Rocking the Babies

Rocking the Babies / Linda Raymond
NY: Penguin, c1994
272 p.

It's the mid-90s in Ohio, and two Black women volunteer for the time consuming role of "grandmother" at a hospital's neonatal care unit, to take on the task of rocking the preemies. The realism of the setting is strong; the author was a neonatal respiratory therapist.

Martha Howard is a middle class, private woman, who has her own trauma in her past; her infant son died of sudden infant death syndrome and it has haunted her for decades. Nettie Lee Jones is poor, overworked and tired, but she volunteers because unknown to anyone else, the latest abandoned baby in the neonatal care unit is her daughter Yolanda's baby, abandoned due to Yolanda's drug addictions. This book is set in the 90s, and reflects the 'crack baby' scares of the era, but more as a way to introduce a more human element into the sensationalism of the contemporary media, I think. 

Martha and Nettie Lee are suspicious of one another in the beginning, and have to form a working relationship from their prickly beginnings. They are both drawn to the very sick, very weak baby who Martha names "Faith" in her head, hoping to be able to take her home as a foster mother when she's well enough. Nettie Lee can't tell anyone that Baby Doe is her granddaughter, as she doesn't want to get Yolanda in trouble with the police and social services, but she keeps an eye on her at all times.

As they settle into their routine, rocking babies in turn, they start to tell one another stories about their lives. As they begin a story, the narrative shifts into a monologue -- they aren't telling a story the way you might in real life, with interruptions and vagueness, no, these are narratives on a higher plane. They are immersive, evocative, and thorough. We start to understand more about each woman and knowing one another's stories starts to build a connection between them.

Along with the undercurrent of tension around Baby Doe, there is another character who appears. A biracial teen who is learning to take care of her preemie appears to rock him and learn to feed him and so forth, until she can take him home. She rocks alongside the two grandmothers, listens to their stories, and shares a little of herself. The way this girl is drawn into their lives and into the conclusion of the story, when Nettie Lee needs help, is quite moving. 

I found the quiet power of this story almost stately. There are terrible things all around; the preemies at risk for their lives, the tragedies in the past for all the characters, and yet their strength and staying power shines through. It is in community, whether sharing their stories and lives, or holding new babies, that survival rests. The writing style is deliberate and fairly slow moving, even with the events that are related -- but much of them are related as memory and story, so I feel this technique fits the content well. There are disturbing events in their lives, but are all truths they are sharing. 

Even with the sorrow and the trauma of many stories, the book ends with a reaffirmation of life, and with a sense of closure and uplift that I really appreciated. The story leaves you with a sense of hope and possibility, something that I find is increasingly rare in a novel. I found this book very engaging and memorable.