconceived Ideas
Another Abortion
Rh Incompatibility
From the Author 91
Bibliography 93
Index 97

Editorial Reviews

Exploring Your Unplanned Pregnancy is designed to be a woman's companion as she explores the choices, consequences, and possibilities of not just a pregnancy, but an unplanned event - and here is where this book differs substantially from other books on pregnancy and motherhood.
It pairs information with discussions of the decision-making processes at every turn, and is carefully couched so as to not promote a set course of action. Considering the social and ethical eggshell-walking this must have involved, this is no light achievement.
Nobody facing an unplanned pregnancy needs to read a book forcing them on a particular path. Ideally, a discussion should be informational and strive for a sense of dispassionate exploration of all the options: in this, Exploring Your Unplanned Pregnancy more than succeeds.
From 'Avoiding Overload' to 'Basic Questions', chapters covering the biological father, abortion, single motherhood, and adoption choices are couched in such a manner as to lend to at-a-glance information and reference as well as browsing or cover-to-cover reading.
Those who already have a sense of the process can use it to review the facts and options, while those newly informed about their pregnancy will find it a virtual treasure trove of detail. From resource chapters to overviews of single motherhood and types of family dialogues which can take place, this leaves nothing to wonder and should be in every general lending library as an essential reference.
Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review Bookwatch, July2015
...In a time and in a nation in which adoption, single parenthood and especially abortion are hot-button, highly politicized issues, EXPLORING YOUR UNPLANNED PREGNANCY stands out as a resource for women in a trying situation requiring assistance to make decisions that can affect them for the rest of their lives. For this reason, the book will certainly be appreciated...- IndieReader Winner of the IndieReader Discovery Awards in the Women's Issues Category for 2016.

From the Publisher