You keep waiting to feel connected to this pregnancy, and instead you feel afraid and unsure. That gap between what you expected to feel and what you actually feel is a common, documented response to carrying hope and grief in the same body after a pregnancy loss.

Matrescence isn't just a word for what happens to mothers. It's the psychological and physiological transformation of becoming a parent process, and it deserves attention and validation. Here are 5 books that offer it.