A beautifully, poignant and well written book about the amazing scientific achievements of modern medicine in pregnancy. For anyone who has gone through anything remotely similar, this is insightful and thought provoking. What a brave lady the author is for sharing her story.

As someone who is not a parent but knows that there is a strong likelihood of having a child with a genetic condition should I fall pregnant I found this book fascinating and I am full of awe for Gordon and all of the other parents who share their stories.

Fascinating insight into Foetal surgery, as an Advanced Paediatric Nurse I have a lot of knowledge on most conditions discussed but I didn't know about the history and all the different surgeries that are undertaken, it's amazing what modern medicine can achieve. Thank you to the author for sharing her story.

The First Breath by Olivia Gordon is a powerful book exploring the area of fetal medicine and care for the babies in the neo natal unit. As well as examining various disabilities and the procedures and care involved. It is a heart wrenching book. The bravery of the parents is astounding. The skills of the medical professionals immense. The fight in the babies enormous.
Olivia Gordon had a premature son, Joel in 2011. He has had his fair share of health problems to overcome. It is Joel who prompted Olivia Gordon to look into and explore the world of fetal medicine.
The whole book is fascinating. The medical advances in my lifetime are huge. I take my hat off to the health professionals with their skills and knowledge.
The book includes not only Olivia Gordon’s experiences but also the personal stories of others. At the end of the book, we catch up with the children to learn how they are now doing.
What really comes across is the resilience of the parents. They fight for their babies every step of the way as they face huge challenges even before birth.
Society has thankfully moved on from the 1950’s where people with disabilities were hidden from the world in institutions. I worked for many years as a learning support assistant for special needs in the local high school. These children are amazing – they are brave as they face challenges daily, they are strong and they are uncomplaining, doing even the hardest tasks with a smile.
We must never forget that the children with disabilities are still children. They want to laugh and play and learn.
The First Breath was such a powerful read. I want to leave you with this thought:
“He’s not a list of characteristics in a textbook, he’s my child.”
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

This is a highly informative and moving account of the author's experiences of fetal and nenonatal medicine, and an exploration into its history as well as where it can go in the future.

All I can say is wow such an inspiring book from start to finish. Makes you realise just how lucky we are to have such talented doctor/nurses/medicine and equipment

Beautifully written, emotional book.
How a mother found out her son was seriously ill in her womb at a 29 week scan and how he was operated on and survived where as years ago he wouldn’t have.
This book shows how far medincine has progressed and how parents cope with the news their baby is ill. It shows love and pulling together.
Wonderful

This book really is an inspiration.
I have so much respect for all the specialists doctors and nurses in this profession it truly is mind blowing they do such an amazing service to all that may need their help.
Mind blowing book.

A well written emotional account of how modern medicine has improved over the years in the field of neonatal care. I would imagine this book would be of great interest to people working in these areas.

This is an emotional delve into fetal medicine and what happens in neonatal units across both the UK and the world. This is not an easy read if you have had any dealings with NICU units or have had difficult pregnancies. It's very scientific but also very human as both the doctors, nurses, patients and parents are the focus of this book. It poses questions about how babies are cared for and how both the child's and parents aftercare is dealt with and I'm sure it will help people who have been through NICU situations or are going through them now feel that they are not alone.

An in-depth report on how we treat premature babies, including a history of how the medicine has advanced, filtered through the author's own experience of having an early baby. Interesting and moving.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. I went into this expecting a memoir from a neonatal doctor, in the vein of Max Pemberton or Adam Kay, the sort of book I love, although was more hesitant with this given the nature of neonatology. However, the book was about the experience of Gordon (and others) parenting with a child in NICU and their subsequent lives, interspersed with the history of foetal medicine and neonatology. The book was fascinating (I'm generally very interested in healthcare and the history of medicine), and Gordon writes fantastically, her words filled with emotion. While this wasn't always an easy read, it is incredibly worthwhile, and I'd definitely recommend it to others.

Olivia Gordon’s son Joel was born with a genetic syndrome in 2011. This is the story of his life interwoven with the history of fetal medicine and the stories of the other babies and parents Gordon met on her journey.
It is also the story of a new generation of babies born very early, and how we will need to respond to them and their abilities and define them by their humanity rather than their diagnoses.
A journalist, she interviews some of the medics who treated Joel and is also witness to surgery that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
This adds up to a book that is highly personal and emotional but is also an objective history of the progress in keeping very premature babies alive.
It is not always an easy read, as you might expect, but it is an interesting one and Gordon handles the juxtaposition of personal and historical well.
It is very dense though and I sometimes found I could only read it in small chunks.
Recommended.

