Snuggles and Tears chapter 20
Date Published: September 23, 2008, 10:59pm
Written By: BabyButt
Hi All,
Sorry this is so late, I had work today and a little family emergency.
Hope you enjoy this.
BabyButt
Chapter 20
Sharon lay in her cot, she had woken up feeling something was wrong. Sitting up, she couldn’t see Billy in the crib. Looking around frantically, she found him. He was laying on the floor. She must have left the crib side down! Seeing him, she let out a scream! He was seizing. She was trying to get to him, but she was tangled in the covers. Every time she tried to move them to get loose so she could go to him, it got worse. “Help!” she screamed “Help my baby!”. “Oh my God!” she thought as she watched Billy bang his head against one of the legs of the crib. He was bleeding, the bandage becoming more and more red by the second. She heard him cry loudly"Mommy!" and then scream it again.
“SHARON!” Terry yelled and shook her hard.
Sharon’s eyes flew open. “Jesus!” she said as she recognized Terry and then instantly snapped her head over to see Billy crying his eyes out sitting in the crib. She jumped up off the cot and ran to the crib, taking the side down in a heartbeat.
Billy didn’t know what was wrong, he just knew something bad was happening to Mommy! This scared him. She was moving around in her bed and then screamed. He started to cry and called loudly to his mommy. When she didn’t answer he panicked and screamed her name. The nice lady, Terry came and shook mommy and yelled at her!
Sharon pulled him in to her arms and held him close, crying. That was the most frightening nightmare she had ever had in her life! She had felt helpless as she watched him bleeding.
Terry stood behind her rubbing her back. “It was just a bad dream,” she said comfortingly. “that’s all it was, Mommy’s fine Baby.” she told Billy.
Sharon loosened her hold enough to pull back and look at her son. “Mommy’s OK Sweety. I just had a bad dream.” she told him, as she picked up his binky and offered it to him.
Billy took the binky and began to nurse furiously. He didn’t like bad dreams, they were scary.
Terry told Sharon “Why don’t you sit with him for a little bit.” as she moved the cot over and dragged the rocker closer.
“Thank you.” Sharon told her gratefully. They had left his IV pump on this side of the crib so she could sit with him when she wanted to. She picked him up and moved to the rocker, sitting down and pulling him close. It was then that her nose told her that he had a messy diaper. “Are you a stinker butt?” she asked him.
Billy looked at her, smiling around his binky, and said “Poopy”.
The vision of Bobby that morning saying the exact same thing, with the exact same expression, came to her. Trying not to seem alarmed, she looked at Terry.
“There’s probably swelling. He’ll probably take a couple of steps backward and then things will settle out. Don’t worry about it now, we’ll know better in a couple of days where he’s at.” Terry told her reassuringly.
Sharon relaxed. As much as she didn’t like the odor, she still wasn’t ready to let go of him yet, even if it was just to change his diaper. She smiled down at him and began to rock. He snuggled down and closed his eyes. “He doesn’t care that he’s messy. It’s just like he was two.” she thought.
Terry picked up Billy’s blanket and covered him with it. Within thirty seconds, he was sound asleep.
“I’m so sorry!” Sharon whispered, blushing.
Terry smiled and said “Don’t worry about it, no harm done. With all that you’ve been through in the last twenty four hours, it’s a wonder you’re not a basket case.” she said with a soft chuckle. “Gave that poor baby a heck of a scare though, I hope he didn’t think I was hurting you.” she said with concern.
“I doubt it, children are really good at reading feelings.” Sharon told her.
“You’re right about that.” she said. “Speaking of that, how are you doing with all of this?” she asked.
“With what?” Sharon answered looking puzzled.
“Well, from what I see, you’ve got a toddler, not a preteen in your arms at the moment. I was just wondering how you feel about that.” she said.
“I don’t care if he’s a toddler, a teen or an infant, just as long as he’s going to be alright. If it takes a while to get back to where he was, we’ll help him get there.” she answered honestly.
Terry smiled and told her “Right answer!” with a chuckle and a pat on the shoulder. “If you need something, let me know. Preferably without screaming it though.” she added with a laugh.
Sharon laughed as Terry left the room.
