Near Breathing: A Memoir of a Difficult Birth (Emerging Writers in Creative Nonfiction)

By Kathryn Rhett

Book Overview

Near Breathing is the story of a difficult and transformative birth experience. Rather than the 'perfect birth' the author can later imagine, she and her husband instead experience the near-death of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820702781
• ISBN13: 9780820702780
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Duquesne University Press
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

One of the best books I've ever read

I have rarely read a better written book or one that moved me more. This book tells with incredible honestly the feelings the author had while dealing with the diffecult birth and stay in the hospital of her daugther. As the mother of a son that also spent time in a NICU, it was so wonderful to read a book that was not afraid to tell how it really feels---instead of just focusing on "miracles" or on how to be "advocate for your child" or the focus of so many other books on this subject. Whether it was talking about how insensitive nurses can make you feel, or about how you are observed by the staff in all you do, it was as if my feelings had been written down for me. Thank you, thank, Kathryn Rhett, for writing this book.

Moving and insightful memoir of a birth

Quite simply the most moving book I've read all year. Just as Rhett and her husband watch over their newborn daughter in ICU, this memoir monitors the infinite, subtle gradations of pain, fear and guilt with the same exacting attention they pay to their child's vital signs. Beyond hope or despair,the book seems ultimately a story of honesty and the simple bravery of facing the future.