Here is one book you will want to read if you have a preemie in your life.
Aptly titled Preemie: Lessons in Love, Life, and Motherhood, this story provides a hopeful tale, one of struggling through the pain and fear of delivering a micropreemie, ultimately reaching a place of strength and authenticity, for the mother, the child, and the whole family. It's a much-needed dose of humor, honesty, and empowerment that I'm sure you will enjoy.
Be prepared to laugh, to cry, and to cheer on this sweet family as they struggle to endure, survive, and thrive. When Kasey Mathews, the mother who bares her soul to share her story, explains why she wrote her story, she says it so well:
After my daughter was born, I longed for a compassionate woman who had been in my shoes to sit on the end of my hospital bed and share her story with me. It wouldn't matter how different or similar our stories were, just to have someone who understood what it was like to have a pregnancy end halfway through, resulting in a baby that didn't resemble any baby I'd ever seen. I wanted to see her nod in understanding as we discussed the daunting task of raising, loving, and believing in a child born at 25 weeks.
That woman never arrived. Due to hospital privacy rights, we were discouraged from even glancing at other babies or parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (or NICU). I was lost, incredibly lonely, and terribly wrought with guilt and fear.
So I'd like to sit on the end of your bed and share my story with you. Your story and mine are sure to be different, but if hearing my story allows you a moment away from yours, if it leaves you with a sense of hope, then this story was worth writing down.
I believe she succeeded. Absolutely the story was worth writing down. It's a page turner, a book I didn't want to put down until I knew just how the main character, the micropreemie we're all rooting for, ends up as the beautiful, vibrant, joyful young girl on the cover.
Thanks, Kasey, for generously sharing a copy for me to review, and thank you for sharing your story so that we may all find comfort, reassurance, and most importantly, hope.
