For the Love of Babies: One Doctor's Stories about Life in the Neonatal ICU by Sue Hall

 FOR THE LOVE OF BABIES: One Doctor's Stories About Life in the Neonatal ICU invites readers into the NICU—an area in the hospital that’s unfamiliar and frightening to most people—and demystifies this place where extraordinary things transpire. The reader accompanies a number of babies with a range of medical concerns as they journey through the NICU, seeing the challenges each one must surmount, all the while getting a sense of life-and-death urgency that permeates NICU care. The all-important needs for parents to maintain hope, and for healthcare professionals to support them, are the transcendent messages. This is the book for anyone who’s ever wondered how parents whose babies are critically ill cope with the enormous emotional pressures facing them, and what the daily rhythms of life are like in a NICU.

Good Reads Summary

The reader should be prepared to read about families' trials and sadness and joy in the NICU.  This novel has its ups and downs, very realistic.  The reader will be riveted to the novel, if he/she is medically inclined, especially in scenes where the baby may or may not make it.  There is a "Notes" section to further broaden the readers' educations and show more depth to the diagnoses in the novel.  The reader will not have to worry about a diagnosis or hurriedly look it up on Google.  Any reader with children will appreciate this novel, the beauty of life should not be take for granted-a focal point for this novel.  The reader will enjoy that an actual doctor wrote the novel, her experience shines through and makes every situation that much more believable.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy perusing medical literature. 

4 stars