1st Mom Up Moment

Every mom has it. The first time they have to swallow hard and go head first with a moment concerning their little pride and joy.

I didn’t expect mine to come so soon! After six hours of pushing and then hearing “It’s a Boy!” I only had a few hours until my Mom Up moment pounced on me unexpectedly. Now really, this is more of a Parent Up moment, because if my husband wouldn’t have been there I don’t know how I would have handled it. But like many other parents Little BoomBa was swept away into the NICU. See, he had hypothermic temperatures and an incubator in room 4 was calling his name. I know many parents endure more than this thriller everyday and my hats are seriously off to them and I keep those families in my evening prayers. God knew this incident was big enough for me, and so; God, my husband and I set off to “Mom Up” and visit that helpless baby in the NICU after hearing the news.

He had roomed-in with us that night and had not woken to eat. He refused to eat in the morning and I was too new and modest (stupid) to ask for breastfeeding help. The pediatrician came in and said “A perfect boy!” and it was moments later a nurse couldn’t get a read on her thermometer.

The news was a shocker. And we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. I broke down on the phone call home (the next day) as I was trying to tell my own mom what I hadn’t said out loud yet. This is technically my 1st Mom Up moment, but I deserve no credit for how I handled it. It was my husband and the very few others who knew what had happened who got us emotionally though this toughy.

I didn’t want to go and visit him. I didn’t want to cry anymore. Like a baby myself I just wanted to go home and as they say “pretend it was all a dream”. I always thought that saying was ridiculous. It’s not a dream- deal with it and get it over with. As it turns out, it is the best phrase to describe my feelings.

As time went on it was clear that this baby was mine. I was, am a mother- a Mom. My husband and I were given this little man and we were to do our best for him. Mom Up. We spent our days two floors up in the NICU as my recovery nurses came knocking upon a door to an empty room downstairs. We prayed. Suited up, and as we were able, we changed him, fed him, bathed him. His little “Paddle Hand” IV looked so tender as it pumped antibiotics into his little body.

They don’t know for sure what exactly happened to BoomBa. The pediatrician later told us he had never in his life heard of a child being that cold. The best the wonderful doctors can guess is that a cold I had when 36 weeks pregnant, crossed the placenta and infected our son.

Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow. He sustained not only that little new life, but that baby’s parents too.

This is a pretty heavy post. I promise in the future it will not be so gloomy. We all have our 1st Mom Up moments and this is mine! Boomba is now nearing 10 months old and there are plenty more Mom Up moments to share.