My buddy Jen blogged about receiving the Eucharist for the first time out of a church.
I just wanted to share a funny story from Tessy's hospital stay.
Baby Tess spent 3 days in the PICU wing of a Catholic hospital from day 4 to day 7 after her birth. She had jaundice and needed to "bake" under those funny tanning bed like lamps. Jon and I had 72 hours without sleep and it was very confusing because Tess kept giving the doctors super weird test results. (Poor thing actually had jaundice as a result of a fatal digestive tract defect but no one had discovered it yet.)
At 7 AM Sunday morning, I was a weeping mess. At 5 AM, doctors said my baby could get discharged at noon if she didn't throw up anymore. Twenty minutes later my sweet newborn vomited all over everything and earned herself at least 24 hours more of hospitalization for observation.
My husband stepped in. He wisely decided that his wife needed the Eucharist. He asked the nurse to page someone from the Chaplains office. They sent up the Protestant Chaplain.
The lovely lady prayed for Tess and gave us some lovely words of encouragement.
Then my husband cut to the chase, "We're Catholics. Today is Sunday. We need the Eucharist."
The Chaplain explained "But I'm the Protestant Chaplain. I don't believe in that."
My husband spoke with this very firm, clear and yet still gentle voice. "But we do. All you have to do bring the Eucharist to us. We're the ones who eat it."
(Yes, we eventually got to receive the Body and Blood twice in the hospital on the very day that Tess got diagnosed with a fatal condition and transferred to Children's National Hospital in D.C. God bless the Eucharistic ministers who help Jesus make house calls!)
