Interesting and often frustrating to read, Liz Lenz's Belabored is a well researched and relatable read for any woman who deals with the healthcare system in the US.

I should have been the right audience for this--currently pregnant and mother to a young child, progressive feminist--but couldn't finish it. While there were some interesting tidbits, it mainly read like a stereotypical rant.

‘Belabored’ is a fascinating feminist treatise on contemporary pregnancy, labor, and motherhood. The text is a well-researched but incredibly readable meditation that combines memoir, history, religion, science, and most notably cultural criticism. Though pregnancy and motherhood are extremely common and often have profound changes on individuals psychologically and physiologically, it is often overlooked in a meaningful way. Meanwhile, superficial opinions, contradictory information and observations are practically endless in our society. Lenz explores these ideas in a very inclusive way, touching on the myriad of issues and problems related to pregnancy and motherhood, from inadequate medical care, lack of bodily autonomy, and societal expectations. As a thirtysomething mother of two young children and long-time feminist, I felt so connected to the author as our status is similar though our journeys through life are very different. Lenz relates her personal experiences with vulnerability, thoughtful observations, and humor and documents the endless contradictions that make up the experience and perception of pregnancy, labor, and motherhood in the western world.

Thank you NetGalley and Perseus Books / Bold Type Books for providing this ARC.

Review posted to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3399961110

Any person that can publicly describe their post-pregnancy vagina as looking like "raw ground beef" is good people in my eyes. I wish everyone talked about their bodies with the openness Lenz demonstrates in this book. Let's normalize the wild shit our bodies do!

I'm strangely obsessed with reading anything about pregnancy, midwifery, reproductive rights, women's bodies, motherhood. So, it was easy for me to enjoy reading Belabored and I finished it really quickly. It was a fun, enjoyable read. The book is part memoir, part history lesson; it traces cultural and religious views of pregnancy and motherhood, from the Bible to Beyonce. It discusses the ways American and European culture have demonized women, mothers, wives, vaginas, making pregnancy and motherhood a losing game. Criticism is magnified especially for mothers who are BIPOC, queer, trans, poor, or an individual belonging to other marginalized groups. The way Americans view pregnancy and motherhood is fucked, and Lenz makes that super clear.

She accurately describes the everyday injustices pregnant people and mothers endure as their lives, behaviors, diets, appearance, emotions, and weight are judged and evaluated. Once pregnant, your body is no longer yours, your autonomy, whatever you had of it before, is gone. Our bodies are so rarely treated as our own. It belongs to everyone else to pick apart.

Lenz conveys the heavy weight of all this through her writing, weaving in her own voice and emotional honesty at the same time. She also has a witty, hilarious sense of humor that I very much appreciated.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Bold Type Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Local author alert: Lyz Lenz lives up the road from me. Well, up the interstate. Welcome to Iowa. And I read a lot of her articles in the Gazette and other media. I really liked her previous book God Land so was looking forward to her examination of pregnancy and motherhood in America.

Belabored is really well-written. Lenz uses a combination of memoir and reportage to chronicle the many ways the deck is stacked against pregnant people in America. She covers the whole gestation, starting from perceived virginity or sexual availability of women through pregnancy and then post-pregnancy (the “fourth trimester”) as well as pregnancy loss. Lenz covered the historical aspects really well. She also made a real effort to cover racial disparities – Black women in American suffer from many times higher rates of complications and poor outcomes than white women – and LGBTQ+ issues in pregnancy and parenthood, since cis women are not the only uterus-owners who might carry a pregnancy (Lenz acknowledges the lack of inclusive language around pregnancy and motherhood as well).

Lenz’s own memoir of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood is woven throughout this book, so the book is structured somewhat linearly around her own life. She’s given birth to two children, so writes from that experience, but also suffered a miscarriage and recounts how she is now working through the emotional fallout of a sexual assault in college. [Brief content warning: Lenz doesn’t pull her punches; if pregnancy loss, sexual assault, etc. are hard topics for you then make sure you take care of yourself while reading this book.] She tells her own story in a very powerful way. However, I thought that perhaps there could have been a stronger conclusion or presentation of issues facing pregnant people, parents, and etc to tie everything together. The research she did was very good, so her information is solid. (This might just be the scientist background talking.)

