SARAH KOWALSKI at Books Inc. in The Marina

Fertility doula, family building coach, postpartum doula, founder of Motherhood Reimagined, and author Sarah Kowalski discusses her compelling memoir, Motherhood Reimagined: When Becoming a Mother Doesn't Go as Planned. At the age of thirty-nine, Sarah Kowalski began to realize time was running out to have a baby. After grappling with what it meant to have a baby alone, she eventually realized that she'd always wanted a baby more than anything and decided to use a sperm donor--only to find out she was infertile. Thus began a year of hope and despair in which she fought the diagnosis, refusing to accept her doctor's suggestion that she move on to donor eggs. In the months that followed, Kowalski catapulted herself into a diligent regime of herbs, Qigong, meditation, acupuncture, and more in a futile attempt to improve her egg quality. It was only after facing the dormant self-doubt and self-hatred fueled by her body's inability to conceive that she was able to surrender her previous notions of what it meant to be a mother and embrace a path to motherhood that involved both egg and sperm donation. A story of personal triumph and unconditional love, Motherhood Reimagined reveals what's possible when we are willing to put down the version of motherhood we expected and embrace the unconventional.