One of the many things that I have learned over the last months is not to judge what you don’t understand.
During one of the many weeks that Lee was in hospital, we were in a ward where one of the very babies was by herself. Normally the moms would stay with their children. These babies are being cared for by the nursing staff, doing the necessary feeding and changing, but they don’t have time to hold and cuddle a crying baby. If a mom is not present, it falls on the other moms to nurture that baby – if they can leave their own child for a little while. This little girl’s incessant crying was working on our already frayed nerves and we tried to comfort her as best we could. Many unkind remarks towards the mom of this little girl were spoken.
We were in the ward for a couple of days before her mom arrived one morning. Her story unfolded over the next couple of hours.
The little girl’s twin sister died 3 weeks earlier of pneumonia. The mom was grieving for her baby girl. But she also had a 14 year old son who is in the last stages of kidney failure. He was taken off the transplant list two days after the baby died. She told about all these things with dry eyes and no emotion in her voice.
She spent the day and night there, holding her baby girl in her arms all the time. The little girl’s condition suddenly deteriorated and she was very sick again. After the doctor explained the situation to her, she kissed her baby and walked out the door.
We didn’t see her again.
Thanks for reading
Gretha
Stories from Sparrow House is a collection of my thoughts and experiences as I go though the journey of being a Foster Mother, Safety Parent and Temporary Caregiver to 3 special needs babies one of which has VACTERYL Association. My hope is to raise awareness around VACTERYL Association by sharing our journey, as well as offer support to other foster and safety parents or parents with children who have this syndrome.
If you would like to know more have a look at our Facebook page Sparrow House - a second home for babies