Alex

November 8, 2004
Stimpson's memoir of the first seven years of his preemie son Alex's life reads like a diary, often compelling in its immediacy, sometimes mind-numbing in its excruciating detail. Because of a condition called intrauterine growth retardation, in which the fetus's growth is dangerously slow, doctors induced Alex's birth after a six-and-a-half-month pregnancy, hoping he'd "do better outside the womb than inside." With a birth weight of 21 ounces, Alex spent almost all of his first year in the hospital, attached to "lue tubes, green tubes, clear tubes, fat tubes, fine tubes" that kept him alive. Life with a premature infant in the hospital was emotionally wrenching, and Stimpson's descriptions of the grueling routine he and his wife endured are heartrending. When Alex finally came home, there were new problems: getting him off his medications, feeding tube and, finally, his oxygen tank; trying to interest him in eating; dealing with his possible autism and mental retardation; and handling the inevitable health insurance struggles. Stimpson, a journalist currently with Practical Accountant
magazine, provides a vivid picture of life in a preemie's family that will surely interest other parents of preemies, as well as anyone planning a family, but his real-time journaling style, exemplified by the listing of all of Alex's toys, or everything he ate on a given day, will test the will of even the most sympathetic reader.

December 1, 2004
In this memoir, Stimpson, a reporter and frequent speaker for special-needs parenting organizations, gets right to the heart of parenting a premature infant: the emotions, the struggles, the red tape. His frank narrative spans the birth of his son, Alex, through countless hospital visits, his diagnosis of autism, and kindergarten. Reading like scattered memories or loose journal entries, the book is insightful and honest but sometimes confusing. It will suit professionals or interested lay readers seeking to understand issues faced by the families of preemies; however, new parents of preemies would be better off with a more linear handbook. A good selection for larger collections.-KellyJo Houtz Griffin, Eatonville, WA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2004
When Alex was born prematurely in 1998, he weighed only 21 ounces. He spent only four days of the first tentative year of his life at home. The rest was spent in the hospital in one critical medical situation after another, with Stimpson and his wife battling hospital staff, fighting to keep the treatments and procedures to a minimum. Stimpson chronicles the day-to-day struggle to keep Alex alive and, later, to make something of a normal life for him as Stimpson and his wife slowly come to terms with their child's physical and mental limitations. Alex's homecoming only shifted the venue for constant care, worries, and crises. Tracing Alex's development from premature birth to kindergarten, Stimpson offers a compelling look at the roller coaster of emotions faced by parents with a severely ill child who must contend with sometimes supportive and sometimes callous medical and social workers as they advocate for the maximum care and opportunity for their child.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)