Helping a baby with my babies.
So the thing about
helping refugees is that with hundreds and thousands of them it can feel like
you are just helping a drop in the bucket. When you think about how many of
them are in dire circumstances…. there is no money for winter coats, heaters, blankets,
fire wood, or food, then forget about the dentist or doctor.
There has been one
little baby that I have been monitoring since her birth, her mama is 15 years
old, just married and pregnant within months. She was tiny as a new born, and has stayed
tiny. Her mom kept telling me she cried all the time, but the thing that sticks
out the most is how tiny she is. So at 3 months when she was still 7 pounds, we
sent her to the hospital. She had a cold and was having trouble breathing. They
gave her some antibiotics ( ?!?!?!) and sent her home.
So I have been
talking to different sources to figure out what is the way forward for this
baby. Sadly, the overall feel from the
Syrians is “ If God wants her to live, she will live, if not…what can we do?”.
When I talked with family members of the baby I could feel how overwhelmed and
how they just could not figure out how to help her. They felt helpless,
trapped, overwhelmed and unable to provide her with what they needed.
There was just one
spark of tenacity in the bunch. And that was mama. She would tear up and
listen intently when I talked, she took all types of advice, and was trying her
hardest. When I was 15…I was responsibility free. She is raising a failure- to-
thrive baby in the camps. Wow.
So when a day freed
up ( which is hard to come by) and I had talked with multiple organizations I
loaded up my babies , sister, and my doc ( Cathleen! )And we drove up the mountains, through the check points and down into the valley.
Taking my littlest ones with me was a conscience choice- i wanted my sister to be a part with me, and i also wanted Sophia who LOVES babies to see us really help this baby. It definitely made the trip longer, more exasperating at moments, and Sophia ate a whole sleeve of crackers.
After the 1 plus drive we stopped to go the bathroom and then let me breastfeed booshkie. We then loaded up and headed to the camp to bring Mom, dad, and baby to the hospital. I had been on the phone multiple times and they told me it was super easy, and that the hospital would know what to do.
so we walk in to what seemed like an abandoned hospital and have to track down someone who will help us. They greet me and swoon over my girls and don't greet the syrians with us. they grill us with questions and tell us there is no pediatric floors or docs, even though this hospital had been cleared as one of the ones who provides in patient care for babies. ahhhhhh.
After lots of pushing,we get the phone number of a pediatric doctor. He is at his clinic, will be done in half an hour and will meet us at this ER. But i know what that means and i have my babe and 3 year old so we pack up and head to his clinic to see is we can just meet him there.
We drive, ask lots of bystanders where the clinic is, climb four flights of stairs and there is no Doc. Come to find out he has 4 clinics, and was at another one. so we head back to the hospital and wait for him. We wait for about an hour, when he arrives he walks in like a mighty wind, right past us to an empty room. Cathleen, The mom and dad, sweet doll baby and i follow him into an empty room where he immediately starts assessing the baby. He gets about 6 phone calls in the span of the 15 minutes we are with him, he is thorough but abrupt.
His exam finds the baby neurologically on track and so we are just trying to move forward with gaining wt. He asks the parents to feed the baby 9-10 times a day instead of 6, prescribes some refulx medication, orders some labs, and ask to see them in one month's time.
When I ask him how much I owe, he tells me nothing and that he wants to help them. Which is very impressive.
We then go to try and obtain a urine culture and analysis which takes a really long time and at this point Sophia has begun to melt and Hope is completely crashed on my sister.
There were a lot of moments that felt flat, and some that felt frustrating, interactions that were less than ideal between the lebanese and the sweet syrians we were with. but i kept saying to myself... Jesus you have brought this baby into our lives and we have to do what we can.
In the end, i even had some conflict with the father because he was acting put out and frustrated with me, and i had to remind him that we were here because of his sweet baby. Because we love her and that even though the whole ordeal took lots of time and we are still waiting to see what happens it is worth the effort.
Leaving the 99 to help the 1 is not something I can do everyday. But as we sat, waited, stomachs growled and i negotiated with sophia...i whispered sweet prayers over this baby...over her destiny and her future. and i prayed that the family would see Love. That the ill treatment of the lebanese staff would not overshadow the whole experience.
praying for her to grow....
Taking my littlest ones with me was a conscience choice- i wanted my sister to be a part with me, and i also wanted Sophia who LOVES babies to see us really help this baby. It definitely made the trip longer, more exasperating at moments, and Sophia ate a whole sleeve of crackers.
After the 1 plus drive we stopped to go the bathroom and then let me breastfeed booshkie. We then loaded up and headed to the camp to bring Mom, dad, and baby to the hospital. I had been on the phone multiple times and they told me it was super easy, and that the hospital would know what to do.
so we walk in to what seemed like an abandoned hospital and have to track down someone who will help us. They greet me and swoon over my girls and don't greet the syrians with us. they grill us with questions and tell us there is no pediatric floors or docs, even though this hospital had been cleared as one of the ones who provides in patient care for babies. ahhhhhh.
After lots of pushing,we get the phone number of a pediatric doctor. He is at his clinic, will be done in half an hour and will meet us at this ER. But i know what that means and i have my babe and 3 year old so we pack up and head to his clinic to see is we can just meet him there.
We drive, ask lots of bystanders where the clinic is, climb four flights of stairs and there is no Doc. Come to find out he has 4 clinics, and was at another one. so we head back to the hospital and wait for him. We wait for about an hour, when he arrives he walks in like a mighty wind, right past us to an empty room. Cathleen, The mom and dad, sweet doll baby and i follow him into an empty room where he immediately starts assessing the baby. He gets about 6 phone calls in the span of the 15 minutes we are with him, he is thorough but abrupt.
His exam finds the baby neurologically on track and so we are just trying to move forward with gaining wt. He asks the parents to feed the baby 9-10 times a day instead of 6, prescribes some refulx medication, orders some labs, and ask to see them in one month's time.
When I ask him how much I owe, he tells me nothing and that he wants to help them. Which is very impressive.
We then go to try and obtain a urine culture and analysis which takes a really long time and at this point Sophia has begun to melt and Hope is completely crashed on my sister.
There were a lot of moments that felt flat, and some that felt frustrating, interactions that were less than ideal between the lebanese and the sweet syrians we were with. but i kept saying to myself... Jesus you have brought this baby into our lives and we have to do what we can.
In the end, i even had some conflict with the father because he was acting put out and frustrated with me, and i had to remind him that we were here because of his sweet baby. Because we love her and that even though the whole ordeal took lots of time and we are still waiting to see what happens it is worth the effort.
Leaving the 99 to help the 1 is not something I can do everyday. But as we sat, waited, stomachs growled and i negotiated with sophia...i whispered sweet prayers over this baby...over her destiny and her future. and i prayed that the family would see Love. That the ill treatment of the lebanese staff would not overshadow the whole experience.
praying for her to grow....
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