Born Too Soon

• Author(s): Elizabeth Mehren,
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Pages: 325
• ISBN_10: 1575663155
  ISBN_13: 9781575663159
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Biography & Autobiography / Medical ,

Description:... "Scorching and compassionate; luminous with both suffering and love". -- Carolyn See

Less than six months into Elizabeth Mehren's pregnancy, something went terribly wrong. Weighing an incredible one pound, eleven ounces, her daughter Emily was born too soon. Suddenly Mehren and her husband, New York Times journalist Fox Butterfield, were thrust into the world of the Neonatal ICU, a surreal place where parents' sole contact with their child is the grip of a finger through a porthole of an isolette. This is a world in which highly skilled doctors can be cruelly insensitive, devoted nurses act as everything from therapist to beautician, and parents who have nothing in common except their premature babies bond fiercely and keep each other going.

There are 275,000 premature babies born each year in the United States. While technology has made great strides in saving many, it has had many unexpected casualties as well: parents who have come to expect more than medicine can deliver; babies who survive but with severe disabilities; babies whose suffering is merely prolonged before the inevitable end comes. Through the compelling story of brave, beautiful baby Emily, "Born Too Soon" examines all sides of the issue with compassion and candor.

"Eloquent and groundbreaking". -- San Francisco Chronicle

"Heartbreaking and powerful". -- Kirkus