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The Baby Decision

How to Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Baby Decision by Merle Bombardieri is a compassionate and practical guide to help individuals and couples navigate the complex choice of becoming parents or remaining childfree. Drawing on over thirty years of clinical experience, the author offers exercises, anecdotes, and checklists to uncover inner feelings, differentiate personal desires from societal expectations, and communicate effectively with partners. The book addresses diverse topics such as one-child families, adoption, fertility, and balancing work and relationships, empowering readers to make confident, informed decisions about their parenting journey.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$6800

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for women of childbearing age, couples, and anyone considering parenthood or a childfree life who seek clarity and assurance in making this significant decision. It is also valuable for therapists, coaches, and facilitators involved in reproductive decision-making support.

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The Baby Decision is a clear, compassionate guide to making a parenting or childfree decision with confidence.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

FROM CONFUSION TO CONFIDENCE IN FIVE STEPS

SECOND EDITION COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED

The Baby Decision is a clear, compassionate guide to making a parenting or childfree decision with confidence. Many women of childbearing age and their partners find it hard to make this life-changing decision. Without a crystal ball, what can you do? Some women say "I like the idea of motherhood, but how do I know I'd really enjoy it? What will happen to my job, my relationship, my sanity?" Or they say, "I'm leaning towards being childfree, but will I be sorry later?"

Merle Bombardieri, MSW, LICSW, has been helping people make this decision for over thirty years in her therapy and coaching practice and in her Baby Decision Workshops. With a depth that only a psychotherapist can provide, she shows you strategies for dealing with doubt and ambivalence and uncovering your deepest self-knowledge. Through anecdotes, exercises, guidelines, and checklists, she leads you to your best possible choice.

Imagine the relief of finally cutting through the tangled vines of pros and cons and seeing a clear decision emerge. Merle helps you not only to make a decision but to use it as an opportunity for you and your relationship to grow.

You will learn how to:

  • Use dozens of "Secret Doors" exercises to uncover hidden feelings and wisdom.
  • Separate your own needs and preferences from societal myths and expectations.
  • Give full consideration to the rewards and opportunities of living childfree.
  • Talk constructively with your partner even if you disagree.
  • Manage work-life balance and keep your relationship strong.
  • Make decisions about one-child families, single and gay parenting, fertility and adoption.
  • Borrow some of the benefits of the other choice.

You will also learn how to trust your decision and make the most of it.

  • Includes resources and bibliography.
  • Bonus section: Preparing your body for a healthy pregnancy.

Upcoming Events

The Baby Decision Parenthood Decision Making Workshops

October 30, 2016, Cambridge Center for Adult Education (ccae.org)

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780997500707

Publisher: Orchard View Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 August 2016

Imprint: Orchard View Press

Edition: 2nd ed.

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 517g

Pages: 354

About the Author

Merle (Malkoff) Bombardieri, is a clinical social worker/ psychotherapist who specializes in parenthood decision-making, infertility, adoption, and making the most of a childfree life. Although she enjoyed raising her daughters, now grown, she has also been an advocate for childfree people since 1979. She has been in private practice for 30+ years in Lexington, MA. In 1981, she published the first edition of The Baby Decision based on interviews and reviews of scholarly research. Then in 1982 she became Clinical Director of RESOLVE, the national infertility association. There she wrote guidelines for infertility patients who were making decisions on new techniques such as in vitro fertilization and donor egg, as well as adoption and surrogacy. Around that time, she founded the support group Boston Single Mothers by Choice. This revised second edition of The Baby Decision, is based on 35 more years of work guiding decision-makers in educational workshops, long-distance coaching for people around the world and psychotherapy. Merle brings a sense of humor and compassion to her work. She helps clients and readers get curious about themselves and about making new discoveries that make life more fun. Merle's writing has appeared in Our Bodies, Ourselves, Brides, Glamour, Self, the Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Magazine and psychology blogs. She has lectured at Harvard Medical School, M.I.T., Wellesley College, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. She has appeared on national radio and television news shows, talk shows and documentaries, including the Leeza Show. Merle has been quoted in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Huffington Post. She has also written medical journal articles and a chapter in a medical textbook. Merle is married and the mother of two grown daughters and the grandmother of a two-year-old boy. She enjoys creative writing, yoga, hiking, and travel. She is working on a novel, Don't Ask, about two sisters and a surrogate pregnancy. Sign up on her contact page to hear more about it and to receive her newsletter. Go to her website to sign up for her newsletter, www.thebabydecision.com. Twitter@thebabydecision, Facebook.com/thebabydecision

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