Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

I liked this book a lot. It is a nonfiction about Martha Beck (daughter of Hugh Nibley) dealing with being pregnant with a down syndrome baby. At the time, she and her husband are getting their doctorates at Harvard. They already have one child which has made things difficult enough to compete in the intellectual world of the Harvard. Everyone at Harvard is hard core for learning it seems and looks down on anyone with kids. So when Martha finds out that her second baby will be born with down syndrome she faces many difficulties. Let's just say that the word abortion is mentioned several times by several people. But while she was expecting Adam, she experienced so many amazing things.

I learned so much from this book about what women go through while being pregnant. It does not make it sound pleasant, but yet it does it in a way that you know it will be worth it. Also, there is a little bit of anti-mormon talk in there, but it is very subtle. What boggles my mind is that as I read all these things that Martha experienced, some I would call out and out miracles, she passes them off as bunraku puppeteers looking out for her and doesn't even seem to fathom that it is God that is looking out for her. It seemed like such a waste in some ways which is like a part in the book when Martha wonders why all these wonderful things are happening to her. Why is she being saved when there are others out there who are suffering? How does God choose who receives his help. This is one of the main reasons, I think why she will not accept a God who can pick and choose without any sort of criteria, or at least that she doesn't know the criteria.

I do reccommend this book because it is quite amazing all the things Martha experiences and sees. It is wonderfully written and it gave me a better appreciation of a God who loves us, whether we accept him or not.

Quotes:

"Baby talk is found in all nations, all cultures; it is the original Mother Tongue. It translates across any language barrier because it is more about music that about words; the sounds themselves, not their meaning, give comfort and support."

"One of the great myths of our society is that when women are left with small children, they are not alone. The truth is that mother left with babies is far more alone than she would be without them; every bit of energy, attention, protectiveness, and care she might use to meet her own needs must first be directed toward the needs of her children."

"This is the part of us that makes our brief, improbable little lives worth living: the ability to reach through our own isolation and find strength, and comfort, and warmth for and in each other. This is what human beings do. This is what we live for, the way horses live to run."

"The Taoist saying that 'when two great forces collide, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield.' The idea is that a fluid substance, like water, may seem to give in to a rigid substance, like stone--but in the end, it is the water that shapes the stone, and the other way around."