Book Review: "Baby City - An Inside Look At Labor & Delivery"

Baby City: An Inside Look At Labor & Delivery by Freida McFadden & Kelley Stoddard is not exactly a memoir; it's based in truth, on real life, but with just enough details changed to where it cannot necessarily be considered so much a memoir as a realistic fiction. That said, the book itself purports that everything between its covers IS based in true happenings lived by the authors on the maternity ward. However, the story is told as a first-person recounting of events -- as a singular someone. You can begin to see where this starts to make sense in how these are stories that happen every day in maternity wards around the country, but at the same time, has just enough fiction peppered in as well as to make it uniquely their own.

Anyway, this is the tale of a resident at Cadence Hospital (may or may not be the actual name of a real hospital) who works all hours on the maternity ward, and has to put up with trying to train new medical students on rotation -- some of who are more annoying than others (if you read this book, there's one in particular who you'll know exactly who I'm talking about). There's many different personality types at play, both amongst the staff and of the patients, and this book is also a wonderful example that no two births go exactly the same -- even with a veteran mother who's already had five children. It's also a perfect example of just how quickly things can turn tragic in the blink of an eye, and even in our modern age, there are no assurances when it comes to childbirth. There's a lot of humor included in the stories throughout the book, but overall, there's a brutal reminder of humanity, and that it is not just an industry; these are people's lives, their hopes, and their dreams we're talking about.

The book isn't perfect -- it has a lot of typos throughout it and could have been edited a lot better than it was, but ultimately, I found it to be a very enjoyable read and would recommend it highly to anyone who has an interest in the medical field, be it obstetric or not. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"

It's not often that a  book can come into your life whose story, practically from the very first chapter til the last page, will rip your heart out, stomp all over it, utterly destroy you....but yet, you can't put the book down...

This. This is that book.

From the moment you open this book, you're plunged into a world of drama. It starts in the early 60's with a newlywed couple, doctor David Henry and his wife, Norah, expecting the birth of their first child. Norah goes into labor in the middle of a blizzard, and they barely make it to the clinic in time. The doctor who would have delivered the child got into a car accident on the way to the clinic, so David is left to deliver his own child...or rather, children. Unbeknownst to the couple, Norah had been carrying twins. The first, a boy -- Paul -- had been born perfect in just about every possible way. The second, a little girl named Phoebe, is born with Down's syndrome, which was practically a death sentence in those days. Having had the attending nurse act as an anesthesiologist, Norah had been knocked out for the birth and unaware she'd even given birth to twins until after the fact. She never saw the daughter, as David sent Phoebe off with the nurse, Caroline, to send her to an institution. However, as fate would have it, Caroline sees the horrible conditions of the institution and refuses to leave the child in such a place, as she has no doubt in her mind it would destroy her. Acting against the doctor's wishes, she takes the child to raise as her own.

Without giving away the entire plot, there is much drama from both sides: Caroline with the rigors of trying to raise a child that's not only not her own but is severely handicapped, David having to keep this secret with him for his entire life, never telling another soul that Phoebe had been given away but instead letting the world believe the infant had died at birth. The guilt consumes him; the grief consumes Norah, and the pressure of both placed on Paul end up causing him to lash out and rebel. There's so many twists and turns this story takes over the quarter of a decade that it spans over, it's unbelievable. This is easily one of the best books I have ever read in my life. There is no 'everybody wins' happy ending; there's a form of resolution, but not the type everyone would have expected here.

This book will grip at your heartstrings, twist them tight, swing your emotions around, and do it all over again, from start to finish. I highly recommend this book almost higher than any book I've ever recommended in my life. A huge, HUGE 5 star review!