Table of Contents: July 2017

Feature – Summer Reading Pick

**[EXCERPT] The Art of Waiting: “Baby Fever”**

Belle Boggs’s The Art of Waiting sets her own struggles with infertility within a larger framework of sociological, cultural (both historic and present-day), scientific, and literary attitudes toward reproduction and motherhood. In this excerpt from her meditative memoir she explores “Baby Fever,” the “delirious, aching sickness” to have a child that sent many of us on our infertility and adoption journeys. | BY BELLE BOGGS

Personal Essays

“Opting Out of IVF”

As I dove into research about in vitro fertilization, I kept waiting to be excited about this wondrous technology. But the excitement never came. When our talk turned to adoption, however, I felt the rebirth of hope. | BY LAUREN MCLAUGHLIN

“Are Adoptive Moms Allowed to Have a Bad Day?”

After finally realizing my dream of becoming a mother, I found what most new parents find—along with the bliss come days filled with crying, spit-up, and leaking diapers. But when I dared to vent, I was chided: “You wanted to adopt…you asked for this!” | BY SANDY BURKETT

Parent-to-Parent

Explaining Attention and Questions from Strangers

When you and your child don’t look alike, the world wants to know why. Parents who adopted transracially share how they explain strangers’ questions and comments to their children.