Chat with Martha Beck-TODAY 1PM Eastern

Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

Today is our live chat with Martha Beck. Join us at 1PM Eastern as we discuss her book Expecting Adam. We’ll be talking pregnancy, special needs, angels, special signs, work-life balance and much more! If you have any questions for Martha, please submit them in the comments below.

If you haven’t read Expecting Adam, check out From Left to Write members’ posts inspired by Martha Beck’s memoir.

~~To join the chat, just enter your name in the box that says “Guest_1234″ or something similar and start typing! Click “Send” or press enter to submit your chat.~~

Due to technical difficulties, we’ve moved the chat to our Facebook page. Join us there!

Guest_39
From Left to Write
November 9, 2011 - 8:13 pm
Welcome to our chat with Martha Beck! She will join us live at 1PM Eastern, so please join us then.
Guest_681
November 10, 2011 - 8:44 am
Joyce
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 8:54 am
Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us. We'll start in about 7 minutes!
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 8:56 am
LOL It tweets like a bird when someone says something. I just ducked when I heard it, like a bird was flying around my office.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 8:57 am
Kristine, it's Kim here. i just heard it too. Hadn't tested the sound before now
JackieMcD
November 10, 2011 - 8:58 am
New to Left to Write and a huge Martha Beck fan.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 8:58 am
Welcome Jackie! Glad to have you visit.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 8:59 am
While you're waiting for Martha to arrive,take a look at our bloggers' take on Martha's book: http://bit.ly/v4XLaF
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 8:59 am
I really connected to Expecting Adam. I love when that happens.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:00 am
Kristine, I can't even imagine what it was like for Martha. I remember how agonizing it was to even decide if we wanted to test our baby for Down syndrome
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:02 am
Who has read Expecting Adam?
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:02 am
My situation is pretty unique still. I was 38 but pregnant with an embryo of a 29 year old woman. So while I was high risk, the fetus wasn't. We still did testing, but did not go as far as an amnio, etc. We still had some semi scary months because of an ultrasound. I really just believed it was going to be ok though, and it was.
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:03 am
@Guest_325: @From Left to Write: HELLOOOOO! IT'S MARTHA! ANYONE OUT THERE??
Guest_325
November 10, 2011 - 9:04 am
Martha!!!!! yay
Guest_325
November 10, 2011 - 9:04 am
hellooooooooooo
Guest_325
November 10, 2011 - 9:04 am
love that "hello" ....
JackieMcD
November 10, 2011 - 9:04 am
Hi Martha! What a pleasure to be a part of this energy!
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:04 am
Hi Martha!
Guest_681
November 10, 2011 - 9:04 am
Hi Martha! It's a pleasure
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:05 am
Hi Martha! Glad you can join us! If you'll change @guest_299 to Martha (in box right above the place to enter your text) so we'll know it's you!
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:05 am
@Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy): @Guest_325: @From Left to Write: @Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy): @From Left to Write: @From Left to Write:
Guest_325
November 10, 2011 - 9:05 am
"expecting adam" was the first book of yours that I read and I was hooked!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:06 am
Hi everyone! Welcome to From Left to Write. We're really glad to have Martha here to chat with us.
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:06 am
Okay, this is Martha again--I got help from my son. Who has Down syndrome. And they think HE's the one with issues? Thank you all SO MUCH for joining me!
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:06 am
Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for joining me!
Deborah
November 10, 2011 - 9:06 am
thank YOU for being here
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:07 am
Martha, thank you opening yourself and sharing what must have been such a challenging part of your life! How did you prepare your family before Expecting Adam was published?
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:08 am
Are we supposed to be hearing each other? I'm so honored by your kind words and simply by the fact that you've read my book. It's overwhelming to think how alone I felt when I was going through that pregnancy, and how kind you are all being to me in retrospect!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:08 am
It's a text only chat, but you might hear a bird chirping if you turn on the sound notification
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:09 am
The book came out when my kids were 11, 9, and 7, and I frankly thought it would die quietly, so I didn't do anything to prepare them. Notice a pattern here? Luckily, they're awesome and handled it beautifully.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:09 am
Everyone, please feel free to jump in with any questions for Martha-she's Guest_299
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:09 am
Martha - I think that is one of the reasons I connected so much to you and to your book. Raising a special needs child I've felt that overwhelming "alone-ness."
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:10 am
It says "Martha" is already taken. I am, too. I'm very taken by all of you!
Guest_299
November 10, 2011 - 9:10 am
Um, it won't let me use "Martha." Says it's already taken. Martha Stewart, would you please leave me in peace????
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:10 am
LOL. OK. Guest_299 is a special name as well
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:11 am
Try MarthaB
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:12 am
Martha: I just wrote another book in which I talk about how Adam has taught me to see; it occurred to me that he took me from "aloneness" to "all-oneness." Open yourself to the experience, and you'll find unexpected magic happening. Really.
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:12 am
Martha - did you plan your third pregnancy? Were you ever concerned that adding a third child would be too much?
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:12 am
I'm going to dive right in with a question from one of our members, Marianne of http://www.writer-mommy.com/ There are many “supernatural” events to which you refer in this book, the majority happening durng your pregnancy. In the years since Adam arrived and since this book was published, how have those events (and any that have occured since the publishing of the book) affected and/or deepened your spirituality/faith?
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:13 am
Okay, point one: I did plan my third pregnancy, although really John was more urgent about it than I felt. It was lucky I had another child soon, because my body completely gave out not long after.
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:14 am
In answer to the "supernatural" events: I've come to see them as utterly natural. I think it's unnatural NOT to experience them, and our culture actually suppresses them the way the Victorians suppressed sexuality.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:15 am