Looking at the clock she noticed it was five in the morning. She wondered then, how long he had been in a messy diaper. Feeling much better now, she pulled him close and stood. Reaching over, she grabbed a clean diaper and then gently laid him in the crib. Putting the side up for a moment, she picked up the wipes, and the Desitin that Terry had brought for him. Quietly as she could, she brought the cribside down again. Working as quickly and gently as she could, trying to not wake him up, she had him in a clean, dry diaper in minutes.
Scooting him up in the crib, she placed his arm around his Pooh Bear. He stretched for a moment and rolled over on his right side, pulling his little knees up and hugged Pooh tightly. Sharon gently covered him with his blanket and stood there looking down on this cutest of cute, little boy. She saw not one shred of evidence this baby was anything but a two year old. “Rachael was right,” she thought. “looking like he does it’s almost impossible to treat him like anything other than a toddler.” as she watched him slow his nursing and drift off to sleep.
At seven thirty, a young nurse came in and introduced herself. “Hi I’m Jean. I’ll be Billy’s nurse this morning.” she said.
“Hi, I’m Sharon, Billy’s mommy.” Sharon told her with a smile.
Moving to the crib, Jean let the side down a bit noisily for Sharon’s taste, and took Billy’s wrist in her hand, staring at her watch. After a moment, she made a note on a clipboard she’d laid on the night stand. She them put a stethoscope in her ears and moving his blanket out of the way, preceded to put the bell directly on his chest.
Billy felt something cold on his chest and whimpered. Trying to move away from it, he bumped his ankle on the bars of the opposite side of the crib. This made him start crying.
Sharon moved to the head of the crib, picked up his pacifier and put it in his mouth saying “It’s OK Baby” as she reached down and rubbed his ankle.
The nurse saw him nursing his binky and frowned. “You don’t want that nasty old pacifier, do you?” as she reached to take it from his mouth.
Sharon placed two fingers over the binky, holding it right where it was and told the nurse “Leave it right where it is, thank you.” with an edge to her voice.
Looking Incredulous, Jean asked “How do you expect him to act like anything but a baby if you let him keep baby things?” with an air of disapproval.
Sharon, trying to keep her temper, clearly not understanding replied “He just had surgery for crying out loud. If he wants his binky, then he’ll have it.”
“Coddling him won’t help him get better.” Jean offered condescendingly.
“Can you please get Dr. Richardson for me?” Sharon asked nicely despite herself.
“I can’t bother the doctor right now, he’s making rounds with the students.” Jean informed her with a dismissive wave.
Billy by this time felt the tension in the room and, looking up at his mommy with a fearful expression, began to cry harder.
That was enough for Sharon. “You can leave now. Please let Dr. Richardson know until I speak to him, NOONE is going to treat this little boy.” She told the nurse in no uncertain terms.
Jean, looking offended, stood up to her full height and barked “If I have to, I will have you removed from the premises. Now let me finish his vitals, and we can get him out of that diaper. I will bring a potty chair for him to use for the day.” she added with contempt in her voice.
“You are welcome to do as you please,” Sharon told her menacingly as she picked up Billy and held him close. “but you are NOT touching my son.” leaving no question that she would physically intervene if the nurse tried to.
“Jean?” a middle aged woman in a lab coat called out from the doorway.
“Yes Dr. Clarke?” Jean responded, turning to face the doctor.
“What are you doing in here? April was supposed to have Billy.” Dr. Clarke told her.
“We swapped patients. I told her it would be better if our patients were right together and as I have bed 7, it would mean better care for this patient.” pointing to Billy.
“This patient, as you call him, has a name. It’s Billy.” the doctor said, losing her patience. “Go and tell April that she will be caring for Billy today. You will care for your assigned patients, and never again take the incorrect liberty of making assignment changes. We select the best nurse for the patient Nurse Dearfield, not the best patient for the nurse.”
“Well I never!” Nurse Dearfield exclaimed as she left the room.
“She won’t ever work here again if I have anything to say about it.” she said quietly to the floor. Looking up to Sharon, she smiled apologetically, “I’m really sorry Mrs. Avery, unfortunately we occasionally have staffing shortages and must use agency nurses. Normally, they take their assignments and perform them splendidly. Once in a great while, we get a nurse that, how shall I put this, doesn’t fit in with our philosophy. She was a good example of that. I assure you, April will see to Billy’s needs as you wish.” she told Sharon.
“If she had touched him again I would have helped her from the room.” Sharon told her determinedly.
