I love this line from a poem by Garrison Keillor: "Some babies come in on a wing and a prayer".
As a NICU nurse, I have felt that way about quite a few patients...tiny little babies not yet ready to be here. I thought I would share Garrison Keillor's entire poem with you today. It is written in a "fun" way about an emotional journey....enjoy!
Jeffrey's Poem
by Garrison Keillor
When I first saw you, kid, you were tiny and thin
And slimy and red and your head was mushed in.
I said to your mother "He looks kind of sloppy,
And two pound four ounces ain't big for a crappie."
But something about you, the look in your eyes,
Said you fully intend to grow to full size.
They slapped your backside and you let out a cry,
And I said "We will keep him, at least we shall try."
Some babies are born in nine months, by the clock.
Some babies are born, and they sit up and talk.
Some babies are born and no doctor is there.
But some babies come in on a wing and a prayer.
Poor little fetus as big as your hand.
Poor little fish thrown up on dry land.
Who came in late April, though he had till July.
Too small to live and too precious to die.
They shipped you downstairs to the big Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit's computerized cradle
And attached you to wires and stuck you with tubes
Monitored closely by digital cubes.
And thanks to the latest neonatal therapeusis
And regular basting with greases from gooses
And hot chicken soup intravenously fed
You did not fade away, you grew up instead.
We'll always remember the months that you spent
With tubes in your head in the oxygen tent
And the mask on your face, the wires attached,
Sweet little baby who was only half hatched.
I'm sure you'll grow up and mature and extend
To six feet six inches and become a tight end.
But I'll always remember each doctor and nurse in
The NICU who helped make you a person
The kid who crash landed, who was carried away,
Who survived it, this bundle we bring home today.
Have a great week!
Julie Hudson, MSN, RN
NCBH NICU