Pity the Poor, Sweet Children
I don't know whether to laugh or cry, so instead I'll blog and perhaps there will be laughter amongst the tears.
I admitted a patient with her new baby last night. Sweet little baby, docile mom. They were accompanied by her Momma and the Baby Daddy. It became immediately clear that they were no typical family.
As we wheeled New Mom into the room, her fat ass Momma tried to cane her way past us to hobble into the bed FIRST. We had to cajole her out of it by reminding her that it was her DAUGHTER who'd just had the baby, not HER. Reluctantly, she got up & New Mom got in. Baby Daddy was busy stacking all of their worldly possessions in the corner. NEXT to the wardrobe cabinet. He didn't KNOW that it was a closet.
As New Mom got settled into bed, I examined that sweet little baby who looked up at me with the most intelligent eyes. I was softly talking to him, as I do all the babies when I realized that otherwise the room was silent. I didn't hear any of the usual banter that occurs when the new families get settled in as I assess the baby. Utter silence behind me.
I finish with the baby and turn my attention to the trio. They are all staring at me. One blinks. Another. And another. It is eerie, I tell you. Not a single word is spoken by any of them. I start to explain what they can expect from us during the rest of my shift. I ask them if they want me to leave the baby with them, or if I should take him for his bath (it is 4am).
Silence. Blink. Blink. Blink. I swear I could hear crickets, like in those old Bud-Wei-Ser commercials.
I took him to the nursery for his bath and then had time to sit and review her medical history, as I do with all of my patients. This is where I find out that New Mom is mentally challenged. She's mid-20's and has had 2 other children who were taken away from her. She is homeless most of the time, along with Baby Daddy.
Her Momma doesn't look right either. She has a simple look and half-smile plastered on her face and asks repetitive questions, mostly about where SHE is gonna sleep. Her girth is spilling over the chair and she rests her hands on top of the cane standing between her legs. Her housing situation is also unstable. It was reported to me that she slept through the entire labor & delivery on a bed in the labor room. Missed it all. While in the same ROOM.
Baby Daddy is repetitively shaking his head and pulling at things he perceives are in his hair. He has that odd look of someone who was dropped on his head more than once as a baby. I surmise that New Mom and Baby Daddy met in a group home or something like that. He is 30 years older than she is.
As I bathe that sweet little baby boy, I wonder to myself what kind of life he is gonna have. Things do not bode well for him. His immediate family is comprised of simpletons. His own intellect in unknown. It's unlikely he'll ever know his older brothers. The best I can hope for this sweet, innocent perfect-thusfar baby boy is that he'll be adopted by a loving family.
And I can still hear the crickets down the hall...
I admitted a patient with her new baby last night. Sweet little baby, docile mom. They were accompanied by her Momma and the Baby Daddy. It became immediately clear that they were no typical family.
As we wheeled New Mom into the room, her fat ass Momma tried to cane her way past us to hobble into the bed FIRST. We had to cajole her out of it by reminding her that it was her DAUGHTER who'd just had the baby, not HER. Reluctantly, she got up & New Mom got in. Baby Daddy was busy stacking all of their worldly possessions in the corner. NEXT to the wardrobe cabinet. He didn't KNOW that it was a closet.
As New Mom got settled into bed, I examined that sweet little baby who looked up at me with the most intelligent eyes. I was softly talking to him, as I do all the babies when I realized that otherwise the room was silent. I didn't hear any of the usual banter that occurs when the new families get settled in as I assess the baby. Utter silence behind me.
I finish with the baby and turn my attention to the trio. They are all staring at me. One blinks. Another. And another. It is eerie, I tell you. Not a single word is spoken by any of them. I start to explain what they can expect from us during the rest of my shift. I ask them if they want me to leave the baby with them, or if I should take him for his bath (it is 4am).
Silence. Blink. Blink. Blink. I swear I could hear crickets, like in those old Bud-Wei-Ser commercials.
I took him to the nursery for his bath and then had time to sit and review her medical history, as I do with all of my patients. This is where I find out that New Mom is mentally challenged. She's mid-20's and has had 2 other children who were taken away from her. She is homeless most of the time, along with Baby Daddy.
Her Momma doesn't look right either. She has a simple look and half-smile plastered on her face and asks repetitive questions, mostly about where SHE is gonna sleep. Her girth is spilling over the chair and she rests her hands on top of the cane standing between her legs. Her housing situation is also unstable. It was reported to me that she slept through the entire labor & delivery on a bed in the labor room. Missed it all. While in the same ROOM.
Baby Daddy is repetitively shaking his head and pulling at things he perceives are in his hair. He has that odd look of someone who was dropped on his head more than once as a baby. I surmise that New Mom and Baby Daddy met in a group home or something like that. He is 30 years older than she is.
As I bathe that sweet little baby boy, I wonder to myself what kind of life he is gonna have. Things do not bode well for him. His immediate family is comprised of simpletons. His own intellect in unknown. It's unlikely he'll ever know his older brothers. The best I can hope for this sweet, innocent perfect-thusfar baby boy is that he'll be adopted by a loving family.
And I can still hear the crickets down the hall...
posted by Michele in Michigan at 9:50 PM
7 Comments:
whoa! I saw your comment on Pissy's blog and thought I'd stop by....sure didn't expect this!
I hope he's adopted by a good family, too. Poor baby boy.
Oh my. When I was in ninth grade, I was in a geography class that taught us about other cultures as well as their locations. We were told about how in China you have to apply to have a child. You then are placed on a waiting list and when it's your turn, you get to try. Getting approval for a second child only happens to the wealthy. This is part of why they don't want girls. the boys support the parents, so if you have a girl, you get screwed over when you get old. Sucks for baby girls, but I always thought the whole application process for having a baby was a good idea. (granted this is based upon my perceptions as a 14 yr old, and is being remembered from over a decade ago, if I am wrong, I don't care. Not the point) Here you have to have a license to drive. Because you could hurt someone else if you didn't know how to drive properly. But you can have a baby. No questions asked. You can be 10, or a crack addict willing to sell her flesh to a pediphile, or you can be simple minded and not know how to care for a child, or the implications of sex, and no one will tell you no, or that you can't do that, or that it's wrong. because we are free and we won't stifle your rights and freedoms. But I have to ask, what about the rights of the baby? Is it worse to kill a fetus or for a three month old to starve to death? Or to be chained in a basement for the sick preverted sexual pleasure of some wierdo? Makes you wonder... And while I know we can't license pregnancies or force abortions, it seems like we could prevent those we know can't care for a baby from taking the baby home with them.
That's so sad...did social services get involved at all?
I will never understand why we have to have a license to drive, a license to fish, but anyone can have a baby.
I have just peed my pants, b. Why do I read your blog, shit I have to get some big girl depends for this shit. Do they even make those for big girls?
It would take ALOT to have a person sterilized. Its a 'fundamental' right in the US, and the basis is strict scrutiny. All that means, it takes alot. More than in the facts we know here.
Its sad. Poor little guy. It is his best chance to be adopted by a loving family. I hope that happens.
The thing that makes me mad is, if he was was a white baby, he'd get snapped up in 2.5 secs. :(
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