Dr. Clarke leaned closer to her and whispered “She’s a young, inexperienced mother that believes there is only one way to raise a child, her way. April has several grown children and understands that children don’t all fit in neat little boxes.” and laughing she added “Some of them have sharp elbows and knees that just won’t fit.” with a smile.
Sharon liked this woman despite herself, and found herself laughing along. “Isn’t that the truth.” she agreed with a smile.
“And how are you this morning Baby?” Dr. Clarke asked Billy in a sweet voice. “He’s really adorable, you know.” she told Sharon.
“Yes, I know.” Sharon answered with a chuckle. “He’ll get away with murder looking like that if I’m not careful.” laughing as she said it.
Billy Smiled at the lady. She was nice. The other one scared him, scared him enough to make him wet his diaper before he even realized he was going.
Right then a smiling older nurse entered the room. “Well who do we have here?” she asked, reaching out to tickle Billy’s tummy.
Billy giggled uproariously at her.
“This is Billy, aren’t you Baby.” Sharon said
Billy nodded, smiling.
“Well I have a surprise for you, Sweety!” the nurse told him.
Just as she finished the statement, a young gentleman in a lab coat came in leading a wagon lined with blankets.
“Do you want to take a ride in a wagon?” she asked.
Billy giggled again and clapped his hands together as he said “Yes!” with a big smile.
“Great!” she told him with a big smile. “I tell you what,” she started as she reached into the crib and retrieved his almost empty bottle, “I’m gonna go get you a fresh ba-ba, and then you get to ride in the wagon to go get your picture taken with Mommy and me. Does that sound like fun?” she asked him
“Yes!” he repeated, with another giggle.
“OK!” she told him. Turning to Sharon, “I’m April, I’ll be looking after you two today.” she explained with a smile.
“I’m Sharon, and you don’t know how thankful I am for that!”
“Oh, I heard,” she said rolling her eyes. “you don’t have to worry, we’ll take good care of this baby boy today.” she said, tickling him again. “I’ll be right back.” she told the laughing little boy.
As April left, Dr. Clarke said “Trust me, you don’t have anything to worry about with April.”
“Thank you.” Sharon said.
“She’s going to take you both downstairs to have an MRI done. We need to see how things look inside there.” she said gently placing her palm on the side of Billy’s face. “You will be able to be with him throughout the procedure, I promise. You will have to change into hospital scrubs though, it’s a precaution against forgetting any metal in your clothes. I advise you to leave any metal you have here, you’d only have to remove it downstairs anyway and it’s best to be safe.” Dr. Clarke explained. “Before I forget, do you have any fillings, or metal in your body from past surgeries?”
“No.” Sharon said. “I’ve never had surgery.”
“OK, you should be fine then.” she said.
April came back with bottle in hand. “Here you are Baby.” as she handed the bottle to Billy, then reached her hands out toward him. Billy leaned toward her, so Sharon handed him to April. Easing him down into the wagon, she told him “I’m gonna take your tube off for now, can you be a good boy and drink that ba-ba all gone?”
Billy spit his binky out without even reaching for it and it landed in the wagon. Putting the ba-ba in his mouth, he began to nurse.
“You are such a good boy!” April said making him smile around the nipple. She picked up his binky and told him “We’ll let Mommy hold this for you.” handing it to Sharon.
Pushing a button on the pump, she disconnected the tubing from near his left elbow and hung it on the pole.
“Let me see this for just one second, Baby.” she told him as she took his bottle and put it between his thighs. Taking a small yellow gown with teddy bears printed on it from the shelf, April proceeded to guide his arms one after the other through the sleeves and then loosely tied it in the back. “There, you’re all set.” she said as she brought his bottle back to his mouth.
Billy took the bottle from her and began drinking.
“We ready?” she asked Sharon.
“I’m set.” she answered.
“OK Sweety, lets go for a ride.” she told Billy with a smile as she took the handle of the wagon and began pulling him from the room with Sharon walking beside it.
Snuggles and Tears chapter 20
Thank you both for your feedback.
The dream allows us to see her biggest fear.
The “bad nurse” brings a bit of reality into a unique situation.
This chapter also allows us to see what’s happening with Billy, how his point of view has changed, and how Sharon feels about that as well as how far she will go to protect him.
All of these things are little things, but without them I thought the story would jump around too much.
Thank you again,
BabyButt