The First Breath

We take pregnancy and childbirth for granted. Now please read The First Breath and be thankful for your children's lives. A compelling and uplifting book. -- <b>Heart surgeon Professor Stephen Westaby, bestselling author of <i>Fragile Lives</i> and <i>The Knife's Edge</i></b> This jaw-dropping story of medical discovery is interwoven with Gordon's own deeply moving story of her own experience as a new mother with a child in neonatal care. It conveys, brilliantly, the devastating emotional impact of being separated from one's child, and the shock of an unexpected diagnosis. -- <b>Useful Reading, <i>The Birth Trauma Association</i></b> Extraordinary . . . An absorbing and awe-inspiring account of the extraordinary foetal and neonatal medicine that is enabling a new generation of babies to thrive. -- <b><i>Bookseller</i></b> Exceptionally moving . . . a pleasure to read. -- <b>Professor Dame Kay E Davies, Professor of Genetics, </b><b>University of Oxford </b> Beautifully and clearly written and immensely touching. It moves effortlessly between personal stories of children and cutting edge scientific research...A great storyteller...[Gordon makes] us feel the great and risky adventure of surviving a difficult childhood and becoming a person: and the linked one of being a parent. Endlessly subtle...a wonderful, intelligent writer. -- <b>Maggie Mary Gee OBE, author of <i>The White Family</i></b> Genuinely brilliant...exceptionally powerful, deep and important. -- <b>Professor Daniel M. Davis, author of <i>The Beautiful Cure</i> and <i>The Compatibility Gene</i></b> Pacy and accessible . . . It is the female experience of such invasive surgeries that remains the focus here; expectant mothers steeling themselves for needles as long as rulers and learning to navigate a strange form of knowledge about a child that has yet to enter the world. -- <b><i>Prospect </i>'Best Books of 2019'</b> A book full of emotion and one that medical practitioners should read -- <i><b>Jewish Chronicle</b></i> A wonderfully well written, brilliant discussion of the evolution of genetics, prenatal diagnosis, fetal and neonatal medicine, ethics and popular prejudice interwoven into a framework of [the author's] own very human story and the other mothers who tell of their experiences so graphically . . . moved me to tears. -- <b>Professor Stuart Campbell, British fetal medicine pioneer</b> A touching, insightful, and engaging memoir. -- <b><i>The Lancet</i></b> Both a meticulously researched history of fetal medicine and a heartfelt account of parenting preterm babies -- <b>Leah Hazard, author of <i>Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story</i></b> Smart, sympathetic -- <i><b>Sunday Times Style</b></i> Part memoir, part analysis of neonatal and postnatal care. It's wonderful -- <b>Clover Stroud, author of <i>The Wild Other</i></b> Heartstopping -- <b><i>Daily Mail</i></b> Excellent . . . A serious journalistic investigation into foetal and neonatal medicine . . . reads like a thriller. -- <b><i>The Times</i></b> Fascinating and moving. -- <b>Adam Kay, <i>Sunday Times</i> bestselling author of <i>This is Going to Hurt</i></b>