Before Their Time: Lessons in Living from Those Born Too Soon

by Daniel Taylor, Ronald Hoekstra

"Lord, have mercy." This was Alliette's simple but profound plea as she drove herself to the hospital. She had been standing in her kitchen doing dishes. . . . Her husband and older daughters were not at home. Suddenly she felt something like water running down her leg. Alliette knew what it meant, but she couldn't believe it. She was only twenty-two weeks along. . . . She decided to drive herself to the hospital. She soon regretted it. In these pages you will find five stories of babies born before their time, fifteen to eighteen weeks short of the nine months allotted to form a child. Written by Daniel Taylor from extensive interviews, each story arises out of the practice of Dr. Ronald Hoekstra at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You will enter the neonatal intensive care unit, a quietly crowded place of babies, doctors, nurses, parents and machines. A place of drama, heartache, waiting and joy. And a place where God is found. The questions raised by the stories of these smallest of infants are as large as life itself. What makes life worth living? What is the balance of medicine and faith? This book is not a collection of case studies but the stories of women, men and tiny children with whom we explore the meaning of life, death and faith. Here is a book to encourage and inspire, a book about both the struggle and joy of life. "In the high-tech intensive care nursery of a major American hospital, we meet six premature babies, their devoted parents and a praying doctor. Their miraculous stories told in Before Their Time remind us that the most important formula we can feed our children is faith." Diane M. Komp, M.D., author of Images of A Pediatrician's Trilogy of Faith, Hope & Love "Daniel Taylor is one of the finest writers of our age. . . . The stories read like mysteries of grace which rivet us to the seasons of our own lives that feel premature and incomplete. What I learned not only brought me to tears of joy but to a deeper passion for the glorious timing of God's plan in my life." Dan B. Allender, coauthor of The Cry of the Soul

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Daniel Taylor (Ph.D., Emory University) is the author of eighteen books, including The Myth of Certainty, Letters to My Children, Tell Me A Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories, Creating a Spiritual Legacy, The Skeptical Believer: Telling Stories to Your Inner Atheist, Believing Again: Stories of Leaving and Returning to Faith, and a four novel mystery series, beginning with Death Comes for the Decontructionist and ending with The Mystery of Iniquity. His most recent novel, The Prodigal of Leningrad, is set in that city during the Nazi siege of World War II. He has also worked on a number of Bible translations. He speaks frequently at conferences, colleges, retreats, and churches on a variety of topics. Dr. Taylor is also co-founder of The Legacy Center, an organization devoted to helping individuals and organizations identify and preserve the values and stories that have shaped their lives. He was a contributing editor for Books and Culture. Dr. Taylor is married and the father of four adult children. Website: www.WordTaylor.com

Reviews

[Emily Steffel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Dr. Hoekstra was one of our son's primaries -- saved his life. Read this while in the hospital.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Taylor's writing has had such an impact on my life that I've been disposed to reading everything he's published. This book is a bit different than the rest and I was tempted to pass on it. I'm very glad I didn't. It's the story of five families and six children: Children who were "born too soon", families, doctors and nurses who struggled along with them In the hope that life would prevail over death. Not all survived, but in each case hope (the kind that does not require temporal success) and even joy (not to be confused with happiness) prevailed. These remarkable stories give us profound lessons in living summarized by the author in the final chapter. These lessons are far from the pious platitudes of which we are all familiar. They go deep, choosing perseverance over despair: " The discouraging thing about despair is that the natural universe does not care about your despair. Your declaration that you can't take it any more does not result in any change in your circumstances. ... Fortunately, God understands despair ..." These families have been through some of the worst that life has to give but have found a genuine, faithful understanding of what good such circumstances can bring. These lessons of life are for all of us, not just those who have been though a similar experience. I'm very grateful to the authors for this book and highly recommend it to others.

[Therese Dotray-Tulloch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anita's book club choice because of Meghan's hard experience with super preemie Joe. Too religious for my taste (seriously, what God would let children die and suffer unless their parents prayed?) but interesting stories set at Abbott in Minneapolis.