Emotional story about a child in the NICU. Front cover is nice and suits the content. Would not read again and has trigger warnings.

An excellent collection of essays covering a range of functional and emotional support topics related to premature birth. This is a welcome addition to the small number resources available to parents navigating the logistics and emotional turmoil they experience when they are unwittingly placed in the often tragic situation of premature birth. The parents who have contributed to this collection write of the many aspects related to their experiences and journey through the world of the NICU with raw and powerful emotions expressing how their lives were changed in an instant.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own honest opinions written voluntarily.

An emotionally wrenching group of essays about being a parent whose child is in the nice,Essays of parents experiences with their child in the nice.To the final essay written by a nicu survivor,#netgalley#melvillepublishing.,

A poignant essay collection, featuring plenty of hope among the dark stories of the NICU. I liked that the final essay was written by a NICU graduate-it’s easy to find stories from the perspective of parents, but rare to hear from survivors themselves.

Excellent and necessary collection. I really like the way the table of contents provides details about each essay, making it easier for readers to quickly find stories relevant to their own experience; the editor is clearly highly attuned to the needs and concerns of her potential audience. However, in the ebook I received from NetGalley, the table of contents did not actually link to the essays, rendering this thoughtful design far less useful. Hopefully this will be corrected in the published version. Thanks for the opportunity to read this!

My 26-weeker is 12 now, and this book took me right back to our NICU days. Melody Schreiber has compiled brilliantly-written essays from parents and extended family members -- covering a wide range of topics from pumping breast milk to developmental delays to child loss.

This is a book I wish I had during our long stay in the NICU. I definitely would have felt less alone in our journey!

I am not a mother and have never given birth, but I was consumed by these stories of prematurity. I love the purpose that this book set out to provide - a space for a topic that is not often discussed. Most pregnancy advice revolves around having a birth plan and tracking your baby's progress through 40 weeks. But so many people (10% of all births according to this book) never make it that far and are considered premature.

I loved that this book offered so much comfort and belonging to anyone who has gone through a premature birth, both as a child and a parent. I can only imagine how alone someone might feel after having to deal with the stress of guilt of a premature birth. The stories had so much in common and having these anecdotes of resilience must be very comforting.

I really knew nothing about prematurity or what having a baby in the NICU entails.
After reading these stories my heart just went out to all of the families. The book included a variety of stories from a variety of people and I liked the diversity of the narratives. It wasn't until the very end that I felt the theme was starting to get exhausted. I was actually surprised to find out afterward that almost all of the stories were from parents who were writers, authors, or journalists of some kind.

I wish I could give this five stars, but I was really disappointed with the last story. After most stories dealt strictly with the hospital experience, it felt strange that this story was how the book was capped off. The writer just speaks about his life and roughly ties it in to being born prematurely as a "miracle baby". This would have been fine yet confusing if it weren't for the political agenda the writer pushed along with his autobiography. I felt it was unnecessary to the book and very alienating when the rest of the book was all about community.

If I do give birth in the future I will definitely remember these stories and if I do encounter a premature birth I will remember the experiences from this book to help me feel less alone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book.