A tender and well written account of somethong most of us thankfully will never experience. Memoir style it never deviates from the heart of the matter. A priviledge to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read such a fascinating book. It was a privilege to travel with Olivia Gordon through the journey of her son's birth and his struggle to survive. One could empathise with the myriad of feelings Olivia felt during the months following Joel's birth and I was very interested to read about all of the developments in the field of neonatology. What an amazing and exciting area of medicine and Olivia has been so fortunate to witness cutting edge surgery during her research. Joel is clearly a very loved child who has thrived and I wish Olivia and her family the very best.

A lovely read. A mix between a real life story and a scientific study. Easy to abord despite the sometimes difficult subject matter

This is an honest exploration of neonatal and fetal medicine by an author whose own child spent months in SCBU. Gordon examines the ethics of medical advances in the field but doesn't lose sight of the human stories, including the experiences of clinical staff working with these tiny, and often tenacious, babies. There's no shying away from the tougher questions either and readers may well find that their previously-held beliefs are challenged in unexpected ways.

The First Breath is a beautifully written memoir about the author’s experience with fetal surgery and neonatal care as she lived it as the parent of Joel born in 2011. The book explores the historical, current and futuristic look at the care of babies while in utero and in the months following birth. It takes an honest look into the implications of saving babies born with severe prematurity or profound congenital issues and the impact, not only on the child, but the parent and rest of the family. Through a series of interviews with specialists in this field, the book provides insight into the differences in philosophy of care between individual caregivers, and certainly within different cultures. The book also provides a narrative of the experiences of several other parents whose children have spent their first months in hospital.

I highly enjoyed this book. It is insightful, deeply moving and thought-provoking. It challenges our health care systems to take a good look at how we can improve care of these tiny individuals as well as the family supporting them. I respected the author’s concerns regarding the lack of support for these children as they age out of many government-sponsored funding. This is an important discussion which needs to be explored further as medical technology saves and extends the life of babies who in earlier decades would simply have died.

What an amazing story this is. The author tells of the heartache and troubles she and others in her situation go through when pregnancy doesn’t go to plan. It seems unimaginable that surgery could be performed on an unborn fetus to aid the recovery and repair of medical emergencies, of that fetus prior to birth
I found myself truly moved by the stories of these incredibly strong parents, who have gone through hell to nurture and give birth to their babies.
It’s hardly possible to imagine the suffering and hardships these babies and their parents then have to go through to survive and get on with life. Sometimes spending months or even years, in and out of hospitals.
I can only say, what a privilege it is to share their stories and the work carried out by the amazing medical staff. Indeed, I read this book and felt truly humbled.
A must read. An amazing read.

Fascinating, heartbreaking, amazing, unbelievable. Leaves me totally in awe of how lucky we are to have the nhs with the doctors looking for the next thing to save babies.

At first, this book wasn't what I expected since the wave of NHS staff telling their stories appeared but this was something fresher - the mother of a baby who had a medical condition. I loved how the personal stories moved me but at times there was a lot of medical knowledge that I felt could have been reduced and placed as part of the account rather than these long chapters on it.

A no-holds barred heart -stopping walk into the world of premature , sick babies, many with genetic conditions written by an incredibly brave and honest woman who has walked that path herself and contributed to by many more brave parents unafraid to share the negativity of their experiences and the poor outcomes as well as the positives and joyful outcomes.
The book tackles a number of situations faced by parents with very ill, often very premature babies...from having to leave your baby alone in hospital due to a lack of NHS funds allowing space for parents to stay overnight, to the terrifying ordeal of seeing your child go through multiple operations.
The subject matter is very sensitively handled and the interviews carried out, and described by, the author are informative to the lay person.
There are many, many places in the book that will bring a tear to the eye and many more that make you want to go out and begin fundraising for GOSH, for Bliss, SANDS and the many other charities that support parents going through the horror of a poorly child.
Having had a premature baby myself (although thankfully only 4 weeks early) I can only feel that there by the grace of genetics go us all and we owe a vote of thanks to the medical and scientific pioneers who have made premature birth something survivable as well as to the parents who selflessly shared their stories and their pain with the author to give multiple perspectives of the experiences that come with a genetic diagnosis.

Fascinating, scary, heartwarming and heartbreaking in a world of so many medical advances that we can take for granted or not fully appreciate until they intersect with our lives and this brings it all to front and center. The medical miracles that can be achieved for our children! As a mother who has experienced some of her own medical intervention in pregnancy the unknown is amazingly vast but this shows you how much is done to bring two people into parenthood and provide a life their childhood.
Completely emotional and certainly not for everyone but highly recommended.

Really thought provoking. I read with a sense of awe as to how quickly medicine has advanced in this field. Great read.

A lovely written story and a good insight into a scary situation that we don’t think could happen to us. It swaps between the real life struggles of her baby son and the world of cutting edge fetal medicine. Although it was such a sad subject to read about it makes you understand how these amazing doctors are miracle workers. I would recommend this book.