In Belabored Lyz Lenz takes us on a journey from conception to the fourth trimester, analyzing what it means to be a woman, to be pregnant, and to be a mother in our society. This is not a pregnancy help guide, but it’s a book that every first time parent should read: it’s an honest overview of what it is like to conceive, to be pregnant, and to deliver in the US today. And it’s also not just a book for pregnant people either, it’s for everyone to read. Lyz Lenz uses a mix of historical facts and examples, her own personal experiences, as well as some current facts and examples to illustrate just how difficult it is to be a woman, and to be a mother in our society. We live in a society where we are never going to be good enough, based on arbitrary goddess woman pedestals erected by white men. Having personally birthed three children in this country I related to many areas evoked by the author: to the fears, the worries, the trauma, and the overall feeling of constantly failing to meet expectations that nobody ever really meets anyway.

So much research went into Belabored, from the historical and biblical stories that the author details for us, to the modern day medical racism and lack of care for pregnant and postpartum women in general. The overall theme being that as pregnant people and then mothers we rarely are allowed to own our own bodies, constantly having to claw back pieces of ourselves for ourselves; constantly having to explain why we are this way and that and not doing this and that.

For a long time I felt so guilty that I hadn’t been more vocal during the delivery of my first child. The way I was treated, both during labor and delivery, and afterwards was abysmal. And then after I had my second child when the hospital clerk asked loudly why I wasn’t married (this was in NYC in 2015!!), and then gave me a look full of pity and told me it was ok not to put the father’s name on the birth certificate if he wasn’t interested in signing the form (um wtf we were and are still very much together thanks very much, we just don’t feel the need to be married!!). And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I will tell my stories another day. Let’s just say that what the author describes in Belabored is more common than what you are going to read in What To Expect, and also provides a great overview on how important it is for us to fight for our right to autonomy of our bodies and ourselves in general.

As a side note I loved that Lyz Lenz details her visit to Tara Westover’s family home in Idaho - Educated was one of my top 10 reads of 2018, and it was interesting to see an outsider’s take on the family dynamics and beliefs.

Highly recommended read, especially for those looking for more insight on what it means to be pregnant in this country, and how hard you may have to fight for your rights on any given day, especially if you aren’t white, wealthy, and weigh 120 pounds.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bold Type Books for an ARC of this title.

Between this and God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America, I'm willing to follow Lyz Lenz's voice and perspective anywhere. As with her previous book, this is an incisive, thoughtful collection of essays, this time mixing memoir and historical research to think about what it means to be a mother in modern America. I had to prevent myself from devouring this in one sitting. What a fascinating look at motherhood, specifically where it falls outside the cultural norm that the media tends to portray.

I plan to recommend this to everyone in my circle who is currently or plans to become pregnant. It is a refreshing look at "pregnancy culture" and the disparity in treatment and experiences between the "right" pregnant people and the "wrong" ones (or the ones with bodies that are seen as "wrong" somehow). There is an excellent discussion about lawmakers who would place restrictions on women's bodies without the first idea of (or concern with) how those bodies actually work and about the junk science that makes up a lot of "common wisdom" about pregnancy. It makes the point that treating pregnant people as though they are no longer competent adults in their own right contributes to a culture where mothers are expected to conform narrowly to a set of expectations that leaves little room for lives of their own. This is an extremely important book.

@netgalley @perseus_books let me read this for free - pub date 8/11/2020. Hands down the best book I’ve read this year. The blatant disregard and disrespect this world has for mothers is a very important issue for me, a childless woman. It’s a topic I could talk about for hours because the treatment pregnant people receive during and after birth is astronomically poor and has led me to being fearful of motherhood in many ways. I read the book Little Labors last year and became borderline obsessed with learning and reading about the suffering people with uteruses endure when it comes to motherhood. In the book, the author chooses to use the gendered word “mother” because it has a different meaning than many to “parent,” but often uses the words “pregnant person” and “woman” interchangeably to be more inclusive to pregnant trans males and non-binary people. But the majority of the book is from the lens of a pregnant woman, so just know that going in. She seamlessly navigates discussing conception and women’s sexuality, the criminalization of abortion, the restrictions of activities/food/caffeine placed on pregnant people by the spewing of fake science, midwifery and it’s history being overtaken by modern healthcare technology dominated by males and adherence to horrible safety measures for the mother (60% of maternal death is preventable!!!), the ignorance of maternal health and focusing on fetal health which has lead to the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, the religious bearings over the history of all this maltreatment, and the loss of identity many mothers feel once their baby is born. It is heavy on history which I found fascinating, but it also blends in memoir of Lenz’s divorce and raising of her own two children. I learned and felt so much, I BLAZED through it in one day. Highly, highly recommend.

