Spring

I am bone-tired.  May is a month notorious for weariness only to be outdone by its calendar mate, December. School projects, end of the year concerts, even the natural world is abuzz with busy plans full of pollen and blossoms. And don't forget the babies! I hear their tiny chirps from branches in trees and see them following their mothers through the fields. At my place of employment, I dry the newness from their bodies and place them skin to skin against their mother's hearts.   Living in a house full of female love, I am asked the minute I walk through the door to describe the chubby characteristics of my latest patients. Spring is a beautiful type of busy as miracles abound abundantly. Hope fills the air as new life is everywhere.

 To compound this busy time, sleeping just a few hours yesterday after a night shift,  my phone made that buzzing noise again, and I checked it...because...  don't forget the babies! They were still coming and filling almost every alcove of our beautiful Mother/Baby Unit.  I offered a few hours of help, and my kids questioned my decision as I made my way out the door.  I threw them a 20 dollar bill and the car keys and told them Little Cesar's was cooking tonight.

I was shown to my patient's room and was introduced to a beautiful couple. She was in the middle of an unmedicated labor.  The anesthesiologist was in the OR in the middle of a cesarean section, so the epidural she desired was not yet available.  We started doing the pattern-paced breathing together, and that's when I confessed to her that my labors had been fast and furious and very painful.  When the epidural did not work with my fourth labor, I told my patient that my mom at my side and had told me, "Growl like a bear! Grab your husband's shirt! "
 "It sounds odd, but it helped," I confessed.

 When we wiped the newness of her baby off and placed him skin to skin against her heart, all the pain and travail were somehow forgotten. Her husband tearfully confessed he was hoping his second son would be born today because it was a special day for him.
"Twenty-three years ago today I was saved from war-torn Bosnia. I still can't talk about the things I saw there, but every year on this day we celebrate our life here in America.  I was just a young boy when I was flown to Las Vegas as a refugee.  I will never forget seeing the lights welcoming me here into my new home, and I never want to live anywhere else!" He told me he had gone to high school in Las Vegas and then attended UNLV and graduated with a business degree.
"What a special day for your family!" I agreed and thanked him for sharing his story with me. We hugged our goodbyes and parted friends of circumstance.

One of my girls' closing projects of the year is about America as a nation.  We have been struggling with finishing the paper, but I think we just found our closing statement. America still serves as a beacon and safe haven to the world. As long as we keep welcoming refugees into our borders in love, hope will continue to blossom like new life in Springtime.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Liberty

"Every one of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking. We will face things we do not want to face for reasons that may not have been our fault. Indeed, we may face difficult circumstances for reasons that were absolutely right and proper, reasons that came because we were trying to keep the commandments of the Lord. We may face persecution; we may endure heartache and separation from loved ones; we may be hungry and cold and forlorn. Yes, before our lives are over we may all be given a little taste of what the prophets faced often in their lives. But the lessons of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our prob...
Read more

True North-of an absolute bearing

Image
Lyrics If you only knew I'm hanging by a thread The web I spin for you If you only knew I'd sacrifice my beating Heart before I lose you I still hold onto the letters You returned I swear I've lived and learned It's 4:03 and I can't sleep Without you next to me I Toss and turn like the sea If I drown tonight, bring me Back to life Breathe your breath in me The only thing that I still believe In is you, if you only knew If you only knew How many times I counted All the words that went wrong If you only knew How I refuse to let you go, Even when you're gone I don't regret any days I Spent, nights we shared, Or letters that I sent It's 4:03 and I can't sleep Without you next to me I Toss and turn like the sea If I drown tonight, bring me Back to life Breathe your breath in me The only thing that I still believe In is you, if you only knew If you only knew I still hold onto the letters You retu...
Read more

Time In A Bottle

Image
Our third child graduated high honors from high school and I am profoundly grateful for an omniscient God who packs not toys in his bag of tricks, but miracles.  When Alyssa was young, she was diagnosed with Tourette's disorder and CAPD(central auditory processing disorder) so she could not always control how she reacted to situations.  It was a taxing time as she was not the only one in the house with neurological troubles.  In fact, she seemed to fight everyday with her older sister that had Asperger's.  Listening to them squabble reminded me of the time I had a patient from China who fired her doctor from India. She said, "I cannot understand a word she is saying. Are you sure she is speaking English?" I realized both of them had heavy accents based on the world regions from where they hailed.  They would become exasperated trying to understand one another. I think my older daughter, Lauren, did not understand the Tourette's dialect just as much ...
Read more