"A child dies in this book: a baby. A baby is stillborn. You don't have to tell me how sad that is: it happened to me and my husband, our baby, a son."
I just finished reading An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. It is incredibly sad and hopeful and heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. When the author, Elizabeth McCracken, talks about the emotions surrounding the loss of her son, I feel I could have written those words myself.
McCracken was 41 weeks pregnant with her first child when it went horribly wrong. The baby died, for unexplained reasons. She had to deliver the baby, still, and find some way to carry on. She talks candidly about the loss, her feelings for her son before and after birth, her relationship with her husband, the effect it had on them, their friends and family. We follow her through the journey of telling family and friends; of moving and packing up the baby items; of finding a new neutral home to live in; to navigating the brand new world of subsequent pregnancy.
McCracken was fortunate to deliver a rainbow baby, born almost exactly one year later. The rainbow baby comes with a whole new set of emotions and she writes
"Everyday as I love this baby in my lap, I think of my other baby. Poor older brother, poor missing one....The love for the first magnifies the love for the second, and vice versa."
I think the sentiments and experiences in this book can ring true for many of us. I found myself not only able to put myself in McCracken's shoes but also in the shoes of the "childish and unnerving" mother from the book signing who laughed wholeheartedly over a seagull stealing her husband's tuna sub and pressed McCracken to write a book about the lighter side of loss. I think that's another book I'd dive right into!
6 comments:
I read this book too and loved it. I've highlighted so many parts of it.
I will have to pick this book up.
I will also have to pick up this book and McCracken is so right, so many dont want to hear all of what grief includes, they would rather hear the lighter side, they would rather tune in to hear good things all the time like you are moving on,surviving, seeing signs your baby is with you always etc they dont want to know what happened or hear about the bad days, the crippling grief and hear about the days you are pineing away for your child. It takes a strong, loving and noble person to walk with you on those days, to always look at your child pics over and over with you and to face death by your side.
I'd like to read this one!
this book is on my to read list... after i get it that is.
I read this right after Logan died. I was looking for a "what to do now" sort of book, and this one was not it. I "enjoyed" the book, or related to it maybe more so than enjoyed it. This book reminded me more of a blog, her story, how it went down and how she handled most of it. But it doesn't answer any questions, which is fine ans she makes no claims to do so, but at the time that's what I was searching desperately for...answers. The book is worth reading if you can handle reading about more baby death and if you're looking to relate. Her story is very touching and has a happier ending.
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