gallimaufryma

A mama in my mothering group just had a baby 4 weeks early who is now in the ICU at Children's with Junctional Ectopic Tachychardia (JET). It's a heart arhythmia and it happens to be one of the hardest to treat. They are actually really lucky they discovered it before she went into cardiac arrest and then congestive heart failure (as this is USUALLY how the congenital form of this arhythmia is detected). 1/3 of cases (and it is rare for it to be congenital...it often happens after surgery due to damage) who make it to a year get better. 30-40% die. The rest...manage. IN--TENSE.

I went to see her last night (mama). She needed distraction. I stayed there for 2.5 hours while she just chatted at me about anything. Man, she was asked whether or not she wanted to just take her baby home and let her be comfortable! OMG! It was hard to leave, as I could feel the mama just ready to fall apart again (but didn't in my presence...I really don't know her well) and there was this desperate tension of "Please don't go and make this reality so REAL again."

In spite of this heart defect, she is gorgeous. A perfect little baby girl.

Why is it that some families seem really hit by negative events/trauma/health stuff? I just...I'm really without words. I feel for all of them. What I can do is what I did...bringing her home cooked soup and muffins and staying a lot longer than I'd thought I would. It is really the least I can do and I hope everyone in our circle of mamas does what they can.