56 minutes / Color
Release: 2002
Copyright: 2002
"When the staff of the NICU discharged our child, it was though they were waving goodbye at the dock. We had to make the voyage on our own."—Mother of a NICU graduate
Each year, the lives of thousands of premature newborns are saved by neonatal intensive care. The press and broadcast media celebrate these "miracle babies." But what is life like for the children, who often leave the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with multiple medical problems and developmental challenges? What is life like for their families? Filmmaker Richard Kahn spent almost a year living with one such family. Their four children (three natural, one adopted) are all "graduates" of the NICU, and they represent a range of outcomes, from unimpaired survival to serious physical and learning deficits. Capturing the family's extraordinary mutual devotion as well as the burdens of an unending regimen of care, In Our Midst provides a glimpse into the little explored impact of modern medical technology.
"Producer/director Richard Kahn has produced a clean, professional program that presents the facts about life with special needs kids in a way that is honest, upfront, and achingly real. He has painted a portrait of an extraordinary family dealing with society and our institutions, both good and bad, and shining with the resiliency of the human spirit."—Educational Media Reviews
Select Accolades
Follows three families whose babies are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Their stories demonstrate the capacity of ordinary individuals to adapt to crises with extraordinary grace and courage.
Claire Marie Panke | 2000 | 53 minutes | Color | English
A two-part examination of the psychological development of babies, from intrauterine life to the first months after birth. How do fetuses and babies perceive their worlds, and ours?
Bernard George | 2006 | 43 minutes | Color | English; French | English subtitles
