Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There?” bkIII: 36. The Baby Can’t Go Home

Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There?

By Kate Chamberlin

As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they’re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated by the fictional characters in these stories are valid, tried and true.

Book III:  Wife and Mother

#33. The Wedding

#34. The Honeymoon: Lake Pocotopaug

#35. The Honeymoon: Freedom Trail

#36. The Baby Can’t Go Home

“There’s no way you can take your new-born home from the hospital,” the large, greying Social Worker in the delivery suite told Grace.

Grace couldn’t believe her ears. Didn’t the records show that during her pregnancy, she and her sighted husband, Ken, had taken parenting classes, natural childbirth classes, toured the hospital, and been well prepared for the birth of their first baby, William?

“I had baby-sat nieces and nephews without a problem, Grace said around the brick in her throat, trying to stay calm despite the tears stinging her eyes. “My Mother and I have had many conversations about childcare. I am healthy. My baby is healthy. Why, on earth, can’t I take my baby home?”

“Well, you’re blind. You can’t see if the baby has a nose bleed,” the SW said in her hoity-toity voice, wielding her clip board like a shield. “How would you ever know if he has a diaper rash or Thrush? How could you ever measure and mix the baby’s formula and pour it into the bottle?”

The petite delivery nurse, who spoke softly with a Texas drawl,  brought William to Grace and waited until he latched on properly to her breast for lunch.

“Here’s the answer to how I can feed my baby,” Grace said fondling his fuzzy, perfect little round head, feeling the healthy pulse of his fontanel.

The SW sniffed and huffed out of the room, holding her clipboard against her ample chest. Grace knew that although she’d won that skirmish, there would be more to come in the war.

“Ken,  they won’t let us bring William home,” Grace groaned when he came in that evening. “Before now, I’ve never felt like ripping off someone’s face!”

“Grace,” he said  kissing her tear stained cheeks and her trembling lips. He knew that she would not want him to fight her battle, so he said, “you’re a teacher. This may be the most important lesson you’ll ever teach”

The next morning, the SW came back to grill Grace on how she would take care of an infant.

“How will you change the baby’s diaper?” she asked, so, Grace went over to the maternity suite’s bassinet where William was waking up.

“I learned from changing my nephew’s diapers that you always keep everything covered,” Grace said as she demonstrated her technique.  “Then, with a moist baby wipe, I make a “Y” patterned swipe to make sure whatever smells so bad gets cleaned off. I have the clean, disposable  diaper open and ready to “lift butt, insert diaper and tab shut” in one fell swoop.  The lidded pail for dirty diapers is next to the bassinet and all my supplies are within my easy reach, but out of William’s little hands.”

Grace then wrapped William in a soft receiving blanket by lying him on it with his head on the top corner, bringing up the bottom corner to cover his legs; crossing the right corner over his body, snuggling his arms underneath it; bringing the left corner over the right; and snugging the Bottom corner over both the right and left edges. Grace picked William up, neatly bundled into his blanket, being careful to support his head with her hand.

As Grace nursed her sweet William, the SW asked, “How will you give the baby a bath?”

“ Our shower head is on a six-foot hose. I’ll put the shower head on the floor of the tub,” Grace said. “Then place a hand towel on the bottom and wet it with warm water – keeping the shower running. After William is stripped lying on a dry towel on the floor next to the tub, I’ll lift him into the tub and lay him face up on the warm towel. This leaves one hand to hold the shower head and one hand to roam around his body to guide the water stream. My nephew loved the gently tickling of the warm shower before and after I lathered him with a sponge loaded with gentle body wash lotion.

“When we’re finished, I’ll open the dry towel and hold it under each of my arms across my chest; lift William up and place him against me; bring the other end of the towel around him, and, voila, one baby washed and wrapped in a warm towel ready to be dried and dressed.”

The SW wrote something down on her clipboard as Grace moved William to her shoulder to pat his back. William produced a gentlemanly burp and Grace laid him on his side in the bassinet. With his dry diaper, full belly, and a warm bed, William went right to sleep without a fuss.

The petite training nurse put her hand on Grace’s shoulder and said, “You did really well. Don’t you just love the baby powder scent of a new-born?” But, the SW didn’t say a word as she huffed out of the room.

When Ken came to visit Grace and William that evening, Grace said, “I don’t think the SW was impressed this morning.”

Ken kissed her and said,”You’re a great teacher. You’ll win her over yet.”