Baby Steps

March 15, 2013
An honest memoir about infertility and parenting, written with the assistance of veteran co-author Adamson. At 34, former actress Rohm (Nerissa, 2010) "lusted" to have a child. But this "baby lust," she writes, "didn't come out of nowhere. It arose out of a long and complex history of lusts woven together into a story that became my own." She had a successful acting career and a steady boyfriend, and it seemed logical to finally heed the demands of her body and begin the baby-making process. Unfortunately, her body had made adjustments of its own and had aged prematurely: "My eggs, at thirty-four, looked more like the eggs of someone who was forty-four." Swallowing her pride and shame, Rohm embarked on the stress-filled and expensive road of in vitro fertilization. She and her partner were lucky, producing a child on the first try. With motherhood came a new awareness of her own childhood and the difficulties her mother had endured to raise her as a single parent. The author gained a new love of life, a sense of spirituality and a drive to tell her story of IVF so that other women would not feel the whirlwind of emotions that she felt before her pregnancy. Rohm openly tells her story of her fertility issues. Thanks to modern science, there are ways to combat aging, but the author encourages women to listen to their bodies; there really is a biological clock ticking inside that does slow and stop. Waiting for the "opportune" time to have a child might not be the most prudent decision. An authentic look at the inability to conceive a child and an alternative route to pregnancy.

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May 15, 2013

Best known for playing Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on the long-running TV show Law & Order, Rohm here gives a transparent look at her struggles with infertility, inviting readers to open the closet and air out the room on the "dirty little secret" that infertility can feel like. In her introduction, Rohm states, "When women stop talking, women stop being heard. This is no time to step back and be quiet. This is the time to speak. I'll go first." And go first she does, giving readers an intimate look at her early family life, her intense but rewarding experience on Law & Order, her extensive volunteer work with the Red Cross, and, finally, her unexpected discovery that, at age 34, her FSH levels indicated she was in early menopause. Shocked but determined, she and her partner began the frustrating yet ultimately successful path to parenthood through IVF. VERDICT Prior to being bitten by the acting bug, Rohm had aspirations of being a writer, and her natural storytelling talents are evident here. Her chapters on conception and secrets are the best, but they are, unfortunately, wedged into the middle of the book. Also, some readers might be put off by her leisurely pace (it's 100 pages before Rohm begins her actual infertility story). However, she has both a genuine voice and an interesting story; recommended for public libraries.

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