I also meet Baby Ishmael Mom today. He was another baby I worried about. Baby Ishmael and Baby Tess entered the NICU on the same day and we share a glass wall between our NICU units. Every time I looked at Baby Ishmael he was dressed in cute outfit with a darling baby blanket but he was sleeping all alone.
It's so hard in the NICU because most of the Moms are too sick to visit their babies immediately after birth. Therefore, the early NICU days are mostly filled with solo Dad visits. But today, I finally met Baby Ishmael's Mom. She's a Muslim immigrant from Egypt. She said her Mom is calling everyday worried about her newest grandson. Grandmas are the same the world over.
Baby Ishmael has a rare condition that caused him to be born without any ears. So please pray for him. He looks so sweet and good natured.
Our NICU unit is a mini-UN. The last names in our unit come from all ethnic groups and all nationalities. Children's Hospital in general is an extremely diverse place. In the parking lot there are Ford with broken mufflers parked between a Subaru station wagon and a Lexus. Sickness hits every ethnic group and every income level.
It's also an amazingly open, humble place. Every parent in there is a parent to a sick child. People are open and friendly. People pray for total strangers that they met for one brief moment in the hall. The whole hospital is a "pro-life" sanctuary where every child's life is valued no matter what.
