Baby Tess with one of her nurses, Anne Marie. Anne Marie was one of 11* children from a religious family in Jamaica. On an awful day in the NICU, Anne Marie had me heaving belly laughs over her Mom's home remedies, including her Mom's famous "baby enemas" which involved a small slice of Ivory soap--and you really don't want to know the remaining gory details.
I told my gal Tess that if she didn't start pooping immediately, I was going to put Anne Marie's Mom on her "allowed anytime" visitor list. I figured if Western Medicine wasn't going to work on my baby, then there was no harm in using some tried and true Jamacian home remedies.
Baby Tess started pooping at 12 AM that night, immediately after Anne Marie ended her shift. I think Baby Tess thought Anne Marie left the NICU simply to go get her Mama and a bar of Ivory soap.
*A huge percentage of our NICU nurses were from large families with more than 4 children.
