Be Patient!
To a parent, there is no greater pain than watching your child suffer; whether it is a physical injury, sickness, or mental torment.
I realized this when I went into labor for the first time. Nothing prepared me for the pain I was going through; Lamaze was a waste of time and money. My mother came to the hospital that evening; I was in my 17th hour of labor and contractions. My body twisted in convulsions as I rocked myself silly on the rocking chair. Would there be relief if I kept staring up into the ceiling? Every so often I would catch the strangest look on my mother's face. She was pale and her eyes seemed full of trepidation. She tried to reach out for me and soothed me with "I know exactly what you are going through" but I couldn't hear her. After another hour of me biting my lips and refusing epidural (thanks again Lamaze!) I had to ask my mother to leave the room because I couldn't bear it for her to see me that way. It was suddenly in those moments that I became a child again. There I was...about to give birth, and I felt as though I were five years old. I whispered in a voice hardly audible, "MA!!!!!!!" Mommy! It was also at that instant that I became certain that there was no other single being on the face of this earth that could possibly know what I was going through, or could possibly love me any more than my mother did. My mom heeded our request and went home to wait there for further news.
Finally, I came to my senses and accepted the pain-numbing injection around eight o'clock at night. The nurse and my husband helped me to the bed and I was able to nap for about an hour..at which time my husband ran out to the corner and came back with two soups. I remember clearly: chicken noodle and Manhattan clam chowder. We shared sips of soup and waited for our first child to be born.
More time went by without progress and around 11:00pm I conceded to a caesarean section; I hadn't dilated beyond three centimeters in the 20 something hours.
But soon enough, at 1:48 AM on March 18, 1998, our son was born. When I saw his face for the first time, I knew,too, then that I will be feeling all of his pains for the rest of my life.
Eight years and three c-sectioned-children later, not to mention nine stitches, six staples and a dozen or so very close calls, life has just been very rewarding despite living on the edge of the NEXT time someone gets hurt.
On Father's day of this year, our second son fell while running around on the lawn after Sunday mass. We were standing around having coffee and he came to us in tears and said that his arm hurt. He couldn't lift it when I asked him to and by the time we got home, it had swell to double its size with the elbow jutting out. My immediate thought was that he had dislocated it. X-rays in the emergency room showed just a fracture, not a bone break. He was put in a splint and sent to the orthopaedics.
A fracture doesn't necessarily mean that it is better than a break in the bone. Not in our case, at least. Our son suffered a fracture of the LATERAL CONDYLE ~which is the round bump on a bone where it forms a joint with another bone. Medical journals cited that this happens in 17% of all pediatric elbow fractures and pretty common in the summer months to kids between the ages of 5-10.
Our son was in a cast for eight weeks and warned not to get off his feet. He was to be kept calmed and away from any physical activities (try telling this to a an active four year-old with an older brother) There was to be no swimming, bicycling, or running. Basically, we were supposed to turn him into a TV-watching vegetable.
As worried and anxious as I was for him, I was also so very proud of how he handled himself (he has now been voted the best little patient at Coastal Orthopaedics) We saw the doctor once a week for x-rays and monitoring. Although our son was very scared and in a lot of pain... I only saw glimpses of it - Why did this have to happen to me he would ask; or - what will make my bone stronger?
The latest x-ray yesterday showed he has improved tremendously (whew..our son dodged the bullet; he was supposed to have surgery to place pins through his bones, and bone grafting from his pelvic area on September 12th but his bone suddenly started to grow new bones and surgery was called off) Dr. Markey said that he could be declared safe next month. THANK GOD!!!!! I knew HE wouldn't allow so much grief for one of HIS children who happened to take a fall outside HIS church.
I am a strong believer in things happening for a reason...even when they are unpleasant. I say to myself that maybe this will relieve our son of further injuries in his future; that it was fine it happened when it did. Still, I jump up in the middle of the night at the slightest sound of his whimpering or teeth grinding(which I think started when he fractured his elbow) It is natural that I feel this way. I am a mother and for the rest of my life I am conditioned to give my children all that I have and all that is me for THEY are my greatest accomplishment!
