ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to my husband, who not only supported me in my decision to write this book but who also typed portions of this manuscript. Thanks, also, to our niece who lives with us, to our children, and to friends and relatives too numerous to mention for their help and encouragement with this book. Thanks to the many professionals, including lawyers, doctors, nurses, counselors in various disciplines, and members of the clergy for their advice and referral. Some of these people graciously read and commented on portions of this manuscript while others gave me interview time or loaned me materials. There are simply too many of these individuals to name each one. Nevertheless, I thank each.

I am especially grateful to Reverend Robert Morin and Sister Adrienne de Champlain for allowing me to utilize some of their ideas in Chapter Eight.

Thanks to Betty Yerkes, Denise Cocciolone, and LoriJo Nerad for reading the first complete draft of this book and offering suggestions. Thanks to Anna Sullivan and Dr. Robert Phillips for reading later drafts of this manuscript and sharing their insightful comments. Thanks to my editors Rudy Shur, Karen Price, Joanne Abrams, Nancy Marks Papritz, and Cynthia Eriksen for being patient as I completed this book.

To the many people who shared stories with me for this book, I am deeply grateful. The women who bore their babies are the true heroes of this effort.

Last, but most important, I am grateful to the many people who prayed for me, for this book, and for those this book will reach. I also thank Pat R., J. C., and P. R. Clete, without whom this book would never have been written.

Madeline Pecora Nugent