Weathered Hearts

This book is a memoir that takes you through one woman's emotional journey to motherhood: frustration over infertility; joy after conceiving two children through IVF; panic upon learning that both children have rare congenital heart defects; grief with the death of her youngest before his first birthday; and acceptance through the discovery of his legacy. The book includes the highs and lows of struggles with depression, miscarriage, failed IVF cycles, and different types of loss, as well as the joys of parenthood, the crazy, silly, joyful things toddlers do, the beautiful moments when communities rally around those who are hurting, and, ultimately, the healing that can take place when we find beauty and can answer some of the "Why" questions we have. The author tells stories about herself from her past that explain why she may have acted or reacted a particular way in the present to flesh herself out as a character and also give the story some humor and color. Boiling it down, the book is about grief, loss, recovery, and the journey to acceptance, but in contrast to most of the books out there, it covers not one single type of loss, but many different types that all arose on our journey to parenthood.