Granted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the maternity ward of Atlanta's sprawling public hospital, Jerry Gentry binds together stories of women, medical residents, nurses, and midwives. In this teeming facility that never closes, he shows how their sorrows, struggles, and spiritual fortitude join at the moment when life begins.

Gentry tells these stories in a style and pace that mirrors life in the hospital. Scenes may change rapidly or linger on the birth of a child or an older woman's struggle with addiction. Some individuals reappear throughout the narrative while some flash by and then are gone, leaving an indelible imprint on the memory.

In his narrative, Gentry follows four principal stories:

A young, single woman is having her second child. She gradually reveals that her relationship with her boyfriend is a violent one.

An older woman—a “Grady Baby” and lifelong Grady patient—emerges as a kind of spiritual muse.

In the charity hospital, a Brazilian émigré is pregnant by a man from a wealthy Atlanta family.

A woman with AIDS faces the trials of a mixed-race relationship and the terrifying question—will my baby have the virus?

Never maudlin, Grady Baby presents hard choices—some wise, some not—made by women enduring tough realities. The term “Grady Baby” has been traditionally a pejorative, stereotyping the race and class of patients, but it can also be a term of pride and strength. With an insider's eye and unflinching, humanizing narrative voice, Gentry reveals the battles, failures, and triumphs that occur in one year in the place where birth and the hardships of urban life collide.