It's a Girl!

I swear I did everything I could for my very pregnant student.  I gave her resources up the wazoo.  I had the crochet club make her a layette set.  I texted her daily to see if she was okay, if she needed anything.  Marianna, a colleague, was going to be her homebound tutor while she was home for maternity leave.  We were going to do everything we could to support that family.

During the entire winter break while I was in Pennsylvania visiting my brother, I was panicked that she would have the baby and wouldn't have anyone to support her.  It was my understanding that baby daddy was in jail, baby daddy's family wanted nothing to do with her, her own daddy was in jail (and possibly deported), her mom was disabled due to multiple strokes, and that she only had friends to help her.

The baby did not come over break, thankfully.  School started back up and she was home waiting for the baby to come.

The weekend after school started again, she texted me to tell me she was in the hospital, her water broke, and that they were keeping her there until she had the baby.  I asked her if anyone was there with her (i.e. her mother) and she said her friends were there.  

All through the night, she texted me about how much it hurt.  

"It hurts, Miss," the texts said, at least once an hour.

I assured her the baby would come soon and she would have her daughter or son in her arms.

I worried all night.

Early that Saturday, she texted me and said the baby had come, a little girl, and that I could come visit if I wanted to.

I immediately went out and bought all sorts of clothes for the baby (newborn sizes because the baby was five pounds).  I even met a woman in Carters who said she would DONATE her daughter's clothes from birth to 2T to my student... I just had to pick them up.

I went to the hospital.  Student and student's mom were there.  Student's mom (age 42 but looking so much older because of the strokes) was tiny and barely spoke, even in her own language.  The baby was tiny and cold and needed to stay in a warming bassinette.  She was naked so her skin could absorb the heat.  Grandma, not understanding, kept putting a blanket on the baby, and the nurse kept coming in and taking it off.

The nurse was very short-tempered with them.  I tried to explain that they had limited English (and in Grandma's case, none) and that they didn't understand.  My student was exhausted and seemed disinterested in the baby.  The nurse yelled at her to feed her, to hold her, to change her.  My student just said, "I'm tired and I hurt."

The nurse said, "you are a mom now.  It isn't about you.  It is about your daughter."  She wasn't wrong, but still... this kid was 15 or 16, a little on the slow side, and clueless...  It was like watching an 8-year-old put in charge of an infant.

At one point, the grandmother's friends came in.  I offered the baby to them to hold, but they laughed at me, "we each have eight children.  Why would we want to hold a baby?"

I said I too had a child of my own and a one-year-old at home (they didn't need to know that Joshua was a foster), and I still loved holding the new life.  They laughed at me and said I must have a lot of time on my hands and nothing to do if I wanted to hold a baby... 

Cultural differences I guess.