You Might Feel a Little Pressure - by Mary Adkins (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

When Mary Adkins became pregnant with her second kid at thirty-nine, she was thrilled. Instead of a smooth pregnancy, she'd lose three pregnancies over nine months, a journey that would lead her to question more than just her fertility. Having long believed that hard work equals success, she found herself facing an ideological crisis: If sheer effort couldn't produce her greatest want- another baby-where did she go from here? And if she couldn't control this, what else was out of her control? Honest, insightful, and even funny, You Might Feel a Little Pressure explores how an unfulfilled dream can change what we think we know, and grief can lead to places brighter than we imagined.

Review Quotes

"In this frank account of pregnancy loss and infertility, Mary Adkins gives us an intimate view into more than just reproduction. Weaving together threads on body image, achievement, and life purpose, You Might Feel a Little Pressure becomes a portrait of what it's like to be a woman in today's society. It is at once personal and universal, shocking and comforting-Adkins will not only hold up a mirror to your own life, but hold your hand through it." -Jessica Zucker, PhD, psychologist & author of I Had a Miscarriage and Normalize It

"Mary Adkins pulls a stunning kind of hat trick with this memoir. One of the most hopeful and life-affirming stories about loss I have ever read, I inhaled every page as though it were oxygen. I will never forget the way reading it made me feel: expansive, unafraid, surprisingly whole and human. What a gift." -Simone Gorrindo, author of The Wives

"Mary Adkins has done the impossible: she has written an unflinching memoir about loss that shimmers with life. You Might Feel a Little Pressure is about three gut-wrenching miscarriages, yes, but it's also about the blink-and-you'll-miss-it beauty and hilarity of raising a toddler, the maddening hijinks that come with having a body, the deep satisfactions of marriage, the inside jokes with friends, who are only a text away, no matter what. This book has arrived to remind us that life, whatever else it may be, is this: a miracle." -Greg Marshall, author of Leg

"Mary Adkins takes you on a journey of love, hope, grief, and acceptance. It's heartbreaking, tender, and beautiful. You Might Feel a Little Pressure is like the friend you want to call in your darkest hour, reminding you that you are not alone, reminding you that others have gone before you, and that there is a path forward. This book is for every woman who has loved and lost and loved again." -Meadow DeVor, bestselling author of The Worthy Project