I was excited to read this, because I haven't heard much from Jase or Missy in any of the Robertson books. I knew a large part of this book was going to be about Mia's journey with cleft lip and palate, however, I wished there had been more of their life story as well.
I wanted to hear about their first meeting, and when they started dating, and things like that. Most of that was skipped over.
The part about Reed having a cone head shape after birth and Jase saying “we’ll still love him" cracked me up, and reminded me of American Wife by Taya Kyle, when their son also had a cone-shaped head after birth.
the part about her having Rh- blood, and needing to take Rhogam reminded me of my Genetics class, because I learned about that in there, so that was interesting to hear.
I also connected to the story, how Mia would have been born on September 11, but was born on September 12 instead. My grandma's birthday was September 11, and my mom's is September 12, so that was another cool part of the story.
There were so many emotional and touching moments in this book, big and little that I teared up over. I don't think I've ever done that so many times in a book before. like when Mia hid her face from Willie after her surgery, because she was self-conscious. &when Mia prayed for Mrs. Cathy instead of herself.
The numbers at the bottom of the page are so small! I could barely see them. I would have loved to have heard more from Jase. Maybe alternating chapters, or several chapters in his perspective.
I remember thinking it was outrageous how the doctors would get some things wrong. Like the machine supposed to measure the contractions wasn’t hooked up properly, so it didn’t show she was in strong labor. ¬ all of the embryonic tissue had been removed 16 days earlier, and that cells reattached to her fallopian tube, grew again, and then ruptured her tube. &the instance where they could have sued her doctor because of a big mistake she had made.
My mom says the same thing. A locked door won’t keep criminals away, so she kept her car doors unlocked.
So many touching things, the doctors being impressed at her wearing her headgear so much, and going from moving only one millimeter to ten.
Her walking down the hall after surgery holding Reed’s hand.
Her not wanting to take the goofy juice so she could tell everyone bye.
This was such an inspirational and touching book.
I recorded the episode Stand by Mia just to rewatch it and see her speech again now that I knew the backstory. Watching it again, and knowing how long her speech was, I was really disappointed at how much they cut out of the story. And in the book when Missy said that the producers initially didn't want to tape the episode because it's supposed to be a comedy show. I wish it had focused more on Mia, and had given the public more insight on what exactly the family and Mia has gone through. I wish it, and the whole show, would be a more accurate portrayal, instead of the producers wanting to gloss over real world problems. I love the comedy aspect, that's why I started watching it, but I would love if it was more real and emotional. That episode certainly called for it.