BOOKSW
hen the novelist
Francesca Segal became
pregnant with identical
twin girls, everything went so well
for a while that she achieved the
desired state of being “smug and
unbearable”. But then, during the
30th week, she woke in the night
bleeding heavily. Given the dangers
that premature babies face (and
Segal provides a hair-raisingly
comprehensive list) the hospital
where she was taken tried hard to
save her pregnancy. The following
day, though, the doctors had no
choice but to deliver her daughters,
who weighed in at around two
pounds each. Suddenly Segal found
herself “pulled far from the current
of normal motherhood”, her babies’
fate in the hands of advancedmedicine instead of hers and her
husband Gabe’s.
In this riveting book she writes
beautifully about what happened
over the next couple of months when
all ordinary life was suspended, to be
replaced by an exhausting cycle of
hope and fear. Particularly moving
are the friendships she developed
with the other mothers in the same
situation. In what the hospital calls
“the expressing room”—but that the
women refer to as “the milking
shed”—vital information is
exchanged, mutual supportLabour Pains
RD’S RECOMMENDED READ
This month’s recommended read reckons with the beauty and tragedy of one
mother’s experience with prematue birth and the debt we all owe to the NHSMother Ship
by Francesca Segal
is published by
Chatto & Windus
at £14.99124 • JULY 2019WENN RIGHTS LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO