The Promise

I have referred to our son in many blogs and even wrote about his childhood in the May 13, 14, and 15 2010 blogs. His birth. It was a very difficult one as his cord was wrapped around his ear. His heart kept stopping. We don’t know how many times. I had an emergency caesarian and he was expected to have cerebral palsy or learning disabilities at the very least. He did really well in school and was fine. We were very blessed.

In recovery, I had to lay flat for 12 hours so I would not have spinal headaches. I just saw a fleeting glance of him before they checked him out, cleaned him up and put him into Michael’s arms. In those days, no husbands were allowed in the operating room.

I will never forget that my family waited hours for me to recover enough for company. Each came in alone. Michael was just relieved that we were both alive. My dad said, “I don’t know what you did but you made an absolutely huge beautiful baby.” It made me happy but I still had not held or seen my baby.

Early the next morning, a nurse came by to say that I could get up and that she would be back to put the side rails of the bed down and help me walk to the nursery. I waited. I waited a bit longer. I wanted to see my baby. I wanted to make sure he was okay. So, with the pain of a caesarian, I crawled down to the bottom of the bed dragging the pole with the fluids along with me and hopped gingerly onto the floor. It hurt but I hardly noticed. I was on a mission.

The pole and I made our way to the nursery. That one. The big one. They wheeled him back to the room with me and left us alone. I laid him on the bed and took everything off. I counted fingers and toes. I wrapped him back up and held him close. He had fought so hard to be born. I whispered in his ear that I promised that I would be the best mother to him that I could possibly be. He looked up at me and really stared at me. It was an amazing moment.

After five days, we took him home, laid him in the crib then Michael said to me, “Now what do we do?”