Miracle Birth Stories: Inspiring Accounts for Everyone

Soon after our son entered life 2 ½ months early, I found myself in our local library searching for information on premature babies. I had just left the hospital after a long visit to the NICU, where my tiny son lay curled up on a warming table. The visit left me feeling overwhelmed and frustrated because I didn't understand how and why this had happened. So, here I was searching for any speck of data I could find. Unfortunately, the small library carried only one book about preemies. I checked it out and began reading as soon as I returned home. The book told the story of a baby girl who was born much too early. As I read the firsthand account, I felt inspired and hopeful. However, I found myself wholly unprepared for the ending, which tells of the child's death after only a short time in the NICU. Although the book was extremely well-written, I wish that I had not read it at that point. It upset me greatly. Now that my sick baby has matured into a healthy toddler, I can appreciate the book for the information it gave me, and am planning to re-read it for this column.

The book that I desperately needed then was one that could attest to the fighting spirits of premature infants. I needed an account that would encourage me not to give up hope. What I needed was Timothy Smith's wonderful book, Miracle Birth Stories of Very Premature Babies(1999), which I recently read. The volume contains a collection of 12 articles chronicling parents' experiences with their premature infants; one of the stories is Smith's own. Since all of the babies featured are alive today, Smith admits that the book may paint "a too-rosy picture of the preemie issue" (xxii). However, the stories serve to further the book's purpose, which, in Smith's words, is "to triumphantly trumpet how these infants continue to amaze, and that it isn't such a rarity anymore for the tiniest preemies to survive-and thrive" (xxii-xxiii). Certainly, the book shows that most preemies are fighters, who will battle any ill to the bitter end, inspiring everyone in the process.

Smith's book also shows how everyone's experience with a premature infant is at once different and similar. Some of the infants discussed endured respiratory difficulties, while others combated retinopathy and hearing loss, while still others underwent complicated surgeries. Some of the mothers Smith talks about are married, some single. Some of the parents continued to work after their children were born prematurely, some quit their jobs to watch over an isolette full-time. Despite the many differences, much of the experience is the same. As I read, I recognized emotions I felt: guilt, fear, anger, triumph, anxiety, and a deep love. My tears flowed easily when I found Rebecca Hampton's poem on page 129, because it expresses emotions I am too inept to share. Any parent who has been through the NICU experience can relate to the verse, which follows:

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