I am glad your CW's baby is improving. I hope he continues to make wonderful improvements.
And that's so heartbreaking about the other babies. I researched being a baby cuddler at a hospital but they all seem like pretty intense programs to get into.
Post by allaboutme on Oct 21, 2014 21:06:47 GMT -5
Is there anyway they (hospital) would allow you to share their info so maybe we could send some goodies like blankets or stuffed animals or whatever? Or could you ask if they are in need of any donations that we could send them,we could do it in honor of your CW's son.
We were talked to about a similar facility when we were unsure about what my son's prognosis was going to be. We were also told that some babies who have nobody to visit them and are there are shaken babies. The doctors told us that if the parents request a ventilator, and the baby does not die, then they are not charged with murder. The babies are still wards of the state because the parent lost rights due to shaken baby syndrome. I don't know the accuracy of what we were told, just repeating it. Everything about everything with these situations is so sad.
This is actually true. My DH worked for a government based insurance company for the city and one of his clients was a baby that was abused by their father and the baby was on s ventilator, so not dead, but had absolutely no brain activity or value of life. The baby's grandfather refused to remove the vent because it would mean the father would be charged with murder.
I'm pretty sure they were fighting to have that baby removed from the ventilator because that's just not fair to the baby.
Oh how awful.
Thankfully, all of the children in this unit were responsive. One of the little girls even showed us her tap dance. She taps her feet on the bottom part of her wheel chair. She is on a vent because her brain does not tell her lungs to breathe, but is pretty normal otherwise. CW baby is the least responsive of the children in their unit. He is also the youngest.
Oh and another little girl signed to us. She told us that CW other son is her boyfriend. She was so precious.
Is there anyway they (hospital) would allow you to share their info so maybe we could send some goodies like blankets or stuffed animals or whatever? Or could you ask if they are in need of any donations that we could send them,we could do it in honor of your CW's son.
I know they are very strict about donations. I asked CW about sending some of T's really nice used clothing to some if the girls and she said they only accept new clothes and they have to be specific materials. I know that Christmas they do take donations for presents. If anyone is interested in that, feel free to PM me and I will send you the info.
I did baby rocker stuff at Texas Children's for about a year. It's hard. We also helped out with scheduling last photos for babies about to pass/just passed, helped families or their religious cleric with whatever they needed if they visited. It's such a wonderful program and I admire the individuals who help out for YEARS.
I only was able to handle two of my Ronald McDonald stints after O was born, and I hope I can get back to volunteering there in the future, but there's no way I can go back to the baby rocker shifts after having a child. Maybe when she's older. It just hits me a different way now. I've always been a bleeding heart about this stuff, so it embarrasses me that emotionally I'm not in a place currently to handle it.
A lot of families didn't visit, but there were a lot of circumstances. Many didn't have a choice since they were out of state and needed to work, a lot were low income, and many of the kids there were wards of the state. I do recall a small handful of parents that could not emotionally handle seeing their child in that state anymore, so over time stop the visits. That's not something I can judge, I can't imagine going through that nightmare for months or a year or two and knowing things are never getting better. I donated my wedding dress to an organization based in Dallas that makes tiny gowns from donated wedding dresses for the babies to be buried in or for their baptism before they pass. I think it's a sweet gesture to have the babies have something "special" and not clinical.