@MarthaB Do you think that your "supernatural" events are what some might call their intuition?
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:15 am
Adam is incredibly psychic--always knows what's happening to me no matter where I am, knows how to get complex information to others when he really still doesn't talk much. After 23 years, I'm tired of dancing around the issue--I long ago lost my ability to deny the evidence that there's something spooky about that little man.
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:15 am
I felt very challenged by your idea to believe everything until proven false, instead of only believing if proven true. That's a tough one for a scientist.
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:16 am
We call it intuition, we call it a gut feeling, we call it love. Call it whatever you like, the joy is that we have a huge field of reality to play around in. I absolutely believe science will understand it one day. But for now, it looks pretty darn magical!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:16 am
This is a good lead in to a question from Jennie B of http://www.wantapeanut.com : I was troubled by the idea that Adam was somehow more magical than your other children. What do your daughters think about this? How did your subsequent pregnancy, after you found your new spirituality, compare to your time expecting Adam?
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:18 am
But the issue is that if you believe nothing until it's proven true, you literally CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE. Descartes pointed out that you could be dreaming your life. Everything is filtered through perception--and we've known for almost 100 years--scientifically--that perception not only filters reality, but in some way determines it. Einstein had trouble believing it at first, too, but then he had to acknowledge the experimental evidence.
Worldtravelmom
November 10, 2011 - 9:18 am
There's nothing more magical than a mother's intuition in my opinion. We just don't always understand the power of it, and therefore have a hard time recognizing it. Just had to say that real quick.
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:19 am
My kids, and your kids, and you, are all much more interesting than we typically believe. My daughters are natural mystics, though I left them to develop their own beliefs (had enough religion stuffed into me as a kids, didn't want to do that). My daughters also know that Adam is different, that he shines in a strange way, and they know that does nothing to diminish their own magic.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:19 am
@Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy): that's an interesting thought. I feel like we need to believe everything we see/feel is true in order to make sense of life
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:20 am
There are two ways to see the world (paraphrasing Einstein again): as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle. Both equally potentially true, but for me, the second one's more fun!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:21 am
@MarthaB: Do you still feel the presence of puppeteers (from Melanie @ http://myattkids.blogspot.com/)
Joyce
November 10, 2011 - 9:21 am
Just having read the book has opened my eyes to the magic of my life and my kids. Thank you for that, Martha!
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:21 am
Adam has taught me not to hold any belief too tightly. I know that I really don't know anything, and that's okay. More than okay, it's a joyful, liberating truth!
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:22 am
I think it is very much about opening yourself up. Hopefully my brain is evolving as I get older and "wiser." It's easier to accept without proof, even though my education/training is so strongly focused on "evidenced based."
MarthaB
November 10, 2011 - 9:23 am
I have a question for Joyce: Do you ever feel as if YOU have puppeteers? It could be my unconscious brain, or Smurfs, or whatever, but I do often feel that way. Yesterday I was teaching a workshop and for some reason turned on my cell phone mid-class. At that moment a client called, sobbing, having just undergone a trauma. Why did I turn on my phone? I don't know.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:23 am
@Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy): My younger self (albeit 5 years ago) was very negative, until I learned how to open myself to the positive energy around me. I'm a very practical person and back then didn't believe in that "hippie dippie stuff"
Betsy
November 10, 2011 - 9:24 am
So how do you decide what -- of all the the unproven theories and people -- to believe?
Kristine (Mommy Needs Therapy)
November 10, 2011 - 9:25 am
I'm a very different person than I thought I would be prior to adopting Noah. I have learned so much from him, even as we struggle. I like the "me" I am now much better, but I never, ever saw myself becoming this person. If that makes sense. Sorry, I am monopolizing this chat.
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:26 am
@MarthaB does your husband all experience puppeteers? Your daughters?
Joyce
November 10, 2011 - 9:26 am
Yes, Martha, I do feel that way sometimes. But I what I was trying to say before, is that I don't think I would have paid any attention to the coincidences. After reading your book, I began to look at it differently. It's so much more fun! And I am in awe of the way things unfold sometimes...this is a gift that you have given to me. And I have passed it along to some of my friends who have, in turn, read the book.
Shannon
November 10, 2011 - 9:29 am
@MarthaB Just wanted to jump in for a second and say how much I enjoy your writing. I'm still reading Expecting Adam (I have a 3 month old so not a lot of time to read) and look forward to finishing it.
MARTHBECK
November 10, 2011 - 9:29 am
MY COMMENTS AREN"T POSTING! HELP!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:29 am
Oh Oh,did we lose Martha?
MARTHBECK
November 10, 2011 - 9:29 am
I answered about five questoins before I had to log out--nothing was posting. sorry!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:29 am
Sorry Martha, I think there was a glitch. We see you!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:30 am
Thanks for your patience everyone
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:32 am
I'm so sorry about the technical difficulties. Let's move the chat to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fromlefttowrite
MARTHBECK
November 10, 2011 - 9:35 am
Did everyone go to Facebook? I'm there!
Deborah
November 10, 2011 - 9:36 am
i am too ....
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:36 am
I'm on FB, hop on over! https://www.facebook.com/fromlefttowrite
Deborah
November 10, 2011 - 9:38 am
martha is on the facebook link ... click above .... it doesn't seem anyone is there
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:38 am
You m ight have to refresh the page to see new posts
Guest_977
November 10, 2011 - 9:39 am
I'm there!
From Left to Write
November 10, 2011 - 9:45 am
If you're just joining us, we moved the chat to Facebook due to technical difficulties: https://www.facebook.com/fromlefttowrite

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