So the other day at work, I bumped into a friend of mine, another nurse who had come in to do competencies. It seemed like a long time had passed since I'd seen her, maybe three weeks? I had heard through the grape vine that she and her husband had recently picked up a baby from the hospital via social services. What a story! So they get a phone call on a Friday evening, and the social worker asks them if they are interested in this two-day-old baby girl. Within 12 hours, they are at the hospital, picking up the little baby and taking her home. Its not your typical transition to parenthood... they had nothing... no baby shower, no nursery with the pottery barn crib set, not even bottles or diapers! So enroute to the hospital, they picked up a carseat, and on the way home, they stopped at Target for pampers and formula.
Heide showed me pictures on her phone... Lyle, her husband, holding the little princess and giving her a bottle. She has a sweet sweet face, and looked like she'd come straight from heaven, as all newborns do. I smiled as I looked at the pictures.
"I'm cutting back my hours," Heide told me. "I'll be on FMLA for 8 weeks... we're not sure if we're gonna be able to keep Mia yet. You see... the way it works, they have to contact all of her family members to see if anyone else wants to take her, and then if they don't, we get to keep her and the adoption goes through. But I think it is so important, whether we get to adopt her or not, that she be able to bond well in these first 10 weeks of her life. It could make all the difference for her in the long run, even if she has to go somewhere else and has a rough time there, she will have a foundation of love to build on."
I don't think I'll ever look at Heide the same way again. She has no idea what she gave to me just by sharing her life... the opportunity to witness what truly selfless love is. It encourages me just to know that love like this exists in the world. I pray with all my heart that Mia will be able to stay with, and become the daughter of these two wonderful people, who are willing to sacrifice so much, not only their time, income, and sleep, but their hearts as well. I don't know if I could do it, I highly doubt I could, the bond between mother and child is so strong. ... to bond with a child that you may have to let go of, because its an investment in that child's life, in her future, even though you may never see her again after those 10 weeks are up. It is a gift to me just to know this kind of love exists.
And I am convinced that the world gives medals to all the wrong people.
