Babies and Books: An Update!

Dear readers, the time has come. 

I am thrilled and terrified to announce that I have a new book out in February! It’s called Room of Wonders, and it’s all about home birth: a collection of global birth stories and interviews with birth workers exploring what it actually means to deliver your baby at home. 
 
I haven't really shared with the world I gave birth to my three kids here in our house, the same certified professional midwife by my side each time. Like a lot of people, I had always imagined birth to be excruciating, a dreaded event to be augmented and endured. Yet my birthing days were among the most joyful and empowering of my life, and I believe part of the reason was the setting. Surrounded by my favorite people and things, I felt safe, comfortable, and strong. My babies’ births were celebrations, rooting me to our rooms and to the land itself. Home birth could be safe and legitimate, with the same level of expert care you'd get in a modern hospital. I began dreaming of a book about my experience and other families', too, and the kernel of this collection took root. 

As I type out this post describing my brand-new book baby, I can feel my cousin Martha’s spirit by my side. She left this world on August 31, 2025. She's almost exactly my age. A mother herself, Martha would have been thrilled by this announcement, among the first to give a supportive comment. In the book’s most moving sections, the descriptions of family and faith, Martha is there: luminous and radiant, fully alive.

To new beginnings, to new babies, and to Martha.