What is a Christian? The Story of Baby Wanted
by When your faith is challenged a lesson is learned. This is a story of the days I learned my way in life. Am I a Christian, because I don’t go to church on Sunday?
I found my answer through a newborn child.
The Teddy of Baby Wanted (Photograph by Glynis Smy)
I was told a patient was arriving unattended into my unit, I prepared a room for a very sick dying child, I assumed the word unattended meant the parents were bringing the little one in themselves, it’s always wrong to assume. A porter arrived with a goldfish bowl (baby transporter) he brought a baby from the special care unit, I was on Paediatrics.
The child was ten days old; the condition was terminal, a dying little boy. He had one small teddy, that’s it, nothing else that is all he had in the world; I still have the teddy (special permission granted me this gift).
I saw his disabilities, too horrible to share on here; it was obvious he would not last many days. I went to the office to read his notes quietly and to find out the next of kin details. I attended church on a Sunday until seventeen, I then let life take over my faith, I still had faith but I was engaged to a non believer and adjusted my lifestyle to accommodate both important things in my life. The third important thing became my nursing career, it was here my faith was challenged, how could a God allow innocents to lose their lives, oh the sweet words of “he needs an angel” and “he only takes the best” helped at times, but by now I was nineteen and had seen more horrific and peaceful deaths than my friends of the same age, I was calling God to task, to justify to me what his reasons were and where was my place in his world, what did God want me to be or to do? For many years from the age of nineteen I followed this path of wondering, I tried to be the best person I could, I worked with Sunday church goers and often wondered what they considered a good Christian was, I never got the answer I was looking for. I bought my children up to be good, kind and generous with their love for others, they make me proud today as they learned their lessons from Mother well.
After reading the notes of Baby Wanted, I realised as he had a massive head and his nerve endings protruded through his spine, he needed special handling. The pain for him by one wrong movement was dreadful and to heavily sedate him was not an option because of other physical problems, we had a task on our hands, a real hard duty of care, something I decided was my responsibility and as others were shying away from his room it looked as if the vote had already been taken. I changed my duty rota and made special arrangements with senior management putting forward my opinion and plan of care, they agreed I would be having regular breaks over a long shift period, it would then be reviewed as to how I was coping, I had one team member who agreed to be my support and his carer when I was not around.
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Post Commentlynn high
On August 12, 2008 at 7:47 am
Amazing story. Very sad and filled with emotion, yet very comforting knowing that the baby had you. Thank you for sharing.
tonisan60
On August 12, 2008 at 9:37 am
Sad story, but very well explained, if I understood well you are a nurse, that is a terrific job, maybe the best one in the world, it takes a lot of patience and empathy to do this kind of work.
Thank you for sharing it, keep writting about your experiences in the nurse proffession.
On the other hand, I think that Christianity is a call of service, it is more about helping other people than going to church everyday, don’t get me wrong, I think that going to church is important but not the most important thing to do, what you do everyday, that is the most important thing, take care of others.
My claps for your work and mu infinitive kisses and sidereal hugs for your shinny soul.
God bless you
Glynis Smy
On August 12, 2008 at 9:54 am
Bless you both for taking the time to comment.
Kaveri
On August 13, 2008 at 7:00 am
That was really touching. YOU are the best nurse ever! How caring! A million regards. I vote for it.
Bye
Kiki Stamatiou
On August 16, 2008 at 11:58 am
This is a very heart warming story. I admire the nurse in the story who became more of a mother to the child and a better one at that then the child’s birth mother. I like the fact that the nurse stood by the child throughout his painful ordeal up until the child’s funeral.
Take Care,
Kiki Stamatiou (Joanna Maharis)
Carolyn Ann Aish
On December 26, 2008 at 1:48 pm
A well-written account, Glynis. How nice to have written it all down and to be able to recall it so well. How caring and loving you are! I weep for many reasons; for the babe; for the parents and family – for what they missed; for the joy and grief you have in little ‘wanted’s’ brief life — I weep for the understanding of God’s will in all of this… Sometime, some day, we will understand but not now, not yet…
Glynis Smy
On December 26, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Thank you all for your kind words, there is not a day goes by where I don’t think of this little guy, he gave me an inner strength.
Glynis Smy
On January 5, 2009 at 2:32 am
There is a fix in for this article, plus I have asked to add a photo of the teddy
louie jerome
On November 15, 2009 at 7:02 am
A very moving story.
The BEDBUG Blog
On November 16, 2009 at 8:39 pm
How sad that the couple’s faith wasn’t enough to sustain them so that they met their child’ needs. Thank goodness that poor child felt the comfort of human companionship and caring in its few days on earth.
Christine H
On January 6, 2011 at 7:28 am
I can’t imagine how you can endure your job. I don’t think I could bear it. But I thank God for giving us people who can be such solid blessings and caregivers when we need them so much.
I wonder what happened before the birth, if the doctors had advised her to have an abortion and she refused because of her faith, because it sounds like she disconnected emotionally long before the birth. I know that if it was my child I would still have tried to hold him and do something for him; you probably would have been prying me off him to avoid hurting him. But then, I wasn’t there and didn’t see the defects you mention. I can understand how it must have been that the family just couldn’t cope at first, but to go that long without even asking after him is more than heartless, not to mention hypocritical.
I can’t believe the pastor didn’t even inquire after him, or a grandparent, or somebody.
You are right, Glynis, that many churchgoing people are wrapped up in ritual and litany, stained glass and Sunday best, without being able to apply that faith in the midst of life’s realities. To be fair, many just aren’t raised to be real or in the world, such as that young mother seems to have been protected by her mother from the ugliness of her son’s birth defects. But many of us are trying very hard to apply our faith and be the real hands and feet of Christ to those who need us. The purpose of going to church is to be part of a community that will encourage us to do just that, and to support each other and be accountable to each other, and to care for each other when we ourselves need lifting up. It’s also to keep people from falling into heresy, imagining some vision or new interpretation of the Bible alone in their room.
So, just to explain why community is important, though you probably already knew that.
Thank you so much for sharing this story, and for being Christ every day.
Glynis Smy
On January 6, 2011 at 8:39 am
Christine, thank you for reading and taking time to comment. Yes community is important. My community here in Cyprus is my expat and Cypriot friends. We live alongside each other, the language of care, love and support needs no words.
Sarah
On February 26, 2011 at 8:04 am
I can’t imagine walking away from my dying baby, but like you say, it didn’t happen to us.
I’m glad that Baby Wanted had the comfort of your strong arms as he passed.
A heartfelt story, thanks for sharing.