Product Description

"What's happening to me? Is my baby going to be okay?"

Maybe you're reading this guide because you've been told you're at high risk for having a premature baby. Or perhaps you're reading it after your baby's unexpectedly early birth, and you're wondering what the future holds for this incredibly tiny person. You'll find all the answers you need in this comprehensive guide for parents, the first book to fully discuss both coping with high-risk pregnancy and caring for your premature baby. Topics include:
Managing the High-Risk Pregnancy: Stalling preterm labor, coping with bed rest, medications to help the baby
The First Twenty-four Hours after Delivery: What to expect right after the baby's born, coping with insurance, and more
Your Preemie's Growth and Maturation: What to expect in terms of physical appearance and development for 24-, 28-, and 32-week preemies
The NICU: What the neonatal intensive care unit looks like, equipment and staff, and how to be a good NICU parent
Bringing Your Preemie Home: Getting your home ready, managing anxiety, feeding your preemie, keeping Dad involved
Later-Life Development: Health, growth, and cognitive and psychological development as your baby matures
Prematurity and the Special Needs Child: How to help your child lead a full life

Featuring the most up-to-date medical information available and filled with the voices of dozens of parents who've been in your shoes, this reassuring guide will help you make the best choices for yourself and your baby.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #384649 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-14
• Released on: 2000-11-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
"A superb book that should be required reading for parents with prematurely born infants."
-- Ralph D. Feigin, M.D., President and CEO, Baylor College of Medicine, Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children's Hospital

"An invaluable tool for families who find themselves coping with the myriad medical, emotional, financial, and mind-numbing decisions that follow a premature birth. Finally someone has written a comprehensive and very personal guide that answers all the tough questions these traumatized parents don't even know how to ask. . . . This is the book I've been waiting for."
-- Candace Hurley, Executive Director/Founder, Sidelines National Support Network

"This book is a wonderful resource for parents experiencing a high-risk pregnancy or parents of a premature infant. Readers will realize that they are not alone--that others have gone through similar experiences and have similar feelings. As a neonatologist and a parent of a premature infant, I found this book to be very informative and engaging and recommend it highly for physicians, nurses, and other professionals caring for premature infants."
-- Thomas N. Hansen, M.D., CEO, Children's Hospital, Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University

From the Back Cover
"A superb book that should be required reading for parents with prematurely born infants."
-- Ralph D. Feigin, M.D., President and CEO, Baylor College of Medicine, Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children's Hospital

"An invaluable tool for families who find themselves coping with the myriad medical, emotional, financial, and mind-numbing decisions that follow a premature birth. Finally someone has written a comprehensive and very personal guide that answers all the tough questions these traumatized parents don't even know how to ask. . . . This is the book I've been waiting for."
-- Candace Hurley, Executive Director/Founder, Sidelines National Support Network

"This book is a wonderful resource for parents experiencing a high-risk pregnancy or parents of a premature infant. Readers will realize that they are not alone--that others have gone through similar experiences and have similar feelings. As a neonatologist and a parent of a premature infant, I found this book to be very informative and engaging and recommend it highly for physicians, nurses, and other professionals caring for premature infants."
-- Thomas N. Hansen, M.D., CEO, Children's Hospital, Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University

About the Author
JOSEPH A. GARCIA-PRATS, M.D., has been a practicing neonatologist at Baylor College of Medicine for more than twenty-five years and is medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston. He is the father of ten sons.

SHARON SIMMONS HORNFISCHER, R.N., B.S.N., a pediatric and emergency room nurse for more than twelve years, is the mother of three children, including a boy born eight weeks prematurely

Customer Reviews

What I wish I knew before I got pregnant.
My son was born prematurely June 10, 2004. My 30 week ultrasound came back showing that my ambionic fluid was low and my baby only weighed 2 lbs. 7 ounces. The next day I was sent by my OB/GYN to meet with a perinatologist. Within 15 minutes of meeting the specialist, I was told my baby would be born witihin 24 to 48 hours and was admitted to the hospital 30 minutes later. My son was born via emergency csection 27 hours later. I was 31 weeks into my pregancy. He will spend 9 weeks in neonatal ICU before he can come home. This so far, has been the hardest and most heartbreaking part of my entire pregnancy.

I am 30 years old and was diagnosed with chronic high blood pressure two years ago. This book is a step by step account of what happened to me. I developed pregnancy induced hypertension which turned into preeclampsia. None of my doctors (family practicioner or OB/GYN) told me how dangerous and high risk my pregnancy would be. I wish I knew then what this book has taught me now, it has been a real eyeopener and lifesaver.

essential for (expecting) preemie-parents
Upon hearing you're pregnant, most people will only have images of perfect babies. When hearing something is going wrong with your pregnancy, most people have no idea what to expect.
When I heared I was going to have my baby within half an hour, at 26 weeks of pregnancy... I had no idea what was laying ahead of me.
This book prepares you on what to expect when you have a high-risk pregnancy and takes you trough the 24 hours after delivery, your preemies growth and maturation, the neonatal unit, bringing your baby home and later-life development. There is also a part on babies with special needs and a part about when things go wrong.
From the many lonely hours I could not be with my baby, I spent many reading this book. The stories of other parents helped me survivng the nicu and the many charts and statistics helped me to get an image on what to expect.

Thank you very much for this book.

The book for a high risk pregnancy and the NICU
A very helpful book for reading during your high-risk pregnancy and when your baby is in the NICU. I did think that the anecdotes about women's experiences with terbutaline and magnesium sulfate were unnecessarily alarming. This book complemented Linden's Essential Guide for Parnets of Premature Babies nicely.