This book is such an important read. It's a perfect mix of memoir and non-fiction. The research Lenz did was extraordinary and I wish that every human was aware of this information—specifically about maternal mortality in the United States and how preventable all these deaths are and how easily this can change if we adopt universal healthcare.

I also really appreciated the sections where Lenz talked about the relationship between pregnant people and food and how it's the first time that many people feel like they can nourish themselves without judgement.

I have so much to say about this book and the topics that it discusses, so I will probably make a whole video about it.

Thank you to Perseus Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available August 11 2020

Before I read Belabored, I had no idea who Lyz Lenz was. By the end of the book, I am hoping we will one day cross paths and share a good laugh. Part political commentary, part medical history, part autobiography, Belabored discusses various aspects of pregnancy from conception to postpartum care. With a keen eye, Lenz hones in on various medical, social, and political "innovations" which greatly restrict pregnant women's rights and freedoms. Anything is game from vaginal secretions in pregnancy to a critique of Dr. Sims to Lenz's own upbringing in a conservative Christian household. Lenz's unique conversational, almost conspiratorial tone made it a far more enjoyable book than I would have expected. Definitely recommend!

I think this book was excellent and well researched. However, I think there was too much focus on the history and not enough on the modern day treatment of pregnant people. The focus on the historical basis of a lot of these subjects was good, I just don’t think it was enough to carry the chapters. That said, I do think this book is important, and I would definitely recommend it. I really how the book is organized like a pregnancy, and there were so many great points made in these pages.

Lyz Lenz has written an insightful examination of what pregnant people experience in their 9 months of carrying a child and beyond. She shows how little control people have over their pregnant selves, from the doctor's dismissing their concerns or introducing concerns that have little to no bearing on the person's life, to the unwelcome opinions on the public at large on appearance, weight, food intake, etc. It's a brutal situation for people to be in and it truly seems to be a no-win one, where the expectations and rigid morals thrust upon you are impossible to keep up with, no matter how hard you try.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bold Type Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't have kids, nor do I have plans to have kids anytime soon, but I have always been interested in how mothers and women are treated in America. This book is hands down the best book I've read on the subject. The author does an amazing job of weaving together her own motherhood experience with meticulously researched information from a wide and diverse array of sources. The book is all at once emotional, humorous, infuriating, and thought-provoking. I highly recommend it for anyone even remotely interested in how women and mothers are treated now and have been treated throughout history.

Review posted on Goodreads on May 8, 2020.

The topic of this book is unlike any I have ever read but was greatly intrigued by a book that discusses the less cheery side of pregnancy and postnatal motherhood in America. As Lenz points out, many of the images we see of pregnant women highlight financially comfortable, straight, CIS women but pregnancy and postnatal motherhood look a lot different for those who lack financial resources, are disabled, LGBT+, or not white. Historically, American laws, systems, and culture have sidelined the needs of the carrier/mother in favor of the needs of the fetus/baby, and while pregnancy is obviously about carrying a soon-to-be human and postnatal motherhood is about caring for one, the carrier/mother is just as important. If reading about pregnancy and motherhood from a different lens is of interest to you, then I highly recommend checking out "Belabored."

This book is a piece of work that everyone needs to read. It was very eye-opening to learn how pregnant women are often considered to be 'disabled,' even in today's society, that comes from a historic tradition of women with-child to face stigma and bear the brunt of myths about women's bodies. Doctors are often trained and medicine constructed around the idea that they must act on behalf of the unborn child's best interest at all times, even at the expense of the mother who is carrying her. This has resulted in the normalization of pregnant women being denied their rights and autonomy, from being denied a cup of coffee by a perhaps well-meaning but ill-informed barista, to a doctor demanding a C-section that the woman doesn't want. Just being able to have a midwife and a home birth require serious legal and logistical hurdles.

I think it's important that feminist activists and anyone working on behalf of women's rights read this book, to learn the importance of incorporating women's rights while pregnant into their agendas. There are many unique challenges as this book presents faced by women who are pregnant, that must be advocated for at every level of society. We must change the framework from fetus centered to mother centered, to best serve women across our world.