Book Review

Vincentia Schroeter (2025). Babymaking.
Acorn Publishing, 184 pages, ISBN 9798885281317

Bioenergetic Analysis • The Clinical Journal of the IIBA, 2026 (36), 151–152

https://doi.org/10.30820/0743-4804-2026-36-151

In the modern world, parenthood has often ceased to be a “destiny” and has become a matter of choice that people can decide or not to make. Thanks to scientific contraception, it is possible to decide at what point in one’s life to have children. Sometimes this choice is postponed because it is difficult to establish oneself in the workforce and because governments do not offer sufficient financial support and services to support families. In any case, parenthood is a challenging choice, and the first possible difficulty is related to the possibility of having children. In the past, failure to conceive was usually blamed on women; today, scientific knowledge allows us to investigate and understand more precisely what problems, male or female, make it difficult or impossible to have children. In any case, confronting the difficulty or inability to conceive, once one desires it, opens up very different and specific internal scenarios for each person, and it is important for psychotherapists to be able to stay close to their patients to process this experience. Knowing through the direct voice of one woman who have experienced the difficulty of becoming a mother is a way to become more sensitive and empathetic and for this reason we have chosen to discuss the first book, that was published in December 2025 and is a memoir written by Vincentia Schroeter that recounts her experience and the difficulty that accompanied it. The book is titled Babymaking, and Vincentia recounts her desire to become a mother and imagined being able to follow in her mother’s footsteps and start a family with children. She thought everything would happen easily and without obstacles. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way, and she had to face the possibility that her dream might not come true. While her sister and other women around her managed to become mothers, her frustration grew, and with it, her envy of those more fortunate.

The author shares her heartbreaking experiences with medical diagnoses and her unwavering desire for motherhood. Babymaking is the story of a painful journey through vulnerability, brokenness, and repair. “Vin’s journey reminds us that hope and unconditional love have the power to lead us where we were meant to be.” (Laura L. Engel)

Maria Rosaria Filoni