Updating the NZ Pregnancy Book
The New Zealand Pregnancy Book contains very little information on miscarriage... but work is about to begin on a new edition. I have gathered support from members of the Sands and Miscarriage Support Facebook groups who would like to see more miscarriage information included in the next edition (see below). I sent this letter to the author and publisher on 14 April 2017.
RE: New edition of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book
We are pleased to hear that The New Zealand Pregnancy Book is being reprinted and we hope you will consider including more information about miscarriage in the next edition.
As the book states, “as many as 30 per cent of pregnancies are lost within the first trimester,” but despite this statistic it is very difficult to access medical information about miscarriage in New Zealand. Grief information is available via the Sands and Miscarriage Support websites and Facebook groups, but medical information about the physical process of miscarriage is difficult, if not impossible, to come by. As miscarriage is an event that only occurs during pregnancy, it would make sense for this information to be included in New Zealand’s leading book about pregnancy.
Many women who miscarry are not yet under the care of a midwife and will not be able to tap into a midwife’s expertise. Miscarriages can also occur at inconvenient times (eg when the doctor’s surgery is closed) and they can be complicated (eg missed miscarriages). Therefore women need to be able to access trusted, medical information quickly at any time of the day or night. As many pregnant women will already have a copy of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book, having a section dedicated to the common event of miscarriage would be useful for many thousands of women and their partners.
Only four pages (90 - 93) of the current edition of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book deal specifically with miscarriage. One and a half of these pages are devoted to feelings about miscarriage and pregnancy after miscarriage, leaving just two and a half pages of a 432 page pregnancy tome dedicated to medical information about miscarriage. There is currently no information about missed miscarriage, the differences between surgical and medical miscarriage, second trimester miscarriage, or what to expect in the days, weeks and months after miscarriage.
We understand that no one likes talking about miscarriage. We understand why you would not want to include more information about miscarriage in the book. However, up to 30 per cent of women who buy The New Zealand Pregnancy Book will go on to miscarry. In the preface author Sue Pullon writes that she was inspired to write the book because, “There was a dearth of good-quality, detailed pregnancy-related information for New Zealand women.” We think The New Zealand Pregnancy Book does an excellent job of providing pregnancy-related information to the New Zealand women who go on to deliver live babies, and we hope that the next edition will also serve the 30 per cent of readers who will unfortunately experience miscarriage.
We hope you will take some of the mystery out of miscarriage by including useful medical information about the process in the next edition of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book.
RE: New edition of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book
We are pleased to hear that The New Zealand Pregnancy Book is being reprinted and we hope you will consider including more information about miscarriage in the next edition.
As the book states, “as many as 30 per cent of pregnancies are lost within the first trimester,” but despite this statistic it is very difficult to access medical information about miscarriage in New Zealand. Grief information is available via the Sands and Miscarriage Support websites and Facebook groups, but medical information about the physical process of miscarriage is difficult, if not impossible, to come by. As miscarriage is an event that only occurs during pregnancy, it would make sense for this information to be included in New Zealand’s leading book about pregnancy.
Many women who miscarry are not yet under the care of a midwife and will not be able to tap into a midwife’s expertise. Miscarriages can also occur at inconvenient times (eg when the doctor’s surgery is closed) and they can be complicated (eg missed miscarriages). Therefore women need to be able to access trusted, medical information quickly at any time of the day or night. As many pregnant women will already have a copy of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book, having a section dedicated to the common event of miscarriage would be useful for many thousands of women and their partners.
Only four pages (90 - 93) of the current edition of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book deal specifically with miscarriage. One and a half of these pages are devoted to feelings about miscarriage and pregnancy after miscarriage, leaving just two and a half pages of a 432 page pregnancy tome dedicated to medical information about miscarriage. There is currently no information about missed miscarriage, the differences between surgical and medical miscarriage, second trimester miscarriage, or what to expect in the days, weeks and months after miscarriage.
We understand that no one likes talking about miscarriage. We understand why you would not want to include more information about miscarriage in the book. However, up to 30 per cent of women who buy The New Zealand Pregnancy Book will go on to miscarry. In the preface author Sue Pullon writes that she was inspired to write the book because, “There was a dearth of good-quality, detailed pregnancy-related information for New Zealand women.” We think The New Zealand Pregnancy Book does an excellent job of providing pregnancy-related information to the New Zealand women who go on to deliver live babies, and we hope that the next edition will also serve the 30 per cent of readers who will unfortunately experience miscarriage.
We hope you will take some of the mystery out of miscarriage by including useful medical information about the process in the next edition of The New Zealand Pregnancy Book.
Signatories
Sands Bereaved Parents Facebook group members
KW, LP, KP, SK, CH
Miscarriage Support Facebook group members
KvB, SS, TM, JB, KMC, JM
KW, LP, KP, SK, CH
Miscarriage Support Facebook group members
KvB, SS, TM, JB, KMC, JM
