Author – Memoir (forthcoming)
Lauren is a woman in her mid-thirties who longs to create a family with the love of her life, Steve. When she is diagnosed with a rare chromosome disorder which dooms her to miscarry, the couple falls into despair—until they are matched with their egg donor.
On a harrowing two-year journey to motherhood, Lauren survives miscarriage, infertility, and a traumatic birth where she nearly died. Lauren looks deep within, learns to trust her body’s intuition and connect to her inner spirit for guidance. She learns that though she may not have the family she thought she would, she got the one she was meant to have.
I wasn’t the only one hurt by the broken promise of a baby.
·
Writer & Graphic Designer – Original Concept
My Conception Story™ a storybook photo journal template for families who partnered with a donor, surrogate, or birth parents to build their family.
Designed for all parents (including LGBTQ and non-binary parents, as well as single parents by choice) with the child in mind, My Conception Story™ is a new approach for sharing all the information that your child might want to know about the people who helped bring them into the world.
··
Content Editor – Non-Fiction
The first book written by, for, and about families built through egg (and embryo) donation. It takes the reader on a journey—from infertility diagnosis, to pregnancy, to how to talk to your child about egg donation.
This was a years-long project that I collaborated on from conception to publication.
Read more about the project · Buy the book
·
·
Contributing Writer – Anthology
My essay about rape was published in the San Diego Writers, Ink’s annual anthology, Year in Ink, Vol. 13 (2020).
I wondered if this was a bad joke. Like the time a middle-aged family friend stuck his tongue down my throat when I was belted into the front seat of my mum’s car. There was no warning, save for “Come to Uncle Nim-Nim!” I was almost more surprised that he was able to squeeze his massive frame through the car window. But there he was, pinning me to my car seat with his thick, nicotine-stained tongue. It was my mum, in the driver’s seat, who smacked him off me. He withdrew, sheepish. Hadn’t recognized me now that I was “all grown up.”
·
Contributing Writer – Anthology
A chapter from my forthcoming memoir was included in the San Diego Writers, Ink’s annual anthology, Year in Ink, Vol. 11. (2018). “Ghosts” is about love and loss, miscarriage and death.
Later beneath a pitch blue sky, the stars and planets came out. The rising moon below the horizon cast a milky white glow to the east. If the darkest hour is before the dawn, the second darkest hour is before the moon rises. I gazed up and considered the ghosts. Does it matter now that women miscarried hundreds of years ago? What would have changed if they hadn’t? What if I hadn’t? Is there something to be learned from miscarrying a baby only the size of my fingernail, but already deeply loved?
·
·
Contributing Writer – Anthology
A chapter from my memoir was published in an anthology of pregnancy loss. Three Minus One is the sister project of Return to Zero, a Hollywood movie starring Minnie Driver, Paul Adelstein, and Alfred Molina.
These days, I see the things I will never share with you. Two weeks ago, I was riding in a forest. It was so green. I thought of you, that you would never see color and be so moved by nature. My horse reared up and I thought of you, that you would never know fear or discomfort. We ambled along a muddy path on a hill past a doe standing nervously and protectively over her hour-old fawn. Something of her wide-eyed and alert watchfulness, assessing if our slow parade of horses was a threat, reminded me of myself. In some small way, I envied her new motherhood.
