Held Together: Motherhood, Medicine & Authentic Hope with Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson

This Mother's Day, we're sitting with the hard and the hopeful. Dr. Erica Bove welcomes Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson — family medicine and public health physician, and author of Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love — for a conversation that is equal parts raw, wise, and deeply affirming.

Dr. Thompson shares the deeply personal journey behind her collaborative memoir, including her own life-threatening pregnancy complications, three losses, and the decade-long process of weaving her story together with those of 21 patients, colleagues, and friends — half of them healthcare professionals. What emerged is a book that doesn't just document struggle, but transforms it into community.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why stories are always harder to tell in the present tense — and why that's okay
• The isolating experience of pregnancy loss as a physician and what "the knowledge didn't protect me" really means
• What Mother's Day can feel like when you're in the thick of fertility challenges — and how to navigate it with self-compassion
• The difference between false optimism and authentic hope — and why "everything happens for a reason" may not serve us
• How channeling sadness into strength isn't toxic positivity — it's agency
• The power of ordinary things (a hike, a pet, a phone call) when the world feels performative
• Community as a place to both lend strength and borrow it
• Why "the suffering is in the gap between expectations and reality"
• Friendships across different seasons of life — and how they can fracture and repair
• How medicine must make room for the humanity of its healers

Quote from this episode:
"We aren't unique in our struggles. Others have prevailed over hardships before us, and we too can find joy in the most trying of times." — Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson

Resources:

• Held Together by Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson: rebeccanthompson.com
• Order via the affiliate link on her site to support Postpartum Support International
• Book club discussion questions and speaking/teaching resources also available on her website
• Proceeds support: Resolve, Planned Parenthood, Children's Literacy Foundation, and the Trevor Project

If this episode resonated with you, you are not alone. You are held.