Book Review: The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide to the NICU

The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide to the NICU is a helpful resource for parents of premature babies in the NICU. Loaded with features, including a glossary, questions to ask the doctors, stories from the authors, and more, The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide will help NICU parents understand their child's care.

Published in 2009, The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide to the NICU: How to Maintain Your Sanity & Create a New Normal is a NICU parent's best friend. Its authors, little man's Nicole Conn and Preemie Magazine's Deb Discenza, are NICU moms with widely different stories. Their expertise and experience, along with that of medical editor Alan R. Spitzer, M.D., make The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide a wonderful source of information and encouragement.

The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide has two sections. The first half of the book is a glossary of terms that parents may hear in the NICU. This quick reference is a good starting point for parents who have no prior medical knowledge and who find that they need to learn a lot of medical information very quickly so that they can understand their baby's care. The second half of the book is meatier, and contains chapters on advocating for your baby, coping with your emotions, preparing for discharge, and more. The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide doesn't contain information for after discharge; parents will need additional resources for parenting preemies at home.

One of my favorite things about The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide is the book's layout. One of the authors, Deb Discenza, has a history in the magazine industry, and it shows. The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide has a very magazine-like feel, with plenty of sidebars, short anecdotes, and manageable chunks of information. This layout makes it a great thing for NICU parents to stash in their bags on the way to visit a baby in the NICU. The information is easy to find and quick to read, perfect for moments when the doctor is on the way and you need to ask a question about a specific condition, or when you have 15 minutes to kill while you wait for a procedure to end or for visiting time to begin.

The authors of The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide, Nicole Conn and Deb Discenza, are both parents of premature babies, but had very different NICU experiences. Nicole's son, Nicholas, was a micropreemie who spent months in the NICU, battled many serious health problems of prematurity, and has many long-term effects of his early birth. Deb's daughter, Becky, was a 30-weeker who spent 38 days in the NICU. She also battled complications of her premature birth, but has grown into a healthy little girl. Their combined experiences mean that their book speaks to a wide variety of NICU parents, with babies born at all gestational ages.

My only gaffe with The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide is also one of its benefits - the layout. I like that the layout has multiple sidebars, color-coded for busy and distracted NICU parents, but it can be a lot for the eyes to take in. The colors can get a little overwhelming, and there are entire pages with no main text, just sidebars. However, once you get used to the look of the book, the unusual layout makes this an excellent resource for parents of premature babies.