A Mother’s Perspective

My mom has been so sweet to edit most of my stories for me before I post them.  After reading the story I posted yesterday about the day I hemorrhaged, she decided to write about it from her perspective.  I thought I’d share it with you today.  Below are her words:

Esther’s first baby was one week old.  Esther called me to tell us that Jason’s parents had gotten there, and then she asked casually if it was normal to still be bleeding a week after having a baby.  I didn’t think it very strange.  A little while later, our eldest daughter Sara, who lives near us, called and said she had just talked to Esther, and Esther thought she was bleeding too much.  As I remember, I called Esther and suggested she check with her doctor just in case.  A short time later, Sara called to say she had been talking to Esther again when Esther said she felt faint and hung up.  This time we were both worried, but when I tried to call Esther, no one answered.  I don’t know just how much time transpired between these calls.

A little later, Kathy, Esther’s mother-in-law, called to say that Jason had taken Esther to the hospital because she was hemorrhaging.  Kathy was taking care of the baby and would let us know what happened.  Of course, Hal and I were intensely worried.  We felt helpless being so far away.  We probably could not have done anything if we had been there, but we wished we were nearer.  I was thankful that Kathy was there.  We began to pray constantly as we waited for news.  I don’t remember who called again later to tell us Esther had had an operation to stop the hemorrhaging and was out of danger for the moment.

The next morning Esther called and told us she had passed a horrible night with no pain medicine and asked us to pray she would not have to have a blood transfusion.  Later she called again and told us she had fainted and they were going to give her blood.  She understated everything, no doubt so we wouldn’t worry.

That afternoon we sat by the phone waiting for news.  We had not heard anything and could not get in touch with anyone.  We kept calling the number she had given us of the hospital room, but the phone just rang and rang.  Sara was expecting a baby any time (he was born a week later), and she was concerned because she had not yet gotten a car seat to bring him home from the hospital.  I thought I was not helping anything at home, and possibly I could be a help to Sara.  We had the cell phone and knew Hal would call us when there was news.  I remember walking around Toys R Us in a mental fog as I prayed for Esther.

When I got home I found Hal by himself, sitting by the phone worried sick.  Since nobody answered at the number we were calling, our imagination began to run wild.  If they never took her back to the hospital room . . .  we wouldn’t even voice the thought that maybe she didn’t make it.  We didn’t know the name of the hospital, so we looked up hospitals in Sioux City and set out to call all of them.  After we had called a couple, Esther called us and explained that she had been moved to another room and was doing better.  Our relief cannot be described.  I think she had probably felt better after the transfusion and took a nap, not realizing that we had not heard anything.

We waited until a week after Sara’s baby boy was born and drove to Nebraska to see Esther (our baby) and meet our new granddaughter.  We thank God anew for His goodness every time these events return to our minds.