by Jeff Stimpson
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Product Description
Nearly half a million preemies are born in the US every year. But like most people, Jeff Stimpson, the father who wrote Alex, never gave premature babies a thought beyond the cliche of medical miracles. Many of these children grow up with special needs, necessitating an increasing and ever-controversial burden on society. Medicine is creating not only a new population of individuals, but a special and growing population of parents and families. Alex was born in June of 1998. He weighed 21 ounces. He spent the first year of his life in the hospital. This is the story of his first years. It's a story of doctors, hospitals, conferences, hate, love, gratitude, envy, frustration, joy, and worry. It's the story of a preemie. Stimpson saw his son get a spinal tap without anaesthesia (it isn't given to micro-preemies) and three times witnessed Alex stop breathing-once on his lap. Stimpson and his wife were at the hospital every day, and there they encountered not only how far the science of saving preemies has advanced but how far it hasn't, and how far healthcare and other professionals need to go to understand what parents go through when their infant lives in a hospital. The Stimpsons got a crash course in life behind the billboard of medical miracle, and learned how care of preemies can greatly differ, and, perhaps most important, how patients' families must learn to be consumers when trying to find that care. What keeps a family going when a child spends a year in the hospital? In compelling prose, Stimpson traces the life of his child from birth to kindergarten: four wings in two hospitals; coming home with a roomful of medical gear and round-the-clock drugs and nursing; the gains and downturns of home therapy through Early Intervention; finding and prospering in a special-needs pre-school; a diagnosis of autism; and the ongoing battle to give Alex a fair shot at childhood, and at life.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A very readable yet honest account of life with a Preemie, 2008-03-14
I loved this book. I cannot recommend it enough.
If you are considering buying it (either as a parent of a Preemie, someone who knows someone with a Preemie and wants to understand a little more, or someone who is just interested in a well written story of life and survival) then this is well worth your time. The book tells it how it is so don't expect a sugar coating but it is all the better for that.
One word of caution though - as the mother of an IUGR preemie I am glad that I did not hear about this book until after we were out of the hospital and had some sort of certainty. Essential reading now but may have been a little too raw back then.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Wonderful story of family strength and courage!, 2007-01-11
I loved this book. It puts everything about life into perspective. I found myself checking my own life - am I doing the best I can as a father? Am I truly supportive of my family in the things that matter? Do I see the best in my children? This book challenged me to grow. I found too that I felt inspired after reading. It is an awesome source of hope for families.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Proud mom of a Preemie, 2005-11-09
I can say I'm the proud mother of a preemie - 22 wks, weighed 397 grams (14 ounces) and 11 1/2 inches long. He spent the first 5 months of life in the NICU. He (Zuri - Kiswahili for 'beauty') is doing well now. He's 2 1/2 yrs old and is a strong toddler. He has some minor developmental delays but otherwise he's here and healthy! Hang in there parents and read all these stories. You ARE not alone...you didn't BRING this on yourself and you WILL survive it!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Brave and honest, 2005-09-29
Having an ex-preemie myself, I was so relieved to find the truths in this book, the ones the Hallmark Card Preemie Books don't say: what it's like to bring home a sick child, what it's like not to know his future, what it's like when the doctors turn out to be wrong or to have lied. Many many preemies end up like Alex with disabilities (mine did) and it's so important for their stories to be told. Right on, Jeff.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
This is a very accurate account of what it's like ..., 2005-09-05
I am a grandparent of preemies, so I know that Jeff Stimpson's book is an honest and moving account of what it's like to watch a brave tiny baby go through medically necessary procedures that you can't bear to watch, and then what it's like to take a preemie home who is extremely fragile and on various medical equipment. Coming through an experience like the one related in "Alex: The Fathering of a Preemie" is something that changes your perception of the world forever, and makes you acutely aware of the fragility of life, and how poignant every day is that we have with our loved ones.
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