All I Ever Wanted to be Called Was Mom

This is the story of a quest. A quest for life.

Like all quests, the path is fraught with pitfalls and hidden dangers. There’s the joys of small battles won and the tragedy of painful losses, including sometimes the most tragic defeat of all – death.

It all begins with the sweet story of a young couple who fall in love. Both are ecstatic to have found each other. They get married surrounded by family and friends.

For young STEVE AND VASO PETROU, the future seems bright with nothing but smooth sailing ahead as they launch a new life together.

As happy as they were, they knew the picture would never be complete until they became a “real” family – that is, not until the Petrous’ achieved their deepest heart’s desire – to become a family with children.

It all seemed simple. All they had to do was “get to work on it” and soon Vaso would be a loving mother, and Steve, a devoted father. After all, most other couples they knew completed this magic formula as easy as falling off a log.

But that’s where their nightmare begins.

Like millions of women, it soon became apparent that Vaso was unable to conceive naturally. After months of frustration, Steve had his “swimmers” tested, and they were just fine. But a certain abnormality in Vaso’s uterus meant conceiving would not be easy, if not impossible.

The couple sought out medical science for help. They eventually decide to undergo IVF – In Vitro Fertilization. If making a baby the natural way is simple and straightforward, the cold, technical process of IVF is everything the opposite. Steve and Vaso would soon learn that the IVF path was a complicated, grueling, enormously painful journey that in no way guaranteed a happy ending.

IVF: Fertilizing the egg

The first exhausting round of IVF failed, the second was first a nightmare and then a total bust, and then the third …

I’ll stop there because don’t want to give away any more of the story except to say that readers who take the journey with Steve and Vaso through these pages will confront a heart-wrenching saga that will challenge all emotionally and may have you pleading; “Please, God, just give these people a baby already!”

Of course, it’s not all pain and suffering. Ultimately this is a book of hope. It’s a true story of how unflinching faith and an unlimited willingness to press forward can result not only in the greatest joy, but also leave the participants of such events deeply changed.

I think the insights Steve Petrou provides about the deeper, inner psychological struggles a husband experiences in this situation will be of enormous help to countless others who are embarking upon, or contemplating the same route chosen by this man and his wife.

Female readers will probably find even more to relate to in these pages, but, I’m a guy so I can only speak for my own gender.

One of the things I really like about this book is how the primary narrator, Steve, finds himself transformed psychologically, emotionally and spiritually by the ordeal he shares with his wife. In the end, he not only … oops … but there I go, giving too much away again.

Suffice it to say that I found this short book a powerful read. Note that this is not an offering that reads like a slick, polished product of a professional writer – the author owns and operates a fish-n-chips business in England – and reading this is more like sitting down across a table from him as he unfolds an enthralling experience for you in plain and simple fashion.

Get the book, click here: All I EVER WANTED TO BE CALLED WAS MOM

Ken Korczak is a former newspaper reporter, government information officer, served as an advocate for homeless people as a VISTA Volunteer, and taught journalism at the University of North Dakota for five years. He is the author of: BIRD BRAIN GENIUS