There are not enough hours in a day. Make the most of yours!
I realized this when I went into labor for the first time. Nothing prepared me for the pain I was going through; Lamaze was a waste of time and money. My mother came to the hospital that evening; I was in my 17th hour of labor and contractions. My body twisted in convulsions as I rocked myself silly on the rocking chair. Would there be relief if I kept staring up into the ceiling? Every so often I would catch the strangest look on my mother's face. She was pale and her eyes seemed full of trepidation. She tried to reach out for me and soothed me with "I know exactly what you are going through" but I couldn't hear her. After another hour of me biting my lips and refusing epidural (thanks again Lamaze!) I had to ask my mother to leave the room because I couldn't bear it for her to see me that way. It was suddenly in those moments that I became a child again. There I was...about to give birth, and I felt as though I were five years old. I whispered in a voice hardly audible, "MA!!!!!!!" Mommy! It was also at that instant that I became certain that there was no other single being on the face of this earth that could possibly know what I was going through, or could possibly love me any more than my mother did. My mom heeded our request and went home to wait there for further news.
Finally, I came to my senses and accepted the pain-numbing injection around eight o'clock at night. The nurse and my husband helped me to the bed and I was able to nap for about an hour..at which time my husband ran out to the corner and came back with two soups. I remember clearly: chicken noodle and Manhattan clam chowder. We shared sips of soup and waited for our first child to be born.
More time went by without progress and around 11:00pm I conceded to a caesarean section; I hadn't dilated beyond three centimeters in the 20 something hours.
But soon enough, at 1:48 AM on March 18, 1998, our son was born. When I saw his face for the first time, I knew,too, then that I will be feeling all of his pains for the rest of my life.
Eight years and three c-sectioned-children later, not to mention nine stitches, six staples and a dozen or so very close calls, life has just been very rewarding despite living on the edge of the NEXT time someone gets hurt.
On Father's day of this year, our second son fell while running around on the lawn after Sunday mass. We were standing around having coffee and he came to us in tears and said that his arm hurt. He couldn't lift it when I asked him to and by the time we got home, it had swell to double its size with the elbow jutting out. My immediate thought was that he had dislocated it. X-rays in the emergency room showed just a fracture, not a bone break. He was put in a splint and sent to the orthopaedics.
A fracture doesn't necessarily mean that it is better than a break in the bone. Not in our case, at least. Our son suffered a fracture of the LATERAL CONDYLE ~which is the round bump on a bone where it forms a joint with another bone. Medical journals cited that this happens in 17% of all pediatric elbow fractures and pretty common in the summer months to kids between the ages of 5-10.
Our son was in a cast for eight weeks and warned not to get off his feet. He was to be kept calmed and away from any physical activities (try telling this to a an active four year-old with an older brother) There was to be no swimming, bicycling, or running. Basically, we were supposed to turn him into a TV-watching vegetable.
As worried and anxious as I was for him, I was also so very proud of how he handled himself (he has now been voted the best little patient at Coastal Orthopaedics) We saw the doctor once a week for x-rays and monitoring. Although our son was very scared and in a lot of pain... I only saw glimpses of it - Why did this have to happen to me he would ask; or - what will make my bone stronger?
The latest x-ray yesterday showed he has improved tremendously (whew..our son dodged the bullet; he was supposed to have surgery to place pins through his bones, and bone grafting from his pelvic area on September 12th but his bone suddenly started to grow new bones and surgery was called off) Dr. Markey said that he could be declared safe next month. THANK GOD!!!!! I knew HE wouldn't allow so much grief for one of HIS children who happened to take a fall outside HIS church.
I am a strong believer in things happening for a reason...even when they are unpleasant. I say to myself that maybe this will relieve our son of further injuries in his future; that it was fine it happened when it did. Still, I jump up in the middle of the night at the slightest sound of his whimpering or teeth grinding(which I think started when he fractured his elbow) It is natural that I feel this way. I am a mother and for the rest of my life I am conditioned to give my children all that I have and all that is me for THEY are my greatest accomplishment!
There are not enough hours in a day. Make the most of yours!
posted by cream cheese dreams at 8:44 PM
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