Review of Allison Auth’s Book Baby and Beyond

Abstract

Rooted in a deep understanding that the essence of the human person is both body and soul, Allison Auth’s book, Baby and Beyond, uses her postpartum journey to provide practical wisdom for growing closer to God in the process of healing and learning to give of one’s self through new motherhood. As a bioethicist and a new mother, when presented with this book review, I was eager to delve into this topic of health after pregnancy and found the book to be a gift in my own life. Auth is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville with a degree in Catechetics and experience working in youth ministry and marriage preparation. She now homeschools her four children. As a mother of four, Auth shares the physical, emotional, and spiritual struggles and joys of each of the births and postpartum periods of each child’s life as the framework for her book. Through this lens, she recognizes the need and call to learn to glorify God, body and soul, and grow in virtue postpartum. She qualifies that the postpartum period is not the typical three months but really the entire year after giving birth. From these stories, Auth enters into more specific aspects of her postpartum journey and offers insight into the research she did while overcoming these health challenges. Auth enters into postpartum depression and depletion, physical recovery, marital struggles and natural family planning (NFP), mental and spiritual health, and finally community.