"What I Thought I Knew" By Alice Eve Cohen

Title: What I Thought I Knew: A Memoir
Author: Alice Eve Cohen
Published Year: 2009
Pages: 194 pages

If you think your world is turned upside down and there is no way out, just pick this memoir up and see how life can change instantly and create an even more traumatic experience. Luckily Cohen has been a writer for years and knows how to get her story across in a way that makes you cry and laugh with her while she writes about a dark and at times upsetting topic.

At age 44, Cohen finds out she is 6 months pregnant after being told for years that she is infertile and can never have children. During the first 6 months of the pregnancy she has no idea she is pregnant and sees many doctors about the uncomfortable feelings she is having. Even with x-rays and CAT scans along with internal exams none of her doctors detect the small fetus inside of her until an emergency scan is done and the technicians discover that she is 6 months pregnant. To make the challenges of pregnancy even worse (her age is one mark against her according to all the professionals), she has also been exposed to harmful hormones when she was in her mother's womb, she has been taking hormones during the pregnancy that are bad for a fetus during the pregnancy, and she has a misshapen uterus just to name a few things. No care for her child has been done during the first 6 months and she is a high-risk pregnancy with sub-par insurance that does not cover many of the procedures that she needs and in addition she loses income when she is confined to bed rest.

She takes you on her journey of when she discovers her pregnancy to when her baby is born and after. Along the way the reader joins her in her struggles of deciding if it is better to do a late-term abortion, put the child up for adoption, or keep the child. All the decisions create an emotional roller coaster that is well worth the ride. Cohen also brings in the conversations she has with the people in her life when making these decisions like her fiance, her adopted daughter, new friends and sisters. Each one has their opinion and each one influences her decisions along the way.

In the end the story is heartwarming and and eye opening to just what someone can be put through and still come out okay at the end. I read this in one day and did not want to put it down. I could not help but want to finish her story, and in reality her story really isn't over. In her darkest hours, Cohen shares with us her strengths and triumpths over a situation that would have many other people just giving up.