Mama For A Day

Well today was supposed to be my day off, but instead I helped play Mama to one sweet little sick boy named Richard.

Richard is about 1 year old.  He was brought to Amani by his mother because both she and Richard’s father are HIV positive and they couldn’t take care of him.  He has been here for several months and was doing great until recently he became very sick, stopped eating, and has since lost a lot of weight. 

He has continued to get worse and feared that he had TB so they finally took him to the hospital yesterday.  The doctors there said that he had pneumonia and put an IV in him.  They got to bring Richard home yesterday with lots of medicine and strict instructions.

Since he is so sick they decided to take him to Helene and Tracey’s house instead of keeping him at the baby house with the other kids.  On Sunday night Richard was up all night crying and getting sick so Helene and Tracey didn’t get much sleep.  So I came over on Monday night to help throughout the night and then stay and help on Tuesday.

Mom you would be so proud…last night I fed Richard and was holding him and then he puked it all back up while he was still in my arms.  I may or may not have gagged a little myself, but I did hold it together!

Poor guy couldn’t get anything down and even if he did in about an hour he would have diarrhea and there would be nothing left.  We finally decided to stop feeding him the milk formula the doctors had recommended and instead started having him drink the Ugandan’s version of Pedialite. 

Since then he hasn’t gotten sick anymore…which is good because that also means that all the medicine he’s taking is staying in his system.  Late this morning we also started giving him some applesauce.  He didn’t like it at first when we tried to spoon feed it to him so we tricked him and put it in a syringe and he LOVED it.  He was trying to shove it in his mouth.

We have to wake him up and feed him, give him medicine, or put medicine through his IV line about every hour or so.  Then he usually falls right back to sleep.

Last night I slept out in the living room near him and would jump at every sound he would make.  I’m usually a heavy sleeper and was afraid I wouldn’t hear him…but turns out I can do it!

Today I was sitting in the chair holding him while Helene put his IV medicine in, which takes about 10 minutes because you can only push a little in at a time.  Well he does not like having that syringe stinking in his arm…I mean who would?

So I sat there and rocked him and talked to him until it was over.  I’m 28 and when I get sick the first thing I want is my mom.  Here is this 1 year old who is extremely sick and hurting and doesn’t have his mama here to hold him and love on him. 

What a gift to be able to be that for Richard today.  I loved holding him in my arms and I got to watch a movie whilst he slept on my belly. 

There was a moment when I thought to myself, “How awful it would be to be a mother here and watch her baby be this sick and not have the money or resources to do anything to help her child.”  I can’t even fathom what kind of anguish that would bring to a parent.  The truth is that is a reality for thousands of parents in this country and millions of parent throughout the world.

So I sat there and rocked Richard and bathed him in prayer.  I thanked God for his life.  I thanked God for his mama who had the strength to do something no mother should have to do…hand over your child because you know they’re better off somewhere else.  I prayed for healing on his body.  I prayed for rest and comfort for him.  I prayed that he would feel loved as we did our best to take care of him.

What a night and day it has been!  I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.  The Lord continues to show me glimpses of what He is doing and I can’t thank Him enough for calling me to work alongside Him here in Africa.

Please continue to pray for baby Richard.  We thought he was doing better, but he went a little downhill last night.  They have taken him to get a chest x-ray today and then to the TB clinic to see if TB is really what he has.  

Here is me practicing to be a real life mama one day!