It Takes a Village

Just over four years ago, we brought our youngest son home from the hospital. For the second time. He was three weeks old.

When he was two weeks old, my husband and I made the call to take him back into the doctor. He was spitting up. A lot.

As in, Exorcist-style projectile spit-up. Our oldest hardly spit-up, so we weren’t sure what was going on. But we knew it wasn’t normal.

The next 5 days were the hardest stretch of time I’ve experienced in my entire life. My newborn was diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis, which meant surgery. At two weeks old. Surgery was scheduled for the following morning, but he spiked a fever overnight.

The surgery was scheduled and rescheduled several times over the next few days while the amazing team of doctors, nurses, and surgeons made sure the fever was indicative of something more serious.

We spent 5 days with my baby hooked up to machines. He was fed nutrients through IV’s. Holding him meant maneuvering the tubing and lines from everything he was attached to. We were unable to ‘fix’ everything for him. It was impossibly hard.

I️ still can’t put into appropriate words my love and thanks for so many people during that time enough. There are simply no words. As hard as it was, the only reason we made it through was our village.

Family and friends stopped what they were doing to help take care of our oldest son. They would come sit with our baby while we got out of the room for an hour. They brought care packages with just the right kind of junk food. They brought homemade dinners. They sat with us for hours so we wouldn’t feel alone.

The entire staff and team of doctors, nurses, and surgeons at our Children’s Hospital went out of their way to make sure we had the information and support we needed. We couldn’t have asked for a better care team.

Looking at my son today, you’d never tell his first few weeks were so hard. But that stretch of time is one I will never forget.

Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free

—

◊♦◊The Good Men Project is different from most media companies. We are a “participatory media company”—which means we don’t just have content you read and share and comment on but it means we have multiple ways you can actively be a part of the conversation. As you become a deeper part of the conversation—The Conversation No One Else is Having—you will learn all of the ways we support our Writers’ Community—community FB groups, weekly conference calls, classes in writing, editing platform building and How to Create Social Change.

◊♦◊

Here are more ways to become a part of The Good Men Project community:

Request to join our private Facebook Group for Writers—it’s like our virtual newsroom where you connect with editors and other writers about issues and ideas.

Click here to become a Premium Member of The Good Men Project Community. Have access to these benefits:

Get access to an exclusive “Members Only” Group on Facebook
Join our Social Interest Groups—weekly calls about topics of interest in today’s world
View the website with no ads
Get free access to classes, workshops, and exclusive events
Be invited to an exclusive weekly “Call with the Publisher” with other Premium Members
Commenting badge.

Are you stuck on what to write? Sign up for our Writing Prompts emails, you’ll get ideas directly from our editors every Monday and Thursday. If you already have a final draft, then click below to send your post through our submission system.

If you are already working with an editor at GMP, please be sure to name that person. If you are not currently working with a GMP editor, one will be assigned to you.

◊♦◊