Playing Doctor Mommy- November 19, 2012

  The waiting room TV flashes on a commercial filled with sweet little girls playing with their “Doctor Mommy” doll babies.  They have stethoscopes with a heart beat you can see and hear.  There is a thermometer for when the baby’s forehead feels warm to touch, and small bottles of meds along with Band-Aids and just in case an injection, “this might hurt.”  The baby doll responds with “my tummy hurts,”  “I have an owwie,” “I don’t feel good,” and I’m all better.”  I sat there watching this ad and thinking how strange as I wait for doctor’s to bring me news of my sick baby.  How many little girls play baby dolls, how many play doctor with those same babies however when you grow up the last thing you ever want to play is “Sick Baby.”  I had to smile because in my world that is what I play all the time and therefore that is what my little ones believe to be normal.  I love this photo, I took it while on rounds one morning several months back it tells a story far beyond words.  Some of my babies with their babies, you see when I am checking heartbeats, and fevers I have lots more to check than on my list.  These girls will have their babies lined up with a list of complaints- they know what gets a nurses attention.  When I walk through the door there are babies bundled on the floor, propped in bouncy seats and cradled in arms.  They are learning to be mommies of sick babies and I love to watch the care and compassion that they display as I check stuffed chests and red fuzzy ears and give them directions on how to care for their little ones.  They have hearts that beat to love and live and eyes that see pain and suffering in a way that I will never be able to.  These are the Esthers of today- the little orphan girls who are being raised, “For such a time as this.”  And now I will come back to the real “Doctor Mommy” business of today as I pray for mommies the world over who are caring for their sick babies knowing that my God is Good All the Time and that He will give each of us the Grace that comes only from His healing arms.