When his personal assistant asked for extended leave, Greek billionaire Alexei Drakos was extremely inconvenienced. He relied on Billie Foster for everything — running his life, even getting rid of his girlfriends. Little did Alexei know that Billie had left to have his baby! In fact, he didn’t even remember their passionate night and he had no idea she was pregnant! With Billie gone, there was something missing in Alexei’s glittering existence. When she returned, he needed to offer her something special to make her stay — maybe a wedding ring of convenience?
Raised without a father, Bliss was a reject of the Greek island of Speros until the rich Alexei Drakos took her under his wing. Now nicknamed Billie, her friendship with him has continued for years, but stayed at that. Now in her twenties, Billie becomes Alexei's personal assistant, and she quickly discovers that part of her job is sending off Mr. Drakos's one-night flings. When a night of emotion ends with the two of them entwined, can Billie keep things professional, or is Alexei in for a pregnancy shock?
Selected as One of the Best Books of the Year by: National Public Radio, Esquire, Bustle, Refinery29, Thrillist, Electric Literature, Powell's, Autostraddle, BookRiot, Women.com "Smart, funny, and true in all the best ways, this book made me ache with recognition." -- Cheryl Strayed A raw, funny, and fiercely honest account of becoming a mother before feeling like a grown up. When Meaghan O'Connell got accidentally pregnant in her twenties and decided to keep the baby, she realized that the book she needed -- a brutally honest, agenda-free reckoning with the emotional and existential impact of motherhood -- didn't exist. So she decided to write it herself. And Now We Have Everything is O'Connell's exploration of the cataclysmic, impossible-to-prepare-for experience of becoming a mother. With her dark humor and hair-trigger B.S. detector, O'Connell addresses the pervasive imposter syndrome that comes with unplanned pregnancy, the fantasies of a "natural" birth experience that erode maternal self-esteem, post-partum body and sex issues, and the fascinating strangeness of stepping into a new, not-yet-comfortable identity. Channeling fears and anxieties that are still taboo and often unspoken, And Now We Have Everything is an unflinchingly frank, funny, and visceral motherhood story for our times, about having a baby and staying, for better or worse, exactly yourself.
Global and national confidential inquiry reports show that 60 to 80% of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality are due to avoidable errors. This comprehensive and illustrated second edition offers a practical guide to the management of obstetric, medical, surgical, anaesthetic and newborn emergencies in addition to organisational and training issues. The book is divided conveniently into nine sections and updated throughout in line with modern research and practice. Several new chapters cover setting up skills and drills training in maternity services to reduce avoidable harm, managing obstetric emergencies during 'home births' and in low-risk midwifery units, and minimizing maternal and fetal morbidity in failed operative vaginal delivery. Each chapter includes a practical algorithm for quick reference, the scientific basis for proposed actions, a case-based practical exercise and useful learning tools such as 'Key Pearls' and 'Key Pitfalls'. An invaluable resource for obstetricians, neonatologists, midwives, medical students, anesthesiologists and the wider perinatal team.
A riveting first-hand account of a physician who's suddenly a dying patient, In Shock "searches for a glimmer of hope in life’s darkest moments, and finds it.” —The Washington Post Dr. Rana Awdish never imagined that an emergency trip to the hospital would result in hemorrhaging nearly all of her blood volume and losing her unborn first child. But after her first visit, Dr. Awdish spent months fighting for her life, enduring consecutive major surgeries and experiencing multiple overlapping organ failures. At each step of the recovery process, Awdish was faced with something even more unexpected: repeated cavalier behavior from her fellow physicians—indifference following human loss, disregard for anguish and suffering, and an exacting emotional distance. Hauntingly perceptive and beautifully written, In Shock allows the reader to transform alongside Awidsh and watch what she discovers in our carefully-cultivated, yet often misguided, standard of care. Awdish comes to understand the fatal flaws in her profession and in her own past actions as a physician while achieving, through unflinching presence, a crystalline vision of a new and better possibility for us all. As Dr. Awdish finds herself up against the same self-protective partitions she was trained to construct as a medical student and physician, she artfully illuminates the dysfunction of disconnection. Shatteringly personal, and yet wholly universal, she offers a brave road map for anyone navigating illness while presenting physicians with a new paradigm and rationale for embracing the emotional bond between doctor and patient.
Billie's wedding day should have been the happiest of her life. She was marrying the father of her babyher secret baby. But tycoon Alexei Drakos had suffered amnesia, so he had no recollection of the incredible night he'd spent with Billie a year ago Tonight he was expecting his new bride to be a virgin Billie knew that a marriage laced with hidden surprises was not likely to last. If only for their son's sake, she had to convince Alexei of the truthstarting tonight in the honeymoon bed
