Dear Mama,
Your screams still haunt me. You and your daughter tumbled into the ER moments after me and my son did, your daughter limp against your shoulder.
It was nearly 1 in the morning. The lady at the front desk was taking her time checking my son in. He’d awoken from sleep with a barking cough and terrifying, wheezy breathing.
Now she was asking me his birthday, over and over and over again. I practically yelled it at her the third time, not just impatient for my son but also for you.
Later, after a breathing treatment and steroid shot, my son popped off the hospital bed in the bedraggled, shared ER room, wide-awake and cheerful.
My mama heart filled with relief that my son was going to be OK
Now the world has changed
Mamas are in emergency rooms without their babies. Babies, children, and teenagers are in hospitals being treated for this wretched virus that we all hate with our whole hearts.
We know now, more than ever, that everything is not always OK.
I wish that I could’ve held your hand that day and said, “They’re helping. They’re doing everything they can.”
Because that’s what we mamas want to hear when our babies are in trouble.
Not “Everything’s OK” but “We’re doing everything we can.”
My hope and prayer during this rocky time is that more mamas hear words of hope, but not false hope.
Words of courage that keep us calm and able to help the nurses and doctors help our kids.
We need them more than ever
I hope you and your little girl are doing all right now. That night in the ER, I saw you an hour after the seizure. Your girl lay resting on a bed, being wheeled back through the ER.
All looked calm and well.
And for that, I’m more thankful than you will ever know.
Sincerely,
Another mama in the ER
