Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook475 pages6 hours
Breathe: A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief, and Family Conflict
By Kelly Kittel
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Kelly Kittel didn’t know the true meaning of the phrase “in the wrong place and the wrong time” until she fell victim to just such a circumstance—and lost her infant son as a result.
In the wake of their son’s death, Kittel and her husband are overcome with grief—and they’re still trying to make sense of their loss when, a mere nine months later, their family doctor makes a terrible mistake during Kittel’s pregnancy and they are forced to bury a second child. And when they decide to press malpractice charges, things only get worse: they end up having to battle not only the medical system but also their own family in a court of law, all while raising their other three children and trying to heal from the pain of living through the deaths of two sons.
Achingly raw and beautifully narrated, Breathe is a story of motherhood, death, family, and conflict—and, ultimately, how to embrace love, honesty, and joy even in the face of tragedy.
In the wake of their son’s death, Kittel and her husband are overcome with grief—and they’re still trying to make sense of their loss when, a mere nine months later, their family doctor makes a terrible mistake during Kittel’s pregnancy and they are forced to bury a second child. And when they decide to press malpractice charges, things only get worse: they end up having to battle not only the medical system but also their own family in a court of law, all while raising their other three children and trying to heal from the pain of living through the deaths of two sons.
Achingly raw and beautifully narrated, Breathe is a story of motherhood, death, family, and conflict—and, ultimately, how to embrace love, honesty, and joy even in the face of tragedy.
Unavailable
Related to Breathe
Related ebooks
Breathe: A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief, and Family Conflict Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Joy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPortrait of the Artist's Mother: Dignity, Creativity and Disability Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIsaiah's Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings(Mis)carriage: A Mother's Story of Why Pregnancy Loss Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chronicles of Synchronicity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLabour of Love: A story of generosity, hope and Surrogacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Child With a Spiritual Eye Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRounding The Curves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLoss, Adoption, & Love... My Human And Spiritual Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walk In the Clouds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThirty Days of Stillness: How Silence Taught Me to Listen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore the First Breath: The Memoirs of A Newborn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoon Over Alcatraz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mothers Circle: The Birth of Your Sacred Village Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemembering Rahima - A Story of Heartache, Healing and Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClo[w]n[e] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeasons of Dancing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Loss Mum's Journal... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStretchmarks on My Sanity: The Growing Pains of Raising a Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingstransister: Raising Twins in a Gender-bending World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife Accomplished: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBellybutton: The Source Of My Strength Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTraveling Light: Free Yourself from the Crap in Your Head Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDear Body: What I Lost, What I Gained, and What I Learned Along the Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever Alone: A Story of Hope and Encouragement When Living with Adversity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGod Is Not Pixie Dust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPregnancy Memoirs: A Survivor's Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Relationships For You
The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (updated with two new chapters) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/58 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: The Narcissism Series, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Breathe
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kelly Kittel's book, Breathe, is subtitled A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief and Family Conflict, so you know before beginning it that you'd better have the tissues ready.Kelly always wanted to have a big family. She and her husband Andy have three young children, Hannah, Christiana and Micah, when she happily discovers that she is pregnant with their fourth child. They rent a home from Andy's older sister Cody and her husband, who live across the street from them.Andy is the youngest of eight children, and his siblings and parents are never shy about telling Andy and Kelly how to live their lives. They are particularly adamant in telling Andy that four children are enough and encourage him to get a vasectomy, even if he has to go behind Kelly's back to do it.Kelly's East Coast, Mayflower ancestor family is very different from Andy's raucous, emotional family, and anyone who is married may understand how difficult it can be learning to get along with people so dissimilar from your own family.Baby Noah is born, and all is well. Kelly and Andy are happy with their family, though Cody's constant need to control everyone around her is grating on Kelly. Cody's teenage daughters' disrespectful attitude towards them is also a problem.While attending a family reunion at Andy's parents, Cody's daughter Cally accidentally runs over 15 month-old Noah and he has a traumatic brain injury. He is helicoptered to a nearby hospital, but when Andy and Kelly arrive, they are told that Noah was being kept alive with machines only long enough for them to say goodbye.Noah's death devastates the family. Kelly and Andy wait for an apology from Cally, but it never comes. They try to get Cally and Cody to come with them to counseling to try and get through it, but Cody refuses. Kelly asks Cody to please sell the Tahoe that ran over her son because it pains her to see it sitting in the driveway across the street, but Cody refuses.Kelly finds herself pregnant again and hopes that new life with bring the family some joy. While her first four pregnancies were uneventful, she has problems with her blood pressure this time and has to see a specialist.Kelly chose a women's practice that has many midwives on staff, and she seems to see a different one every time. Her blood pressure is frequently measured, and she sees the doctor or midwife at least once a week, and even every day near the end when she is put on bed rest.There comes a time when Kelly is at the hospital and has to decide whether to induce labor or wait a little longer to allow the baby's lungs to grow more mature. She is not given all the information she needs and decides to wait.That decision cost her baby Jonah his life. Kelly has a placental abruption and Jonah dies in utero. Kelly and Andy have to tell their young children that they have once again lost a brother, and this second death in nine months is almost more than they can take.Andy's family seems to want to blame Kelly for Jonah and Noah's deaths. They treat her horribly, and eventually Kelly convinces Andy to move away from his family in Oregon across the country to Rhode Island where her family lives.Kelly becomes pregnant again, and is shocked when her new doctor reviews her previous medical history and tells her that Jonah never should have died. Her doctors and the hospital were negligent. Kelly and Andy decide to sue the doctor.This decision causes a permanent rift in Andy's family, with his sisters siding with the negligent doctor. This floors Andy and Kelly. The courtroom scenes are as riveting as any John Grisham novel, but all this is true.Cody actually testifies for the defense, and it is so hard to believe that anyone could do that to their own flesh and blood. Her behavior is appalling. Cody's daughters, including Cally, sit daily in the courtroom, taunting Andy and Kelly with their smirks and looks and reporting back to Cody what was happening in the courtroom.Kelly suffers many more miscarriages, and I don't know where she has the faith to keep trying. I could never do that. Reading Breathe I was struck by Andy and Kelly's strength, by what loving, wonderful parents they are to their children and how deeply committed they are to their family. The fact that they were abandoned by Andy's family makes that hurt so much more.I took away a few important things from Kelly's book; one is the importance of doing your research when it comes to choosing doctors and understanding your medical options. You cannot rely only on what your doctor tells you.The other is that if you are in a toxic relationship, no matter who it is with, you must get out of it. You cannot change other people, you can only change your reaction. Don't let unhappy people take you down with them.Breathe is such an incredible story, if you told me it was fiction I would say you had quite an imagination. The fact that this is all true makes it all the more remarkable. That Kelly Kittel lived through it is amazing, the fact that she lived it all over again writing a book about it is astonishing.